Versatile Media Mix Analytics

If your business is substantially direct to consumer, then measuring media effectiveness can be a somewhat straightforward, trial and error process. Add in overlapping, fragmented media delivery with unmanaged and sometimes unmonitored third-party retail distribution and the process becomes complex. Determining which media footprint optimizes sales can be a significant challenge. Compounding this challenge is the fact that media and creative can have synergistic effects in particular channels.

An organization that had recently launched a new product had taken the advice of their agency partners and adopted the quintesential "360-degree" media plan, aka an omni-delivery strategy that worked to deliver messaging across a broad variety of fragmented media vehicles. The problem was that budgets were getting tight going into the following year and the team needed guidance as to which media platforms were really working to drive product trial versus merely impressions and engagement.

Although this was a classic media-mix project engagement, care needed to be taken to properly cross-validate, compare, and bridge the results to existing guidance driven by other metrics. Building fact-based internal alignment was critical - a number of stakeholders were predisposed to what worked for the business. In the end, the results compelled the business to move completely away from programmatic activity and reinvest some of the savings in CTV, moving the plan significantly closer to optimal.