Unlock Marketing ROI: Insights from the Google Think Measurement Summit

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” This quote was attributed to John Wanamaker over a century ago, and yet the sentiment rings true for the majority of advertisers today – caused by slow adoption of the latest measurement methodologies and inability to cut through organisational barriers between marketing and finance.

Google’s Think Measurement Summit, which I had the privilege of attending last week, provided a platform to engage with the latest advancements and success stories in the measurement landscape, and how advertisers can get ahead of the competition. The insights gleaned from this event reinforced three key points for me:

1. The Accessibility of Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) with Meridian: The introduction of Meridian has democratized MMM, making it more accessible than ever before. This shift underscores the imperative for advertisers to adopt MMM, as those who fail to do so risk falling behind their competitors who are leveraging these insights to optimize their media investments. In fact, it has been found that C-level executives who placed high importance on MMMs were over 2X more likely to exceed revenue goals by 10% or more – Rethink ROI with AI powered measurement – Karen Stocks – March 2025
   
   Meridian also provides some novel builds over typical MMM solutions:
   – Inclusion of indexed search data enables the modeling of holistic (paid & organic) search in driving return on investment. This has historically been challenging to include through other MMM solutions
   – Reach and frequency modeling gives a more effective view of display and video performance, showing how many customers are impacted by your media rather than simply optimizing for spend and impressions.
   
   At Brainlabs we’re already incorporating Meridian models into our Cortex AI platform to model channel response curves and optimise media investment accordingly.
   
   
2. The Role of Organizational Change in Measurement Success: A key takeaway was the understanding that effective measurement is not merely a technological challenge but also an organizational one. Advertisers who excel in measurement do so by fostering a culture of data-driven decision-making and aligning their teams around measurement objectives. This may involve restructuring teams, upskilling employees, and implementing new processes to embed measurement into the organizational DNA.
   
   This is something I have seen across our own client base at Brainlabs. The clients at the cutting edge of measurement are involving finance stakeholders early in the conversation to align on KPI frameworks and agree measurement methodologies that align with overarching business goals. The majority still aren’t doing this, as validated by some stark findings from from Google:
   
   Only 40% of senior marketing decision makers believe their organisation has a clear effectiveness goal, and only 20% agree on how to measure it
   
   68% of finance decision makers agree that marketing and finance share data insights regularly, compared to only 48% of marketing decision makers
   
   – The Effectiveness Equation – Google – March 2025
   
   In short, the only way to effectively optimize media investment is with your marketing and finance teams singing from the same hymn sheet.
   
   
3. The Importance of a Test & Learn Agenda in Navigating Measurement Complexity: The increasing complexity and fragmentation of the media landscape necessitate a test & learn approach to measurement. Advertisers need to be agile and adaptable, constantly experimenting with new methodologies and technologies to stay ahead of the curve. This requires a willingness to embrace uncertainty and a commitment to continuous learning.
   
   I have seen this with my own clients when it comes to testing the incremental impact of a new channel or tactic. Geo-based incrementality studies are a really effective way to demonstrate the impact of an ad on a test vs control group and justify further investment. Not only that, the tests are easy to explain in layman terms, meaning it’s great insight to bring to a finance team as well.
   
   At Brainlabs we have always understood that this is critical and place a test & learn at the core of all of our work (in fact, it’s one of our cultural values).