Digestible and interactive data analysis help move brands in the right direction by providing marketers, merchandisers and operations staff with actionable insights quickly. We at Powerhouse Factories use Tableau Software to develop tools for this purpose. Given that the Tableau Consumer Conference is now happening, and the Thanksgiving holiday is rapidly approaching, we put an interesting spin on a data visualization tool for your gobbling pleasure. Use our tool to learn which Thanksgiving menu items require the most exercise to burn off, as well as gain a better understanding of how Tableau works and how it could benefit your data management.

Thanksgiving is upon us here in the U.S.  Most traditionally mark the occasion by overindulging in a holiday meal. This means delicious helpings of excess calories and fat — bountiful carb counts with minimal fiber offsets. Then, the agonizing over the exercise required to work off just one meal.

Click on the image to be directed to the full interactive visualization.

Of course it all comes down to choices.  Foregoing pumpkin pie shaves 507 calories including the whipped cream.  What if you could optimize your meal and exercise program to minimize the hurt and maximize the benefit? What if you could determine how much skipping the turkey would save in terms of sit-ups, lunges and jumping jacks? Now you can. Check out the nifty analytical application below.  It provides a nicely integrated set of visual tools and filters that allow you to design a meal and instantly see the impact.  Add or limit the dishes and ingredients you want for your feast. See how each one adds “value” to the meal in terms of calories, fat, fiber, carbs and cost-per-serving. Then determine how much exercise (choose from 100 activities) you will need to do based on your weight just to break even.

For data geeks, the visualization uses parameter-driven (drive your own) scatter plots, bar graphs and tables so you can see the relationships between the variables of interest to you.  If you don’t like the results, go back, subtract the sugar or the potatoes and revisit. The tool allows you to create multiple “what if” scenarios so that you can easily see various potential outcomes.

Imagine you are a brand manager or the employee responsible for retail operations or direct mail success. You could see and understand your POS or marketing efforts in a whole new way or create possible scenarios to inform your planning efforts. The possibilities are endless with the right tools and perspectives.