MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS ACCELERATOR (MEA) : 2025 (formerly Attribution & Analytics Accelerator)

OVERVIEW

The Marketing Effectiveness Accelerator is the only event focused exclusively on attribution, marketing mix models, and the science of marketing performance measurement. Top minds will present groundbreaking insights and empirically grounded case studies. The audience consists of strategic marketers seeking evidence-based solutions.

The 2025 Marketing Effectiveness Accelerator will be held on November 12 at Dotdash Meredith, 225 Liberty St., New York, NY, 10281.

All presentations will be delivered in person. Most attendees will join in person, while others will participate virtually.

This gathering of modelers, marketers, researchers, and data scientists will expedite innovation, deepen scientific understanding, and mobilize the industry toward best practices and enhanced solutions. Here, B2C and B2B marketers from various categories exchange their experiences and fresh perspectives, promote practical ideas, and investigate innovative techniques and applications.

We are considering topics for the 2025 event and invite case studies, experimental results, or empirically validated best practices that can be linked to business success. Each must be approached diligently from the end-user perspective—no sales pitches. Only proposals that include participation from brands, end-users, academics, or a neutral third party will be accepted.

2025 Topics Under Consideration

AI-Driven Modeling: Promise vs. Practicality

How would you differentiate the applications of AI for marketing mix modeling (MMM) from those used for attribution?
How are you leveraging advancements in AI modeling for MMM, marketing optimization, and/or interpreting market research?
Are automated tools accelerating development? In doing so, are they also raising questions about oversight, reproducibility, and validation standards?
Are AI-driven applications improving the effectiveness and speed of data acquisition and quality control? Are they facilitating the use of more unstructured data?
Do models that utilize AI techniques (e.g., Generative AI) address legacy modeling challenges and offer new capabilities?
Is AI proving valuable in other applications related to the model-building process, such as data capture and preparation, disseminating results, or extracting insights from normative databases?
Given the same data, prompts, or inputs, will the same AI or LLM model ever give different answers?

Data Complexity & Identity Resolution

Are you noticing a growing need to reconcile inconsistent identities, delayed data feeds, and noisy inputs across channels? How are you addressing these challenges in your attribution and marketing effectiveness workflows?
Are there any domains where multi-touch attribution (MTA) is feasible today? If so, explain how you address the loss of third-party information and walled gardens.
How are you handling the validation of “advanced audience” data modeled from multiple sources?
How are AI-generated summaries in search results affecting the identification of intent and audience generation?
How is the rapid growth of unstructured sources (e.g., product reviews, social mentions, video/audio content) reshaping modeling pipelines?
How have privacy regulations and policies shaped your capacity to direct marketing strategies and tactics?
How are you handling the benefits and challenges of increased data granularity (e.g., geography, audience, time period) in MMM and attribution models?

Organizational Structures: Talent, Ethical Standards, and Integration Throughout the Organization

How are you adapting your effectiveness and attribution practices to convey data-driven insights to non-technical stakeholders?
As AI automates data collection, reporting, and predictive modeling regarding effectiveness and attribution, how are you ensuring the quality of insights, upholding ethical standards, and maintaining control over key strategic decisions?
How are you enabling real-time, actionable insights by integrating with marketing tools and collaborating closely with tech teams to ensure a seamless flow of data and automated activation? How do you connect analytics, media, creative, and research teams to combine data from various sources and drive a cohesive, consistently optimized marketing strategy?
Have you effectively utilized in-house BI tools like Tableau, Domo, and PowerBI, or added AI interpretation to these tools to share MMM findings?
How are you ensuring fairness and minimizing bias in your attribution models to safeguard campaign effectiveness and brand reputation?
As data usage and collection practices face increasing scrutiny, how are you developing processes that protect consumer privacy, ensure ethical data use, and comply with government regulations?
Do cleanrooms provide effective solutions for managing data governance and privacy?
How are you adapting your modeling processes to meet the increased demands for faster insights—from C-suites expecting more frequent and timely answers, and from vendors that may struggle to scale resources for quicker model updates?
Is the need to explain complex model outputs to non-technical stakeholders heightening the tension between performance and transparency? How are you managing this?

New Methods and Data Sources in Marketing Performance Measurement

Are you using synthetic data in your marketing performance models? If so, how are you applying it? How effective has it been?
Have you adopted any new methods or data sources that have improved your models?
How are you effectively using your data? Do you learn from past measurements and apply that knowledge to inform your decision-making?
How do you address the differences in your ability to obtain reliable performance measurements across various platforms?
What techniques, such as pooling, ML, and Bayesian modeling, are proving useful in high-dimensional models necessary for measuring digital media, where the number of variables may actually exceed the number of observations?
How are your marketing performance models integrating newer or emerging channels such as Retail Media Networks (RMN), in-game ads, and micro-influencers?
How does the growing investment in retail and commerce media support long-term brand growth?
How are you integrating experiments into AI and MMM, and how do you derive insights from experimental variation for policy decision-making?
How are you using experimentation and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to validate and improve your marketing mix and attribution models? How are these methods guiding business decisions and enhancing model credibility?

Business Impact & Value Attribution

How are you improving MTA and incrementality models to better isolate the impact of individual touchpoints and effectively demonstrate ROI?
What are some examples of robust and flexible analytics models you use to track and measure outcomes across multiple channels and touchpoints?
How can you influence purchase decisions more effectively as consumers increasingly rely on AI agents?
What technologies and models enable genuine real-time attribution and budget optimization?
Can real-time adjustments based on immediate attribution signals substantially improve campaign performance?

Branding: Macroeconomics, Attribution, and Predictive Analytics

How can you effectively measure the long-term effects of branding compared to direct response?
How can branding drivers be assessed more effectively in an unstructured data world, including social media, reviews, and video?
Have your models offered marketing management insights into the trade-offs between long-term and short-term effects?
How can marketers strike the right balance between performance tactics and brand marketing strategies?
How do you evaluate the macroeconomic drivers of brand outcomes (e.g., tariffs, public policy, and economic outcomes)?
How are predictive analytics models enhancing the accuracy of forecasting customer lifetime value, churn, and retention?
What methodologies integrate attribution, MMM, and predictive CLV modeling effectively?

Creative Optimization

How have modeling approaches contributed to optimizing the creative mix across channels, formats, and audiences, and what impact has this had on campaign effectiveness?
How have models been used to provide practical measures of creative wear-out, and how are those insights applied to optimize rotation or refresh strategies?
How have insights from modeling influenced more effective creative development, personalization strategies, or dynamic creative optimization efforts?

Integration of External Marketplace Factors

How are marketing effectiveness models adapting to ahistorical market shocks such as COVID or tariffs? Specifically, how are you estimating price elasticity amid extreme price increases where historical baselines may be unreliable?
What modeling approaches have proven effective in measuring marketing impact during supply chain-driven out-of-stock conditions? How can marketers interpret performance metrics when distribution is disrupted?
How can MMM techniques isolate the effects of brand switching prompted by macro disruptions like price inflation or product shortages? What modeling strategies support actionable guidance in such cases?
Which advanced techniques (e.g., AI, ML, Bayesian methods, automation, direct data platform integration) are enabling faster and more agile MMM? How does speed to insight after campaign execution impact your modeling pipeline, and how does that affect performance optimization?

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: July 11, 2025

All submissions must be entered through our digital portal. Within the portal, you’ll need to include:

Submission Title
Topic
Brief Description
Three Most Important Insights
One Sentence Summary
Business Questions, Results & Methodology
Presenters, including a brand, end-user, academic, or neutral third-party (name, title, company).

For any questions, reach out to sara@thearf.org.

2025 Advisory Committee

We express our gratitude to our Advisory Committee members. This esteemed group of practitioners and academics combined their collective knowledge and curiosity to generate the topics for this year’s MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS ACCELERATOR (MEA) Call for Content.

AGENDA

8:00 – 9:00am	Registration and Breakfast
9:00 – 10:40am	Morning Section Measuring and Optimizing Creative In-Market Performance
9:00 – 9:05am	Opening Remarks Sequent Partners
9:05 – 9:20am	Shifting the Paradigm of Addressability and Utilizing Measurement as a Planning Roadmap Neil Napolitano – Executive Director of Measurement Innovation, Dotdash Meredith
9:20 – 9:35am	Pioneering the Integration of Creative Quality into Marketing Measurement Understanding and measuring media creative effectiveness in a repeatable and scalable manner, for inclusion into MMMs. Alex Fitzgerald – Program Lead– Data Science & Marketing, Ekimetrics Marta Martinez – Managing Director of Data, Measurement and Analytics, Google
9:35 – 9:50am	Ad Testing Breakthrough: AI Amplifies the Voice of Humans Fast and cost-effective copy testing that combines AI models and human input to deliver more accurate results. Tina DeSarno – SVP and Head of Ad Solutions, MarketCast Stephanie Lancaster – Manager, Consumer Insights, Wendy’s
9:50 – 10:05am	The New Era of Storytelling: How AI Enables a New View on Ways Creative Drives Media Impact Leaders only investing in generative AI as opposed to other AI-applications, are losing the opportunity to drive a scaled insights and learning agenda. Rebecca Dykema – SVP Partnerships and Creative Transformation, CreativeX Shekhar Deshpande – Head of Strategy, Global Clients, Meta Abhishek Jadon – VP, Global Media Transformation, Pepsi Shardul Wartikar – VP Analytics, Kantar
10:05 – 10:20am	Attribution at the Edge: Delivering Causal Analysis at Scale for Rapid Business Outcomes Measurement Adam Waszczak, Ph.D. – VP of Data Engineering & Operations, 605 an iSpot company
10:20 – 10:40am	Panel Discussion with Section Speakers Panel Moderator: George Musi – Chief Business Officer, Night Market
10:40 – 11:10am	Morning Break
11:10am – 12:30pm	Mid-Morning Section Overcoming Data Challenges with Innovative Data Solutions
11:10 – 11:25am	Mastering the Micro-Moment: Unleashing Short-Form Content’s Power in Digital Consumer Journeys New strategies to optimize audience engagement across platforms and synergies to drive growth across units. Natasha Hritzuk – VP, WBD Corporate Research Liz Huszarik – Co-Founder, Maverix Insights
11:25 – 11:40am	First-to-Market Holistic Radio Measurement That which cannot be measured should not be bought. But what if it works and just can’t be measured? Curtis Corl – CMO of Ocean State Job Lot Jenna Umbrianna – Chief Development Officer of Mediastruction
11:40 – 11:55am	Touchpoint Analytics: Bootstrapping MMM/ MTA with Practical Research Insights to Fill Data Gaps A practical approach using complementary assessments that can provide insights rather than accept missing data that may bias results. Bridget Nelson – Head of Brand Performance and Audience Research, MassMutual Mike Griffin – VP of Client Service, Kantar
11:55am – 12:10pm	Your Brand Deserves Better, Leveraging MMM to Solve the Brand vs. Performance Dilemma Learn how Transunion leveraged its MMM capabilities to properly evaluate the short and longtail impact of brand media on Snapchat. Colin Duethorn– Group Manager, Revenue Partnerships, Research & Insights, Snapchat Michael Sagristano – Director, Marketing Solutions TransUnion
12:10 – 12:30pm	Panel Discussion with Section Speakers Panel Moderator: Michael Kaushansky – Product Management, Measurement & Data, Walmart
12:30 -1:30pm	Lunch
1:30 – 2:50pm	Early Afternoon MMM: Matching the Complexity of the Marketplace
1:30 – 1:45pm	Goodbye Misleading Metrics: Using Commercial Analytics for Growth Why Commercial Analytics can integrate diverse metrics, understand cross-channel impacts, and make data-driven decisions that drive business growth. Laura Guerin – Sr. Director, Consumer Analytics, SharkNinja Mike Menkes – VP of Customer Engagement, Analytic Partners
1:45 – 2:00pm	How Brands can Drive 5% Sales Lift Through Synthetic Attention A prediction system that instantly scores ad attention and delivers recommendations. Johanna Welch – Global Mars Horizon Comms Lab Associate Director, Mars Max Kalehoff – Chief Growth Officer, Realeyes
2:00 – 2:15pm	The Awareness Advantage: Why Brand Building Drives More Effective Performance Advertising on TikTok How stronger brand awareness drives greater effectiveness in marketing performance. Caroline Gardner – Head of Integrated Brand Marketing & Experience at The RealReal Leanne Tomasevic – US & UK Head of Insights, Tracksuit
2:15 – 2:30pm	Navigating the Journey from Integrated Strategic Planning to Tactical Optimization How causal AI with deep learning empowers agile and effective marketing planning driving revenue growth. Bharath Gaddam – Founder, DataPOEM
2:30 – 2:50pm	Panel Discussion with Section Speakers Panel Moderator: Andy Fisher – Head of Merkury Advanced TV, Merkle
2:50-3:20pm	Afternoon Break
3:20-4:50pm	Late Afternoon Is AI Transforming Marketing Analytics?
3:20 – 3:35pm	From Data to Dollars: How Shiseido Leveraged Machine Learning to Create Meaningful Customer Experiences Practical steps for using machine learning to analyze online user behavior and pinpoint online customers with high lifetime value. Omer Iqbal – SVP, Digital and Technology, Shiseido Company Limited Rodolphe Dougoud – Project Lead, Fifty-Five
3:35 – 3:50pm	Using Daily, Campaign-Level Insights to Maximize ROAS with Machine Learning MMM Using AI-powered MMM to eliminate last-click bias and forecast profitability of future spend across all advertising campaigns. Cameron Bush – Head of Advertising, HexClad Michael True – Co-Founder and CEO, Prescient AI
3:50 – 4:05pm	GenAI Delivers the Next Generation of Multitouch Attribution How Gen AI has remarkable predictive power based on customers interaction history. Steve Cohen – Partner, In4mation Insights John Fix – Consultant, John Fix Ltd
4:05 – 4:20pm	Maximizing the Accuracy of Full Funnel Cross-Media Outcomes Measurement Learning how Nielsen ONE can optimize short term sales and brand growth. Kristin Vento – SVP, Nielsen Adam Isselbacher – SVP, Group Director, Research & Analytics, IPG
4:20 – 4:40pm	Panel Discussion with Section Speakers Panel Moderator: Corina Constantin – Global Head, Campaign Analytics, Essence Mediacom
4:40-4:50pm	Closing Remarks Sequent Partners
4:50-5:00pm	Closing Remarks Mike Menkes – VP of Customer Engagement, Analytic Partners
5:00-7:00pm	Cocktail Reception

PRICING

IN-PERSON	Early Mover 9/29/2025	Standard 11/12/2025
MEMBER	$599	$799
NON-MEMBER	$799	$999

LIVESTREAM	Early Mover 9/29/25	Standard 11/12/25
MEMBER	$299	$449
NON-MEMBER	$449	$599

OVERVIEW

2025 Topics Under Consideration

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: July 11, 2025

2025 Advisory Committee

AGENDA

SponsorS

Host

PRICING

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