What’s been the work highlight of your year?
Marketers continue to embrace holistic measurement techniques like marketing mix modeling (MMM) rather than relying on outdated methods like last-touch attribution.
In turn, they’re asking better questions. Instead of “How much should I spend between social and online video (OLV)?”, they’re asking “What are the right levers to pull within OLV to drive growth among a specific audience?”
Aided by more robust data and AI, advanced MMM approaches are also providing marketers with the fast, granular insights they need to optimize their investments at the tactic level.
We’re seeing the results of these shifts show up where it matters. Marketing is accounting for a larger share of total sales every quarter and every year. It’s driving growth, even as many companies face headwinds from macroeconomic factors.
It’s been an amazing year to be in the marketing and analytics space!
What questions are marketers asking us to help with in 2026?
The age-old question “What is the revenue impact of creative quality?” continues to be asked by many of our clients.
Consider the quick service restaurant industry. How many adverts show people eating hamburgers? How many adverts show people eating hamburgers in a restaurant versus in a car, or at home?
It’s been hard to answer these questions at speed and with certainty due to the sheer number of adverts and the lack of creative data taxonomy. As a result, it’s been impossible to show how different creatives truly impact financial KPIs.
The good news is we’re now able to answer these questions and demonstrate the business impact of different creative ideas and executions thanks to AI-driven creative measurement. In addition, we can enable brands to optimize creative to increase differentiation from the competition, improve ROI, and drive growth.
I think 2026 is going to be a big year in the creative effectiveness landscape as a result.
What are some of your favorite advertising campaigns?
I can’t answer this question without a shout-out to ESPN’s “This is SportsCenter” commercials, which started back in the 1990s. They are my all-time favorite and a staple of my childhood.
To bring things a little more up to date, Disney’s “You’re only little once” campaign, which targeted younger parents, hit an emotional chord with me. I think it’s quite impactful. Simon Sinek famously said that “people don’t buy what you do, people buy why you do it”. Disney is a company that has built an empire on that motto – as someone who comes from a Disney family and who now has a Disney family himself, I should know!
What TV show would you recommend to our readers and why?
I’m at the stage of parenting where there is a lot of YouTube on my TV! But if I think back to a favorite show that I watched recently, it would be White Lotus – purely for the great character development.
Contact Jon to discuss any of the subjects raised in this Q&A.