There is an active and polarising debate about whether Bayesian priors should be used in MMM. Broadly speaking there is a progressive group of academics and practitioners who argue that the use of Bayesian prior values, effectively applying guideline results bounds to your model, makes models more flexible and insightful. And on the other side … Read More
MMM
How reliable is your marketing mix model (MMM)?
Can you trust your MMM? A marketing Mix Model (MMM) can produce challenging results, especially if you have been relying on last touch( LT) attribution. When presented with challenging results your first question may well be “can I trust the model?”. The answer to this depends largely on the quality of the model as expressed … Read More
What is incrementality in marketing – extracting trend, seasonality and brand equity
Marketing incrementality is sales revenue that is over and above that which might be expected with no marketing activity. Establishing incrementality is critical if you want genuine brand growth. Why? Because many performance platforms collect, report and even double-count sales from multiple sources, including those which might happen even if you didn’t run any activity. … Read More
What are the 4Ps of the Marketing Mix
The 4Ps are one of the key concepts that underpin marketing strategy and tactics. The Ps stand for Product, Price, Place and Promotion. They were conceptualised by the distinguished US marketing and research academic, E Jerome McCarthy. Before we look at the 4Ps in detail let’s summarise the difference between strategy and tactics: Strategy: Sets … Read More
Exploring the Carbon Cost of Advertising
How much CO2 is generated by advertising media and the agencies providing the associated services? Forbes recently analysed the carbon footprint of agencies in the US and found that the key drivers are travel, commuting, office supplies, marketing collateral, utilities, shipping and computer services [1]. Within this, we can take a closer look at the … Read More
Maximising Media Effectiveness and Efficiency
This is a piece I wrote for an m/SIX newsletter in January 2022. Effectiveness and efficiency are not the same but they are both critical in media strategy, planning and activation Intro Marketing effectiveness and campaign efficiency are intertwined terms across the open plan workspaces of both advertisers and agencies. But they mean very different … Read More
What is Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM)?
Marketing Mix Modelling or MMM is a regression-based approach to identifying the drivers of sales for a business or brand – making it a form of attribution. For many advertisers it is used to understand and optimise the effects of paid media in generating short and medium term sales outcomes. Unlike many other forms of … Read More
Adstock and Diminishing Returns: non-linear advertising effects
Adstock is an important concept in marketing effectiveness. It was first quantified by Simon Broadbent in the 1970s. Its value lies in helping make marketing and media mix models more accurate by recognising that advertising and media investments have non-linear “carryover” response effects. These non-linear effects are normally grouped into two areas: the delayed effect … Read More