Roots

Why Some Brand Marketers Are Going Back To Their Roots With Mix Modeling

Brand marketers are reverting to traditional measurement methods such as marketing mix modeling (MMM) and surveys as reliance on multi-touch attribution (MTA) or last-click models proves unreliable. The industry is embracing partners that prioritize cloud data integrations and incrementality testing to relate campaign activity to broader engagement, rather than just direct conversions. Notable cases include Ribble Cycles selecting SegmentStream to measure softer metrics and campaign contribution, Hard Rock Digital partnering with Within for media buying and attribution and adopting MMM to assess incrementality, and Activision reworking attribution with direct platform integrations alongside Improvado for streamlined dashboards. Carter’s hired Jeffrey Coleman to lead digital marketing science and moved away from MTA toward MMM, while startups such as INCRMNTAL and Measured, plus Amplitude, are advancing attribution-focused products. The trend reflects a shift toward longer-horizon analytics as platforms like Meta, TikTok, and Amazon complicate cross-channel stitching.

Post-Pandemic, Great Wolf Lodge Goes Back To Its Upper-Funnel Roots

After the pandemic, Great Wolf Lodge shifts its media strategy from a primarily programmatic, lower-funnel focus to TV-driven upper-funnel branding. The resort launched an omnichannel campaign aimed at raising unaided brand awareness and upper-funnel health metrics. The effort, run with Horizon Media handling media planning and buying and Erich & Kallman overseeing creative, marks a return to its roots in TV advertising. Founded in 1997, the chain began regional TV in 2014 and national TV in 2018; since 2018 it had aligned media plans to audience-targeting, but the pandemic forced a rethink. Pre-pandemic, 60% of digital buys were transacted programmatically (in 2019), now down to 30%. The campaign spans national TV, CTV, digital, social, and radio, with video content viewed as the strongest branding vehicle.

Blackstone-Backed Vungle Is Maturing Away From Its Mobile Ad Network Roots

Vungle, the mobile ad network backed by Blackstone with a $750 million investment in 2019, is evolving into a performance marketing platform. Under CEO Jeremy Bondy, appointed in November 2020, the company has pursued an acquisitive strategy, acquiring AlgoLift in October 2020 to enhance privacy-respecting bidding and GameRefinery in March 2021 to guide features and engagement. Bondy frames programmatic as a nine-figure business, and the firm positions itself as a multiproduct company combining marketing intelligence and automation. The shift reflects broader moves toward data-driven growth, measurement, and creative analytics, with ongoing work around iOS 14 changes, contextual data, and SKAdNetwork integration across the product suite. Leaders expect further acquisitions and diversification beyond traditional ad-network functions, including closer ties with MMPs and potential new entrants in the space.