Monthly Archives: August 2017

Mix modelling muddles marketers

Posted on Tuesday, 29 August 2017 5:54 am by markpilip

Originally posted on Marketing Science:
I think econometric modelling is over used in marketing. And routinely produces misleading results. Let me explain… Warning: people who make their living from such modelling may not like what I have to say. Astrology,…

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I’ve been a fairly successful continuity marketer, CMO, whatever. As such I’ve got a lot of what I think are good ideas about how to do marketing-type things. But what if I’m just an example of an outlier that’s made it … Continue reading →

Posted on Monday, 28 August 2017 10:45 pm by markpilip | Comments Off on Thought Experiment: Am I Just an Example of Survivorship Bias?

Need an EVP of Brand Safety? You’ve Got a Problem!

Posted on Monday, 28 August 2017 9:57 am by markpilip

It took a second read of the “Lets Talk About The Brand Safety Tax” column in AdExchanger last Tuesday to catch this: It’s a small price to pay, said John Montgomery, global EVP of brand safety at GroupM, running somewhere … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, digital marketing, Media, Strategy | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Need an EVP of Brand Safety? You’ve Got a Problem!

Source Level Triage

Posted on Tuesday, 22 August 2017 9:08 am by markpilip

Let’s assume you’ve built your marketing whiffletree and have a banding model at the source level that you can analyze every Monday. Of course, you’ll sort your sources from most effective to least and do more of the things that … Continue reading →

Posted in Marketing, Media, Philosophy, Tactics | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Who’s Going to Debug Digital Advertising?

Posted on Wednesday, 16 August 2017 11:33 am by markpilip

In Alan Kay’s talk “How To Invent The Future II” he quotes Tony Hoare: “Debugging is  harder than programming, so don’t use all your cleverness to write the program.” The entire digital ecosystem, so incredibly complicated that nobody can tell … Continue reading →

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Live by the Algorithm, Die by Same

Posted on Tuesday, 15 August 2017 9:09 am by markpilip

Think your fancy, all-seeing algorithm can’t be gamed? So do the fools at Uber. Unfortunately, it looks like Uber drivers can just switch off the app at once and trigger surge pricing. No complicated competing algorithm, no data scientists needed. Complex … Continue reading →

Posted in digital marketing, fraud, Marketing, Philosophy | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Live by the Algorithm, Die by Same

TIKI: You Could Have Been Firmer

Posted on Monday, 14 August 2017 10:08 am by markpilip

Imagine your brand being co-opted by an odd mix of right-wing frat boys with funny haircuts, toothless old men with grey beards and beer guts, and sniveling shifty-eyed wanna-be soldiers. In other words, the Master Race, same as they ever … Continue reading →

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How Many Tracking Pixels to Screw in a Light Bulb?

Posted on Friday, 4 August 2017 11:59 am by markpilip

I turned on WordPress’s WordAds on this blog a couple of days ago. It takes a couple of days for the ad tech ecosystem to smell the fresh blood, but as of this morning, there are 66 tracking pixels firing … Continue reading →

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Data’s FUBAR? Your Process is TARFU!

Posted on Friday, 4 August 2017 9:28 am by markpilip

I’ve taken to ignoring most of the text in trade industry publications until I’ve looked at the numbers. Often, the math doesn’t match the narrative or tells another story completely. Case in point: a couple of days ago, this article … Continue reading →

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Handling Marketing “Helmet Fire”

Posted on Tuesday, 1 August 2017 11:59 am by markpilip

Helmet fire, also known as task saturation, is a silent killer among pilots. As more things happen at once, you start to fail. You might get fixated on one thing–like the 20 cent light that killed 101 aboard Eastern Air … Continue reading →

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