Fabio Gratton
Co-founder & CEO
inVibe Labs
Redefining Listening in Market Research
Fabio Gratton was a failed Hollywood screenwriter who took a job just to get by at a marketing agency that would eventually become part of FCB. Now 20 plus years later he has left an undeniable mark on healthcare and marketing. It just goes to show: Never doubt someone with a powerful imagination.
Fabio’s latest disruption is changing market research. He originally founded inVibe in 2013 to help agencies conduct market research faster. The original goal, which they have achieved, was enabling companies to conduct both small- and large-scale voice interviews in under 24 hours. But by conducting these interviews they had all of this data from the voice signal: Pitch, tone, and the frequency of how people are talking, so they developed an algorithm that could deconstruct all of these elements to better understand what a person actually meant and how they felt when they were speaking. The company’s next step was to utilize social linguists to examine the meaning of the language and words people use as well.
This platform is changing market research in other ways as well. The use of automated voice interviews eliminates interviewer bias. Plus, no additional technology is required on the participants’ end (who can be patients, physicians, or anyone else), and interviews are scheduled on their time (creating a greater comfort level) and conducted individually (eliminating group bias). Agency clients have seen great success using the platform—a 90%-win rate on pitches. Plus, word of mouth impacted the overall client mix. Previously, life sciences companies comprised only 20% of inVibe’s business—now they account for over 80%.
inVibe is just one example of a company that Fabio has helped to shepherd to success through his California-based digital health and tech incubator, Alchemy Factory. Other companies include SONIC Health, a story-driven idea agency; BryteLife, an electrolyte-enriched club soda; and CureClick, a solution for crowdsourcing clinical trials.
Always one to imagine the possibilities of the future, Fabio is currently exploring two new opportunities: How to keep people more engaged with wearables and the benefits of cannabidiol (CBD) medications.
