Measurement Insights

You Should Be Using AI for Your Marketing Measurement (And We Don’t Mean ChatGPT)

One of marketers’ challenges is understanding the tangible impact of the media they run. With many data and analytics platforms promising the silver bullet solution, it has never been more critical for marketers to have the right tools to understand marketing performance.

In the last year, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a hot topic for marketers. With capabilities including generative art creations, machine learning, and voice recognition, AI’s uses seem to be limitless. These developments have not gone unnoticed by social media, as AI-generated art and AI chatbots (e.g., ChatGPT) have been trending on Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and Reddit. While AI is being used to write ad copy and enhance digital customer experiences, it can also be an effective tool for marketing experts to measure marketing’s true impact on business.

AI Marketing Applications:

By itself, AI lacks the business context required to make accurate marketing predictions and draw insights from marketing results. However, with proper direction, AI-powered tools can be ideal for measuring the incremental value of marketing. Here are a few examples of how AI in the right hands can drive maximum value from media spend:

Self-Organizing Map:

Self-organizing maps (SOM) are one example of AI’s application in marketing measurement. A SOM is an unsupervised neural network that organizes data points based on similar properties. One direct use for SOMs is in cluster analysis. Researchers can use a SOM to organize customers into groups based on demographic and behavioral data. These segments can then be used by marketers to target specific consumers based on their shared characteristics.

Causal Machine Learning:

One of the best ways to understand marketing incrementality is through testing. In an ideal world free from business constraints and real-world factors, conducting a marketing test is as simple as creating test and control groups and measuring the effects once the test is completed. This scenario rarely plays out as expected and often is complex and expensive for the company to conduct. This is where Causal Machine Learning (ML) could assist. By training the ML model on covariate, treatment, and outcome data collected over a set period, the causal ML model can begin to understand the relationship between customer data (e.g., purchase recency and demographic data), media exposure, and purchase decisions. Once trained, the model can predict outcomes of decreasing, increasing, or changing marketing actions based on outcome variables, leading to a better understanding of incrementality.

Leverage AI in Your Measurement: Meet MAP

Ovative’s AI-driven measurement tool, MAP, helps marketers drive a 15% increase in their marketing return. Powered by Ovative’s holistic marketing metric, MAP’s Unified Model combines MMM and MTA measurement to help marketers understand the true value of their marketing investments across consumer touchpoints.

Data-driven decision-making is part of our DNA at Ovative, but it is only as valuable as the ability to activate learnings. That’s why our MAP technology is always supported by a team of Measurement Experts that help our clients take meaningful action on the tool’s insights. We’d love to talk to you about your testing and measurement goals! We are here to help!

Ovative is a digital-first media and measurement firm seeking to transform the measure of marketing success. At Ovative, we help brands move the needle. We are curious. We value your brand. We want to see you succeed. Connect with us to learn more!


Lillian Smith

Senior Analyst, Paid Social

About the Author

Lillian is a Senior Analyst on the Paid Social team at Ovative.

Dale Nitschke

Dale Nitschke

CEO & Founder

About the Author

Dale is the Founder and CEO of Ovative. After years of operating a large omni-channel business and leading a customer data initiative, Dale knew there was an opportunity to create a marketing firm that helped clients become more customer centric and drove better performance outcomes. A gap existed between business consultancies and advertising agencies that modern marketing approaches demand. He also believed that a strong, healthy culture could attract and develop smart, talented team members. In 2009, he formed Ovative to bring media, measurement, and consulting together under one roof to enable an enterprise approach that drives more revenue and grows clients’ customer base.

Prior to founding Ovative in 2009, Dale spent 23 years at Target Corporation where he served as President of Target.com and grew the ecommerce business from start-up stage to a $1 billion+ business and established the foundation of Target’s Guest database capabilities. Previously he served as SVP Merchandising at the Department Store Division of Dayton Hudson. Dale has advised retailers and brands globally on business, growth, marketing, and measurement transformation strategies.

Outside of Ovative, Dale is a leader on topics including business strategy, change management, and team leadership. He serves on the board of Allergy Amulet and on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Wisconsin School of Business at UW-Madison.  He enjoys spending time with his family, up north in northern Wisconsin, playing golf, and cheering on Wisconsin sport teams.

Seth Brand

Senior Manager, Consulting

About the Author

Seth is a Senior Manager on the Consulting team at Ovative.

Amanda McCann

Senior Manager, Consulting

About the Author

Amanda is a Senior Manager on the Consulting team at Ovative, specializing in Retail Media Networks.

Jenny Reinke

Senior Analyst, Measurement Solutions

About the Author

Jenny is a Senior Analyst on the Measurement Solutions team at Ovative.

Annie Zipfel

Executive Vice President, Media

About the Author

Annie is the Executive Vice President of Media at Ovative. She oversees delivery and growth across paid and owned media (digital, traditional, and retail media) and creative services.

Annie has more than 30 years of experience in media, brand management, insights/analytics, marketing, and product. She has also developed large, high-performing teams and built new measurement capabilities. Annie led the marketing team at Andersen Windows & Doors, leading the digital, social, content, customer insights, and creative functions. Prior to that, Annie served in multiple marketing leadership roles at Starbucks, REI, Target, and General Mills, with a keen focus on brand, media, insights, analytics, and measurement.

Annie is an industry leader in brand management, customer insights, e-commerce, social media, and analytics. She enjoys hiking, traveling, cooking, fishing, and spending time with her sweet dog and two sons.

Bonnie Gross

Executive Vice President, Talent Services

About the Author

Bonnie is the Executive Vice President of Talent Services at Ovative. She is responsible for attracting and retaining top talent and creating a culture in which our team thrives personally and professionally. Under Bonnie’s leadership, Ovative has defined an industry leading leadership and development program and transformed our approach to talent recruitment with a focus on diversity, equality and inclusion. Prior to her current role, Bonnie led Ovative’s Client and Business Development team overseeing client satisfaction and new growth opportunities.

Before joining Ovative in 2014, Bonnie spent 13 years at Target Corporate as the VP of digital and Digital Marketing where she led the launch of Cartwheel, an industry-leading social shopping application. Bonnie was the VP of Marketing for Fingerhut for 15 years prior to joining Target.

Leander Cohen

Analyst, Consulting

About the Author

Leander Cohen is an Analyst on the Consulting team at Ovative.

Will Silva

Analyst, Measurement Solutions

About the Author

Will is an Analyst on the Measurement Solutions team at Ovative.

Sarah Chang

Sarah Chang

Analyst, Consulting

About the Author

Sarah Chang is an Analyst on the Consulting team at Ovative.

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