Introducing… Marina Stuefer, Senior Client Leader

Marina Stuefer

Marina Stuefer

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What exciting projects are you working on currently?

One of our CPG clients launched an AI-driven ad campaign at the end of 2024. By AI-driven, I mean the creative was generated almost entirely using AI. What’s exciting is that we’re in the process of measuring how effective it was. Specifically, we want to find out to what extent the campaign drove incremental sales and compare this to previous campaigns that were not created using AI. Given that gen AI remains a huge topic of conversation in the industry, I think a lot of brands will be interested in learning how this campaign performed.

What other interesting questions are clients asking you for help with?

There are three I’d like to highlight. First, a tech client was weighing up a sponsorship deal with a baseball team. They asked us to evaluate the cost of putting their logo on the stadium and the payback it could generate over what time period. They also wanted to know whether they should use the budget for something else entirely. This project challenged us to find new types of datasets, creative ways to measure short- versus long-term investment strategies, and to provide recommendations in line with business goals across different time horizons.

Second, a CPG client wanted help with analyzing shifts in consumer buying behavior within a group of products. Specifically, they wanted to know which customers might trade down, which might trade up or trade in, including their own but also competitive offerings. Our analysis helped the business to better navigate the uncertain macroeconomic environment.

Third, an automotive client wanted to understand how much of its marketing budget it should allocate to demand generation versus demand capture. Specifically, they wanted to know how best to balance building a premium brand over the long term with growing short-term sales via discounted pricing at dealerships, and the trade-offs between the two.

What are you most passionate about when it comes to marketing effectiveness?

Helping brands to understand rapid change and how they should react is something that I love. Whether it’s the emergence of a new competitor, channel, technology, or trend, there’s always something that requires brands to think about new and innovative ways to market themselves to customers. I particularly enjoy uncovering the dynamics of the feedback loop between brands and consumers, and what role marketing plays in helping customers to like a product or service and to become brand ambassadors.

What’s the biggest mistake you see marketers making when it comes to marketing effectiveness?

There can be a tendency to think that the solution to an effectiveness problem is adding more data or buying a new measurement tool. While these are very helpful, they’re not always what marketers need to make a difference and drive business growth.

In my experience, building a strong effectiveness culture – the values, beliefs, and behaviors – that’s aligned with business goals is one of the most critical things brands can do to ensure that recommendations and insights from data and measurement solutions get actioned.

Read more: Defining success is one of the most important but overlooked ways to improve your marketing effectiveness strategy

It’s been five years since you led GT’s expansion on the West Coast of the USA. What’s been the biggest learning?

The DNA of companies here on the West Coast tends to be very different. They’re very fast paced and high growth compared to some of the more established brands I worked with elsewhere in the US and Europe. Typically, they begin their journey with a focus on driving short-term customer acquisition using predominantly digital investments. But as they grow and become more established, long-term customer retention becomes a more central business goal. Uncovering the trade-offs involved between the two is critical to success.

I also like the fact that the start-up culture and fierce competition means there’s a ‘fail-fast’ mentality that forces marketers to make a lot of courageous decisions regularly without fear.

What book have you read recently that you would recommend?

There are two! Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell is really cool because it does a great job of utilizing data and statistics to illustrate how power structures and social dynamics work through stories of social epidemics, institutional failures, and historical events.

I’ve also just started listening to Nexus by Yuval Noah Hariri, which examines the relationship between information and power, and how it has shaped human society. It also explores the potential risks and benefits of technologies such as AI. I find I get through a lot more books via audio, so I highly recommend this to anyone who struggles to find time to read.

Contact Marina to discuss any of the issues raised in the Q&A.


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