Marketing mix models (MMMs) identify ways in which marketing tactics, business events, industry conditions, and competitive actions contribute to key performance indicators (KPIs). What makes MMMs unique in today’s marketing world is that they do not rely on any audience data or cookies and are not impacted by any Apple iOS update or data governance laws.
Unlike other measurement solutions, it can also measure across the walled gardens of Facebook, Google, and Amazon and bridge the gaps of online and offline activations. MMM solutions can capture the true impact of media and take the mystery out of where businesses should aim their marketing dollars, all with a single cookie-less solution.
For over 30 years, MMMs have been a trusted and proven asset to the biggest companies across the globe. They have continuously provided insights, optimized media, and driven incremental business.
In trained hands, MMM solutions are the most powerful and efficient marketing attribution and optimization tool in the industry. Historically, the costs have limited its use to Fortune 500 companies. Fortunately, the Leavened Iterative Hypothesis Testing Engine (LIHTE) and business model have dramatically reduced costs so businesses of any size can now leverage the powerful insights of MMMs.
How is Leavened’s solution cost-effective?
Unlike other agencies with expensive consultants that take months to understand a brand’s business and charge by the hour to create a single model, the LIHTE can run millions of models in a fraction of the time. Within hours, a team can go from data to insights all while removing any bias and potentially saving hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The LIHTE dynamically harnesses node computations that can scale up or down depending on the model’s run. This saves money and ensures each model runs at maximum capacity. It also ensures that the solution is right for any brand’s marketing budget. Leavened believes agencies and brands benefit when money is invested in media, not on costly analytics solutions.
How did Leavened diminish inherent analyst bias?
Many consultant-driven analytics solutions rely on an analyst to make critical business assumptions when creating a model. Instead, Leavened tests every single hypothesis with the LIHTE. With millions of models tested at a time, it is statistics and business sense that drive the final model approval, not a single analyst’s prejudice.
Beyond testing every variable, Leavened is not a black box. Every step of an analysis is available for download and the entire process is 100% transparent. The Leavened team believes that every member of an agency or brand team should be as involved as they wish to be.
What brands gain the most from Marketing Mix Models?
Although large CPG companies initially created and used MMM, Leavened’s clients span various industry verticals and media spends. Every brand can leverage insights from MMMs. One great reason why marketing mix models have become so popular is that they don’t require the data granularity of many other attribution analyses. Any brand with a daily (or weekly) level of spend, impression, and/or GRPs can analyze the impact on aggregated unit sales, revenue, or brand metrics.
It is particularly great for brands that are venturing into new media channels, like digital video or linear TV, because media contribution can be assessed by directly linking media exposure. Many brands have found success online but have hit diminishing returns on current digital media. The broad reach of linear or CTV can open an entirely new audience to a service or product, price points, and more, while still being rigorously measured.
What kind of results should a brand expect?
The data reveals how well marketing tactics attract incremental leads and increase revenue; how well these tactics work in conjunction with one another (even spread across different media, e.g., social media advertisements, print advertisements, etc.); and how best to optimize investment levels for each media type.
Leavened’s MMM sets a new standard for speed, power, and efficiency. It takes a tried-and-true approach to analyze consumer behavior and jets it up to light speed.
The insights it provides inform reporting that can be as broad or as granular as is necessary. Reports can include marketing spend and performance, saturation (diminishing returns), and scenario planning. Unlike other MMMs, Leavened’s solution can even get down to a daypart, spot, and placement level so brands not only optimize strategic spending but can get the most of every dollar on a tactical level.
What media can MMMs measure?
Unlike other approaches, such as multi-touch attribution, MMM reveals the impact of online and offline marketing tactics while accounting for economic indicators, promotions, and other relevant inputs. Any media is measured.
Additionally, we can incorporate other potential impacts on a business. The Leavened team typically accounts for competitive, industry, and business trends to ensure a complete perspective. COVID-19 has impacted nearly every business; from changes in consumer buying habits to wreaking havoc on the supply chain and inventory. Leavened’s MMM solution can account for all of these variables and provide a true, comprehensive business perspective with aggregated data, leading to budget optimization and a better return on investment.
How have iOS updates, cookie-less browsing, and other data restrictions impacted MMM?
Fortunately, MMMs do not rely on any personally identifiable information (PII) or consumer data for analysis. MMM solutions still provide reliable insights regardless of any new tech or government data restrictions. This future-proof analysis will ensure brands can understand the impact of their media without infringing on any consumer data rights or privacy.
Bottom line: Marketing mix models help agencies and brands understand — at a level never before possible — how their marketing tactics drive business metrics. It breaks down high-level metrics, revealing the impacts of digital marketing strategies, media mix marketing efforts, and other data-driven initiatives.
Base sales, market share, brand equity, and brand awareness — these are independent variables that further inform statistical analysis, the goal of which is increasing incremental sales and determining the potential future impact of marketing tactics and their consequent impact on sales.
Leavened’s MMM tools aren’t the exclusive domain of data experts and marketing gurus that create linear models, perform multi-linear regression analysis, and execute endless and incomprehensible non-linear mathematical techniques.
Instead, our tool is relatively easy to master, and the process and results are completely transparent. We teach agencies and brands to run the models — millions of them in just a few hours — and to interpret the data and refine the results. With experience, agencies can run more efficient and precise models to realize in real-time appropriate next steps to maximize ROI.
Marketing mix models are the foundation upon which Leavened has built its core services. It’s ready for you today, tomorrow, and in the cookie-less future, that’s already being shaped by the powerful tools that we’ve introduced to the market.
