Combining 25 years as the ‘best marketing academic on the planet’ (Marketing Week, 2023) with practical implementation across industries and continents, I can think of 7 reasons:
TL; DR: double-digit top line and bottom line gains, diagnosing and solving YOUR problem, cross-functional and C-suite translation, thought leadership, AI native efficiency, the best latest research, and a global CMO network.
1. Measurement excellence gets you double-digit results:
You know it will be done right, because I don’t cut corners that matter or tell you (just) what you want to hear. I bring in my experience from very different situations AND everything marketing scientists have published that is relevant to your business. As the customer testimonials and two Practice Prize papers show, companies gained 10-20% sales with the same budget (L’Occitane), and double this amount by also optimizing budget size (Inofec).
2. Solving YOUR problem. Practically.
While I am not that kind of doctor, I do diagnose carefully. I don’t take the symptom for granted but ask the right questions to get to the heart of the matter. And once we agree on the problem, I commit to solving it without aiming to find new ones just to stay employed. Instead, I get you going and check in when needed.
3. Cross-functional and C-suite translation
I will join you in talking to other leaders, including your Chief Financial Officer and CEO. My modeling approach comes from economics and finance, helping you to make the profit case for better budget and allocation. As Principal Research Scientist and manager at Amazon Ads, I worked inside the company balancing marketing spend against finance scrutiny, the pandemic, and changing economic headwinds.
4. Thought leadership
Weekly updates to both my LinkedIn Newsletter “Pauwels on Marketing” and the ‘Amazon Days’ Substack you can share with other decision makers. Practical books include ‘It’s not the Size of the Data – it’s how you use it: Smarter Marketing with Analytics and Dashboards’ and ‘Break the Wall: How to Democratize Digital in Your Business’. My publications received dozens of awards, and are available for free at my website marketingandmetrics.com, organized by topic: AI, Metrics, the 4 Ps, social media, big data, responsible research, and retail media.
5. AI-native efficiency
After Amazon stopped supporting our work, I left with a colleague and founded mmmlabs.ai to streamline marketing mix modeling (MMM) and integrate it with experiments (RCTs) and multitouch attribution (MTA). AI brings us efficiency in data pipelines, quality checks, and flagging unusual patterns, while the best human experts help you make sense of what different models recommend
6. Absorbing the best latest research and practice:
As editor-in-chief of the best international journal in marketing, I have a front row seat at the latest research. For three years running, Rethink elected me as Top AI leader in retail. Finally, I am an Advisor to the Board of the Benevolent Bandwidth Foundation, promoting AI for humanity by creating and publishing open-source AI apps.
7. CMO network across continents:
I am the cofounder and cohost of CMO Talk USA, which in the first few months already featured Teresa Barriera (Publicis-Sapient), Grace Kao (Snap) and Kipp Bodnar (Hubspot). My consulting projects in Asia, Europe and North-America gave me insights from the wonderful folks I worked with, from Amazon, FX Disney and Mars to Nissan, Spindrift and Unilever. I learned from their business expertise, including overcoming internal barriers, helping your reports adapt their workflows with AI, and demonstrating the value of marketing.