A few months ago, we got an interesting request. The folks at the North Pole were looking for data to keep Santa safe and improve his gift efficiency at Christmas. Personally, I have long admired Santa, both for his generosity, but also for his total disregard of patent laws. How the elves continue to make xBoxes and Playstations without the folks at Microsoft and Sony suing him, we will never know. But being the big fans that we are, we set off to make his Christmas this year a little easier.
First, we want to keep Santa as safe as possible on his big day. While many people enjoy time by the fire on Christmas Eve, it poses a burn risk for poor Santa. Using our variables on housing, we examined homes that use wood to heat their homes. There are very few areas where Santa needs to be overly cautious, but as he hits Arizona, Nevada, California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, he should change into the fire-resistant suit that the elves have made for him.
Next, we wanted to tackle gift confusion. As everyone knows, if you are naughty, you will find coal in your stocking. But for some, this could lead to a misinterpretation. For many parts of the country, coal is used to heat homes. So was I naughty, or nice? The map below highlights areas where Santa might consider a note with the coal to explain that this isn’t a practical gift, but a show of disappointment.
We plan on expanding the datasets for Santa in the coming years as our partnership grows. In the future, we want to help the elves with toy demand, provide Santa’s team with crucial CrimeRisk assessments and improve delivery speeds with sleigh-time estimates. Of course, we do worry about rising unemployment levels for elves in the North Pole if we can continue to streamline Santa’s job. We have noted a retail gap potential for Santa’s elves to form a new company, baking cookies to compete with the Keebler elves. Of course, they will not be baking the cookies in trees, because a hot oven inside of a tree never turns out well.
We just hope that all of this work pays off for us come Christmas. Santa, is this the year I finally get that pony?!
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