Measurement Insights

Balancing People, Process, and Tech

The combination of customer-level targeting and personalization, the ever-growing flood of data and use cases for its activation, and the increased focus on privacy and consumer control are critical factors in making every marketer’s job more complicated — but also more impactful. As a result, marketers are asking new questions about the performance of their marketing investments and trying to extract insight from an array of tools, platforms, and partners.

More and more marketers are recognizing the importance of taking a holistic and value-driven approach to measurement. Focusing on consumers and their needs increases the opportunity to grow sales and enhance customer performance, but it also demands deeper integration across teams and disciplines. The people who lead and staff those teams will need to be comfortable in cross-functional efforts, blending consumer insights, performance data, and marketing strategy to develop integrated plans across marketing, media, and measurement. 

In the short-term, marketers are likely to experience some frustration and challenges in activating on the insights offered by advanced marketing measurement. To bridge the gap, many will turn to external tools and partners who are familiar with the application of advanced measurement to media strategy, testing, and executions. This strategy will not yield long-term wins, as the organization’s technology stack will quickly outpace their operating model. 

In the longer-term, we expect a more fluid and diverse approach to career pathing, training, and development within marketing organizations. The most successful marketers will intentionally seek out a range of experiences that allows them to increase their understanding of the art and the science behind an effective marketing plan. 

As an example, many companies are creating Centers of Excellence (COEs) for Marketing Analytics. The purpose of such a COE is to centralize the knowledge and expertise that uses data and insights to inform marketing decision-making. Instead of housing these resources within individual marketing channels or sales channels (e.g., eCommerce, Stores), a COE model supports a holistic, consumer-centric approach. For example, one of our clients, a large technology company, introduced a Digital Marketing COE with leads representing various marketing channels, in addition to a lead for Measurement and Analytics. These leads connect with internal stakeholders, external partners, and industry thought leaders to develop recommendations and best practices for their respective areas. Each Product Marketing team can then tap into the relevant lead’s expertise as they develop their own marketing and media strategy, inclusive of measurement and optimization.

Meaningful organizational change will be required to enable these teams, including:

  • Reorganizing skill sets to bring data management/IT, analytics, creative, site, and marketing closer together, including in Center of Excellence (COE) models
  • Evolving KPIs to account for the full breadth of marketing’s impact
  • Exploring potential partners who speak marketing, data, and consumer fluently and can translate across those domains for internal teams
  • Building new career paths and training & development experiences to support the development of well-rounded marketers, including deeper immersion in data and analytics

It’s easy to become overwhelmed by all of the considerations involved in moving to a more advanced approach to marketing measurement. To get started, the most effective marketers start by asking where value is created in their business and set their priorities based on their ability to move the needle in those areas. Steady progress and a solid plan are the keys to driving impact over time.

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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