Beyond Vanity Metrics: Why Media Transparency is Now Non-Negotiable for Business Growth
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In today’s fast-moving, AI-powered media world, businesses can no longer afford to fly blind. Transparency and performance visibility aren’t just “nice to have” anymore — they’re critical for survival and growth.
That was the clear message from a recent expert panel featuring moderator Linda Cronin, EVP, Global Head of Media at Monks, Jay Pattisall, VP of Principal Analyst at Forrester, Millie Chu, Sr. Director of Media Analytics at T-Mobile, and Meredith Zhang, Measurement Partner at TikTok. Together, they called for a bold new vision: a “Bloomberg Terminal for brand content” — a world where marketers can see, measure, and act on data with the clarity and speed of Wall Street.
Despite the technology we have, achieving end-to-end media visibility is hard because of several key hurdles. Many brands are still using basic metrics instead of advanced tools like Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) that give us deeper insights.
The evolving, non-linear customer journey, often serendipitous discovery, makes traditional tracking useless. Siloed teams across brands, agencies and publishers, and lack of common language and standardized naming conventions make data analysis impossible. Measuring until after campaigns are done and misinterpreting real-time data makes it hard to get a clear picture of performance.
At Cannes Lions, industry leaders discussed the transformative impact of AI on brand storytelling, highlighting its influence on efficiency, transparency, and creativity from ideation to delivery.
To get to a clearer media future we need to take practical steps to unify metrics and integrate measurement into the planning process. Businesses should prioritize business outcomes like sales and revenue, align KPIs to boardroom priorities not fragmented metrics.
Measurement must be part of the planning process so we can make faster, smarter decisions. Causal inference over vanity metrics and speed up MMM to get insights in weeks not months is also crucial. Understanding off-platform impact and driving organizational change from the top down is key to success.
Ultimately the future of marketing is about radical transparency, real-time insights and full-funnel accountability. This means we need to unify data, integrate measurement practices and focus on tangible business outcomes.
It’s hard but the path forward is strong leadership support, rethinking how brand value is perceived and organizational agility. If we do this we’ll not only have better marketing but also more resilient data-driven businesses.
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