Only 15% of marketing directors rely on advertising effectiveness data when allocating budgets — despite massive investments in measurement tools. These are the findings from a study by consulting firm Ebiquity and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), which surveyed 71 senior executives from global brands including PepsiCo, Ford, Mondelēz, and Mars Wrigley. Companies invest in analytics but struggle to turn data into decisions.
Tools exist — decision-making speed doesn't
80% of surveyed companies use marketing mix modeling and brand lift studies to evaluate paid channels. However, insights from these systems rarely influence actual budget allocation. 54% of marketers report that data arrives too late to act on — decision-making cycles are accelerating faster than analytics processes improve.
No study participant rated their own measurement capabilities as best-in-class. 67% acknowledged low maturity in process automation, while 46% of marketing organizations are at the early stages of integrating data sources into a unified system.
Blogger advertising outpaces measurement tools
The pace of investment in influencer marketing, retail media, connected TV, and AI-powered search is outstripping the development of infrastructure to measure these channels. Brands are investing in new formats but lack mature tools to evaluate their effectiveness — unlike traditional media, where methodologies have been refined over decades.
Only 4% of marketers confidently distinguish short-term sales impact from long-term brand building. Most focus on vanity metrics — reach and engagement — which don't reflect real commercial impact. Just 14% of companies have managed to align with their CFO on a definition of marketing effectiveness.
«We have the tools, we have the discipline, we have the coverage. Marketers are still struggling to turn all of those measurements into decisions that impact the business,» — Sorin Pătilinet, Head of Global Marketing Effectiveness Strategy at PepsiCo.
What this means for Russian brands
The Russian influencer marketing landscape faces similar challenges. Brands are increasing budgets for blogger partnerships but often evaluate results by reach and view counts — metrics that don't reflect sales impact. CPM forecasting, engagement projections, and influencer selection aligned with specific business goals remain bottlenecks for most marketing teams.
Three-quarters of global study participants expect that within three years, more than half of budget decisions will be data-driven. For Russian brands, this means building these processes now: aligning KPIs with finance departments, integrating data across channels, and reducing the time from insight to media plan adjustment.
Professional influencer agencies address this comprehensively: selecting influencers based on predictable performance metrics, executing media buying with transparent reporting, and integrating campaign results into the brand's overall analytics. For example, the ETC team uses proprietary forecasting models for each integration — allowing them to assess not just reach, but the conversion potential of an influencer's audience at the campaign planning stage.
Speed matters more than technological complexity
Tom Ashby, Global Head of Media Services at WFA, emphasizes that technology complexity is secondary to the right operational system, governance, and commercial alignment of measurement processes. As scrutiny of marketing investments increases and new channels emerge, the ability to turn data into action becomes a competitive advantage.
The research was conducted in spring of this year with representatives from 10 industries; 27 companies participated in in-depth interviews.
Key takeaways
- Only 15% of marketers use performance data as the foundation for budget decisions, despite 80% of companies applying marketing mix modeling
- 54% of specialists receive analytics too late for operational campaign adjustments
- Influencer marketing and retail media are developing faster than tools to measure their effectiveness
- 46% of organizations are at the early stages of integrating data sources into a unified system
- Only 14% of brands have aligned with their CFO on a definition of marketing effectiveness
- Operational speed and process alignment matter more than technological sophistication of measurement tools
Want to see where the market is heading before your competitors do? The ETC team builds a media strategy and media plan for your niche — with reach forecasts and KPIs fixed in the contract.