Adapting MMM models to COVID-related changes

Evaluating media budget effectiveness and finding optimal media mix has always been an important and difficult task, and it’s even more so in the current situation during the COVID-19 outbreak. In this article we will discuss Facebook and experts’ advice on adjusting marketing mix models to the situation on the market and explain how our solution can be useful to marketers today. Marketing budget allocation is a very important strategic process. And making the right decision is especially difficult when game-changing situations like the COVID-19 outbreak happen. Today it’s necessary to invest in channels that will bring measurable results. Marketing Mix Modelling is a well-tried, reliable tool that has been helping marketers to make well-informed strategic decisions and measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. In a previous article we said that modern MMM solutions meeting advertisers’ requirements and industry standards are perfect for cross-media measurements. But when consumer behavior and demand change so dramatically as we are witnessing today, the historic data in the currently used models becomes less relevant and the new information is not enough for analysis. The burning question here is how to update existing models so that they could be applied in the current situation and… Read more »

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New era of cross-media measurement

In September 2020, the World Federation of Advertisers revealed a new cross-media measurement proposal framework developed in partnership with major digital platforms. In this article you will learn what requirements a new solution has to meet and how AdoptoMedia can benefit advertisers on this matter.  Over time with the appearance of new communication channels, media mix has become very complex. Today companies promote their goods and services through a wide range of digital and offline channels, which complicates marketers’ task of analyzing the effectiveness of advertising activities. WFA considers accurate evaluation of cross-media campaigns so important that in partnership with digital platforms, including Google and Facebook it worked for over 18 months to create a framework that should stimulate a new approach to measurement. Large advertisers, agencies and other members of the marketing ecosystem also contributed to the process as consultants. Among them were advertiser associations: ACA (Canada), ANA (US), ISBA (UK), Union des Marques (FR), OWM (DE) and high-profile brands like Deutsche Telekom, Mars, Mastercard, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, The Coca-Cola Company, Unilever and others. Cross Media Measurement is crucial to achieve real transparency of media performance. Luis Di Como, EVP Global Media, Unilever Here are three reasons… Read more »

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cross-media measurement, world federation of advertisers, marketing accountability, AdoptoMedia

Current state of marketing in Europe

Marketing industry is growing and developing all over the world, but everywhere the process has some unique characteristics. In this article you will learn about European marketing ecosystem, its trends, challenges and needs. We will also tell you how our solution can be useful to marketers. In May 2020 Boston Consulting Group published a report after surveying C-suite marketing managers in the UK, Germany and France. Here we will discuss what problems marketers in Europe face today and how they deal with them. Digital transformation has brought significant changes into the marketing industry, making technology and tools more complex and sophisticated to match the arising needs. To cope with the innovations and grow, 97% of European marketers turn to external partners in such areas as technology, measurement, media planning and buying, etc. Experienced agencies and consultants provide companies access to cutting edge technology and help them to increase ROMI.  Due to fragmentation of European market one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work here, so campaigns have to be adapted to local cultures and languages. For the same reason countries progress at different pace and have different levels of digital maturity; the UK, for example, is ahead of all Europe in terms of it…. Read more »

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European marketing, EU marketing, the UK, France, Germany, marketing trends, ROMI measurement, ROMI increase, marketing automation, marketing technology, martech

Our solution to the current ROMI challenges

Even though marketing technology is advancing, existing tools don’t fully match arising needs and challenges of the industry. There are still no universal measurement standards, so marketers around the globe are struggling to justify huge investments, which amount to $560 bln annually, according to A. Guttmann research. In the article we will cover the limitations of the current ROMI approaches, that McKinsey experts point out, and our capabilities for dealing with them. Due to users massively shifting to online and mobile content, a huge part of the marketing spend is allocated to digital channels. It’s a reasonable strategy, but what we do wrong is measure the results of such campaigns. We focus too much on short-term results and user-level data, that seem more accurate, just because the tools like multi-touch attribution allow it, and not always because it’s necessary. Personalized messages and near-time optimization are important, but we shouldn’t forget about the upper funnel and earlier stages of the customer journey. A large share of marketing spend goes into brand-building activities, but it is not so thoroughly analyzed or its performance is evaluated by the same standards as the lower funnel spends, which results in a false understanding of the… Read more »

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CMA reveals digital advertising market problems in the UK

The digital marketing spend is growing putting marketers under pressure to justify huge investments. And even with a variety of measurement techniques it’s not easy to find what really works, especially taking into account transparency issues. In this article we discuss new problems related to digital media and how to cope with them. An independent government department in the UK that promotes competition and consumer law – Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) – carried out an investigation of digital advertising sphere as a part of the new strategy designed to better handle quickly growing digital economy. In July 2019, they started looking into operations of online platforms, including the two biggest ones – Google and Facebook. The report voices concerns about transparency of the business, but before we go deeper in detail, let’s take a look back and see how we got to the current situation. It all started with the 2016 ANA/K2 Intelligence report on media transparency in the U.S., which was a true wake-up call for the advertising industry. The report revealed numerous non-transparent business practices like rebates in different agencies. The fact that they failed to act in the best interests of their clients severely shook the… Read more »

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Why Adidas changes its marketing measurement approach?

Research shows that using marketing technology to measure effectiveness results in significant performance improvement. But what if the approach you use is flawed and measurement results are only preventing your business from making the most of advertising. Such was the case with Adidas that had been over-investing in digital channels due to MTA analytics. Turns out even multinational corporations like Adidas aren’t immune to mistakes. But who can blame them? I mean weren’t we all charmed by promising advantages of multi-touch attribution. It’s a relatively new tool that functions at a highly granular level and is especially suitable for measuring digital campaigns. MTA can analyze individual customer journey and find what marketing activities lead to conversion. This high level of granularity makes you think that the tool is more accurate than it really is, but this major strength became its main problem when legal restrictions concerning data privacy came into force. GDPR severely limits the potential of attribution. Other limitations of MTA are: It covers a limited number of KPIs Most models cover only digital channels and can’t account for offline touchpoints. It attributes too much credit to digital advertising Privacy regulations limit its functionality It’s difficult to stitch touchpoints… Read more »

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Adidas, strategic marketing measurement, MMM, marketing effectiveness, AdoptoMedia

How to use MMM and MTA correctly?

There is a variety of tools for measuring marketing effectiveness and even more solution providers on the market. Using the right ones is crucial for your business success. In this article you will find out how to choose the most suitable vendor and correctly apply marketing mix modelling and attribution to achieve outstanding results. Now there are no doubts about whether to evaluate marketing performance because statistics and analytics is more reliable than experience and gut feeling. According to Gartner’s 2018 survey, where 503 respondents from large companies were interviewed, marketers who use strategic measurement tools report significant performance improvement. It happens because high-quality measurement allows improving planning capabilities and increase enterprise value. The debates now are going on about which tool is the most suitable to evaluate marketing effectiveness. Keep in mind that before applying any measurement approaches define what success should look like and choose the right KPIs that align with your overall strategy. Strategic marketing measurement is on the rise for three reasons: Significant performance improvement; Increasing cost of media; for example CPM for primetime TV has increased by 43% over the last 5 years. To justify growing spends or find new, more efficient channels high-performing marketers… Read more »

Research
Marketing Mix Modelling, Attribution, Multi Touch Attribution, Unified Measurement Approach, advantages and disadvantages of Marketing Mix Modelling and Attribution, effective marketing measurement, marketing measurement challenges, AdoptoMedia

Nestlé’s hybrid approach to in-housing

What is more effective: external agencies or an in-house team? It seems Nestlé found a perfect compromise in the heated debate: they gathered a team of external specialists supervised by internal executives to achieve more effective marketing management. Here you can find what functions they decided to handle themselves and what goals they were pursuing with the move. In attempt to increase marketing effectiveness and transparency the world's largest food company pulled experts in media and tech from partner agencies and appointed internal executives to lead them. Today many large advertisers are thinking about moving at least some capabilities in-house, even though the process is not very simple, and there are a few concerns and problems related to it. Partially it was triggered by the FBI investigation into non-transparent practices in the industry. But it’s worth mentioning that in-housing is not just a temporary trend, it’s becoming a reality, especially hybrid approach to it. According to a recent ANA (Association of National Advertisers) study, 78% of their members have an IHA. If Nestlé’s internal team proves a success, it can become a model case for other companies. And it seems to be a good strategy, because they can choose the… Read more »

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Nestlé, hybrid approach to in-housing, effective marketing

How to deal with in-housing problems

According to a joint research by In-House Agency Forum and Forrester, 64% of American corporations had an in-house agency in 2018 compared to 42% in 2008. The trend is becoming a reality even though it’s costly and challenging. In this article we investigate the benefits of building internal capabilities, functions better managed internally and ways to deal with widespread concerns and obstacles. It is quite obvious that large brands like Procter & Gamble, Ally Financial and Clorox wouldn’t set up internal marketing teams if it was useless. For example, P&G established its own agency in 2018 as a part of their new marketing strategy saving $750 mln. Apart from cost efficiency in-housing is also driven by the opportunity to gain greater brand insights, increase transparency and control over the creative. Another advantage of IHAs is they have the same goal with the brand and are more invested in successful outcome, which is not always the case with outside agencies. Sometimes they have conflicting interests and focus not on promoting the advertiser but on promoting themselves. It’s definitely not always the case, but happens occasionally. In-house teams better understand the business, know more about your products or services. They are insiders… Read more »

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in-house agency, IHAF and Forrester research, advantages and disadvantages of in-housing, marketing effectiveness, marketing transparency, marketing accountability, CheckMedia Solution, AdoptoMedia

How to change marketing strategy during the coronavirus outbreak?

The coronavirus pandemic is forcing the whole world to face unexpected challenges and adapt to the new conditions. Millions of people working in different industries including marketing are looking for ways to succeed or at least remain stable in such a volatile climate. In a recent interview Kathy Bachmann, General Manager of Americas in a global consultancy company, Analytic Partners Inc., shared her opinion on a few strategic problems that suddenly appeared on marketers’ agenda. The trend of growing online sales and lower offline sales, that had been around before the pandemic, has strengthened even further over the last month. Even though customers will return to regular shops once everything gets back to normal, the increasing shift to e-commerce will not go away, so it makes sense to focus on developing this capability. Taking into account the impact on media consumption, consumer mobility and supply chains, it’s necessary to review and adjust some marketing mixes companies currently use. Marketers need to wisely, but quickly plan every next move to benefit from any arising opportunities or mitigate losses. There is no universal strategy, so changes will vary from business to business: some advertisers need to boost spends while others should keep… Read more »

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Effective marketing strategy, marketing effectiveness, coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, marketing investments, ROMI increase, crisis marketing strategy, adapt marketing strategy, e-commerce, media budget reallocation, media budget optimization