If only one person in your business can explain the model, you don't have a measurement programme, you have a dependency

Ask your team “Who can explain our measurement framework?” If you hear one name, or one agency, you have a dependency, not a programme.

A measurement programme only exists when the business can use it without going through one person. Until then, the model is interesting to know about but it doesn't change what anyone does.

Why a model one person understands is not a programme

A programme is the first place you look when a question comes up. Which channel gets next week's budget? What happens if we change price? How much did the World Cup move sales?

If every one of those questions goes through one person, three things happen:

The questions queue behind that person Most of the business never learns what the model covers, what it leaves out, or what it can answer People who don't know what to ask stop asking

• The questions queue behind that person
• Most of the business never learns what the model covers, what it leaves out, or what it can answer
• People who don't know what to ask stop asking

Don’t worry, this is not about being able to read coefficients. This is about having a working understanding of what is in the model, what isn't, and which questions it can answer.

Why teams stop asking and find faster answers

Everyone wants answers quickly. When one person is busy, teams don't wait for the right answer, they find a quicker one. A platform report, a last-click number, a view from the loudest person in the meeting.

The research shows how common this is. A Harvard Business Review Analytic Services survey of 547 marketers, sponsored by Google, found 87% say using MMM is important to their organisation. Only 28% say their organisation is very effective at turning the insight into timely action.

In the same research, 46% cite slow internal processes and 41% say siloed teams stop MMM insights being shared.

Why your agency is not the fix

Many businesses solve this by leaning on their agency. The relationship can be excellent but it is still a dependency.

An agency's response time depends on its workload across other clients. Quarterly and six-monthly updates end up shaped as much by their capacity as by your strategic.

You have probably heard this one: "We can start in March, but April works better for us." You needed the results by April.

There is a second problem. A contact who helps you navigate stakeholders is not the same as someone who owns ongoing strategic delivery. And a strong statistician may not know how your decision makers use the model, or how your business is structured. The maths is one skill, applying it to your decisions is another.

Skills are part of why knowledge ends up with one or two people. Marketing Week's Career and Salary 2024 survey of more than 3,000 brand-side marketers found 36.9% named data and analytics as the biggest skills gap in their function.

Why separate models in separate teams don't fix it

Your performance team uses attribution, your agency runs MMM, sales reads promotion tags and CRM reads direct response.

Each is useful. If they don't talk to each other, you still don't have a programme. There is no single place to go first when a question comes up.

The cost shows up long before anyone leaves

Most people see the risk as the person leaving, the cost starts earlier.

It shows up in the questions people stop asking the model, and in the quicker, weaker sources they use instead. Losing the person just makes it visible.

Then it gets worse. When an agency contact leaves, your business knowledge and the relationships leave with them.

When your in-house lead leaves and nobody else knows the model, a three-month hiring gap makes a proper handover close to impossible. The remaining team is already busy, the model quietly becomes redundant.

What it looks like when it works

Everyone who needs it knows what is in the model, what isn't, and what it can answer People can say "if we do activity A, we'd expect uplift B", link it to revenue, and know roughly when it will land It answers the full range, from weekly budget allocation to pricing, launches, distribution and events like the World Cup You update it when you need to. In our work, update time can come down from four weeks to a few hours, so the cadence follows your decisions, not someone's diary Agencies bring rigour and outside challenge, but the ownership and understanding sit inside your business

• Everyone who needs it knows what is in the model, what isn't, and what it can answer
• People can say "if we do activity A, we'd expect uplift B", link it to revenue, and know roughly when it will land
• It answers the full range, from weekly budget allocation to pricing, launches, distribution and events like the World Cup
• You update it when you need to. In our work, update time can come down from four weeks to a few hours, so the cadence follows your decisions, not someone's diary
• Agencies bring rigour and outside challenge, but the ownership and understanding sit inside your business

Three things to do this month

Ask your CFO, a media planner and a sales lead what is in the programme, what isn't, and what it can answer. Their answers show how far you are from a joined up framework. Name the questions the measurement programme owns. Agree which weekly and strategic questions go to the model first, and which only need a person for interpretation. Test the handover now. If your lead, in-house or at the agency, were gone for three months, who could update the model and explain it to your board?

• Ask your CFO, a media planner and a sales lead what is in the programme, what isn't, and what it can answer. Their answers show how far you are from a joined up framework.
• Name the questions the measurement programme owns. Agree which weekly and strategic questions go to the model first, and which only need a person for interpretation.
• Test the handover now. If your lead, in-house or at the agency, were gone for three months, who could update the model and explain it to your board?

So what next?

A model that only one person can explain gives you slow answers, a handover risk, and a team that finds quicker, weaker numbers elsewhere. A measurement programme gives your business a shared understanding of what the model covers and a habit of asking it first.

Run the ask key stakeholders test this week. Then tell me what you heard, in the comments or in a message. I'm interested in how far apart the answers are.