Making MMM Fit for 2026: An Essential Guide for Marketers

Marketers are increasingly turning to marketing mix modeling (MMM) to guide decision-making and ensure their investments are as effective as possible. But many aren’t using it to its full potential. The resurgence is being driven by three key factors:

• Data deprecation and the limitations of last-click attribution in an increasingly fragmented, privacy-first landscape
• The challenge of proving marketing’s value amid shrinking budgets and economic volatility
• A surge of new MMM providers entering the market.

However, many remain unclear about what MMM is truly capable of, how to use it to its full potential, and how to choose the most appropriate solution. Confidence in marketing measurement will decline in 2026, Forrester predicts.

This guide helps you to maximize MMM’s capabilities, evaluate providers, and drive data-informed growth with more confidence. Fill out the form to secure your free guide.

How to Get MMM Right in 2026

Making MMM Fit for 2026: An Essential Guide for Marketers cuts through the complexity and uncertainty. It outlines five key areas you should focus on to ensure you choose the MMM solution that best serves your needs and benefit from the full range of capabilities that MMM can deliver.

This guide is designed for:

• CMOs and senior marketing leaders
• Marketing effectiveness and analytics professionals
• Data and insights decision-makers seeking confident, actionable measurement.

What You’ll Learn

By reading the guide, you’ll discover how to:

• Balance speed with actionability: understand how to choose a solution that delivers rapid insights and deep expertise
• Prove long-term business value: move beyond ROI to measure what actually drives sustainable growth
• Go beyond media measurement: capture the full picture of what’s driving performance
• Work with imperfect data: leverage what you have today while building for tomorrow
• Plan for the future, not just the past: use scenario planning to navigate volatility and optimize proactively.

"The MMM landscape has exploded with shiny new objects clouding what matters: driving data-informed business growth. Gain Theory’s proven expertise brings clarity via innovative solutions and consultancy."

Claudia Sestini

Global CMO, Gain Theory

Listen to the Key Takeaways

Our AI-powered podcast, Marketing Effectiveness Unlocked, provides a concise audio overview of the guide. Listen below for a snapshot of the core findings.

Inside the Guide

The guide contains five core sections:

1: Balance Speed with Adaptability and Actionability

Understand the trade-offs between technology-driven speed and human expertise when selecting the right solution for your business needs.

Case study: How an automotive giant drove $56M in revenue with granular, near-time insights.

2: Prove Long-Term Value, Not Just Short-Term ROI

Discover why you need to focus on effectiveness not efficiency and how you can to optimize for the metrics that actually drive business growth.

Case study: How a grocer achieved 800% market share increase with a long-term brand focus.

3: Go Beyond Media-Only Measurement

Learn how to measure the full spectrum of drivers impacting performance—creative, promotions, macroeconomic factors, and more.

Case study: How a global manufacturer measured multimillion-dollar brand partnerships to unlock up to 27% incremental value growth.

4: Don’t Strive for Perfect Data

Understand why leveraging imperfect data for immediate insights while building a roadmap for continuous improvement is the best approach.

Case study: How a CPG giant accelerated data delivery by four weeks and improved creative ROI by 30%.

5: Get Insights into What Might Happen, Not Just What Has Happened

Discover why embedding techniques such as scenario planning into your MMM program to proactively optimize investments is so important.

Case study: How an FMCG company used scenario planning to drive $212M in realized value.

The guide also includes a comprehensive checklist to ensure your MMM capabilities are fit for 2026, and six critical questions to ask when evaluating MMM providers.

"Marketing doesn't exist in a vacuum. That’s why our approach to MMM is called business driver modeling – it reveals how your investments perform in the context of everything else affecting your business."

Marina Stuefer

Managing Partner, Gain Theory

Download the Guide

Discover how to make your MMM deliver business impact in 2026.

Fill out the form to secure your free guide: Making MMM Fit for 2026: An Essential Guide for Marketers.

FAQs

What is marketing mix modeling (MMM)?
Marketing mix modeling is a statistical technique that measures how marketing investments impact business outcomes like sales, profit, and market share. It uses historical data to quantify the contribution of marketing and other business drivers and enable data-informed decisions about key strategic questions like optimal budget allocation. Learn more about Gain Theory’s unique approach to MMM.

Who is this guide for?
This guide is designed for CMOs, senior marketing leaders, marketing effectiveness professionals, and data and insights decision-makers who want to ensure their MMM investment delivers real business impact in an increasingly complex and crowded marketplace.

How can MMM improve business results?
When implemented correctly, MMM helps marketers optimize budget allocation, prove long-term value, understand the full range of drivers impacting performance, and use scenario planning to navigate market volatility. Our case studies show results ranging from $56M in incremental revenue to 800% market share growth.

What makes Gain Theory’s approach different?
We’ve been delivering innovative MMM solutions for over 50 years. Our business driver modeling approach goes beyond media-only measurement to capture all factors impacting performance. We combine advanced AI and analytics with deep human expertise to deliver actionable insights and partner with you to ensure recommendations are implemented across your organization.

My organization’s data isn’t perfect. Can we still benefit from MMM?
Yes. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. The guide outlines how to leverage the data you have today for immediate directional insights while building a roadmap for continuous data improvement. Our tools and benchmarks can help fill gaps and validate data quality.

Does the guide include practical tools?
Yes. The guide includes a comprehensive checklist to assess your MMM readiness, six critical questions to ask when evaluating providers, and real-world case studies showing measurable business impact.

Summary

Making MMM Fit for 2026: An Essential Guide for Marketers is a practical roadmap to navigating the increasingly complex MMM landscape. This guide outlines five key areas every marketer should focus on: balancing speed with actionability, proving long-term value beyond ROI, measuring beyond media, working with imperfect data, and planning for future scenarios.

Backed by real case studies showing results from $56M in incremental revenue to $212M in realized value, this guide provides the clarity and confidence you need to ensure your MMM investment truly delivers business growth in 2026.