I’ve spent nearly a decade in marketing mix modeling (MMM), and I can tell you this: MMM starts with the model and proves itself in product and growth. An MMM without growth is like a car without fuel; it simply doesn’t work.
The rise of open-source MMM and the flood of low-cost wrapper vendors have created an overabundance of choice. But many fail to address the core product challenges that prevent MMM from unlocking sustainable growth. Unless we treat MMM as a growth co-pilot rather than just a statistical model, it’s doomed to fail. We must raise our expectations beyond modeling libraries and transform them into impactful marketing products.
Observational vs. causal: Why MMM needs a reality check
MMM is an observational technique. Claims of “causal MMMs” ignore fundamental product limitations and are nothing more than marketing buzzwords. Marketers should stop asking, “What model should I use?” and start asking, “What product will drive measurable growth for my business?”
Incrementality testing, for example, is overused in MMM. While valuable for validating models and ensuring accountability, relying on it as the sole input is short-sighted. Many inexperienced experimentation companies and media platforms benefiting from ad spend push this approach, but it doesn’t solve the deeper challenges of MMM.
Why MMM fails enterprises
The conversation should focus on solving the structural barriers that prevent enterprises from getting genuine, sustained value from MMM. These issues include:
- Generating clean, structured data without overwhelming data teams
- Building models that address structural issues like multicollinearity and endogeneity
- Delivering actionable insights beyond simple budget optimizations
The sheer number of customer success teams and consulting services in the industry signals that MMM products still lack the ease and efficiency they should provide.
Moving from basic MMM to growth-first thinking
The next generation of MMM solutions must go beyond MMM and embrace a growth-first mindset. Every MMM vendor should:
- Automate clean data collection at scale
- Develop sophisticated, transparent models that stand up to real-world testing
- Make insights easier to understand and act on for marketers
This requires a fundamental shift from a model-centric approach to a product-centric one that addresses marketers’ actual needs.
At Mutinex, we’ve been working on these challenges. Our DataOS product has driven the widespread adoption of MMM across APAC, enabling marketers to unify and activate their data. This kind of innovation is crucial for making MMM accessible, scalable and effective.
We’re also developing robust testing suites that allow customers to validate models automatically against real-world experiments. Transparency is key, and the future of MMM depends on platforms backed by robust, transparent testing. This ensures models perform well in real-world scenarios.
Making insights more accessible is just as important – that’s why we prioritize intuitive UX. For example, we developed MAITE, an AI chatbot to allow marketers to directly query their MMM data. One of our marketing partners, Cam Luby, who works at Australian telco Optus, told us how he’s using the tool: “With MAITE, you just go straight to your question, and it provides the hypothesis or a set of them for you. It’s a very quick way to a starting point compared to how we’ve worked before.” User-centric design is essential for ensuring that MMM tools are not just powerful but also practical.
The future: From models to answers
The industry must shift from model-first to platform-first – from delivering models to delivering growth-ready answers, especially as the marketing landscape becomes more complex. To power the future of growth, we are obsessed with building a growth co-pilot and end-to-end system that collects, processes and analyzes data in near real time to fuel marketing decisions.
Growth is the goal. Nothing else matters.
Henry Innis is the co-founder and CEO of Mutinex. He is based in New York City overseeing one of the fastest growing MarTech companies in history across APAC.
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