Peter Fader is not a fan of “squishy” marketing. Whether a product’s packaging is light or dark blue does not interest him nearly as much as the swathes of hard data consumers generate through their spending habits.

“I’ve always been infatuated with crazy and quirky number patterns,” says the 47-year-old New Yorker and professor of marketing at the The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “Whether it’s dollar bills or sports statistics or number plates on cars, I just can’t get enough.”