The Truth About MMM Case Studies : Beyond Big Numbers

Real MMM Case Studies don't have flashy numbers

Numbers stick. Big numbers stick even better.

But are they always accurate?

I often see bombastic numbers reported by some MMM vendors in their case studies.

At Aryma Labs, we made a conscious decision of never to run behind numbers and try to create performance marketing-ish case studies.

While numbers like 50x ROAS or 45% revenue growth may help grab eye balls, it often occludes reality.

MMM is different from performance marketing. One simply does not get to see huge numbers or drastic turnarounds.

The Systemic Shock Risk

MMM is a holistic endeavor to gauge the marketing effectiveness of all your marketing spends. Not just few media channels.

Further, behind the spends are often well thought out strategies that also take into cognizance interaction effects.
I think of marketing strategies as interconnected cob web. You make change to one marketing channel, it has repercussions on the other.

While a MMM model might suggest increasing certain media spends by 25% or 30%, brands must consider:

• Budget constraints - can they actually afford this shift?

• Downstream effects - how does this impact other channels?

• Strategic balance - sudden, drastic changes could destabilize the entire system.
  

MMM is not about quick turnarounds. It’s like nudging a giant ship - move too aggressively, and you risk capsizing the brand itself.

The Political Reality of Marketing Decisions

Even when MMM provides clear recommendations, execution is another battle.
Marketing is not just numbers - it’s politics, negotiations, and internal tug-of-wars:

• The ATL team pushes for brand building budgets, but finance vetoes it.

• The digital marketing team fights for more performance spend, while the brand team argues it doesn’t drive long-term growth.

Getting your MMM suggestions implemented to the dot never happens. The hardest part of MMM is always making the client implement your suggestions.

MMM as a Tool for Strategy Validation

While MMM can be forward looking and tell you how to efficiently plan the future, the first use case by most clients is to see how well they performed historically.

For all these reasons, we at Aryma Labs often write detailed case studies (often 10+ pages) that illustrates the journey we have taken with our clients:

• How we aligned with the client’s objectives

• How we cleaned and standardized the data

• How we modeled the data and tackled unique challenges

• What the client actually did (or will do) with our insights

MMM case studies are never about a number that stands still. It is an ongoing process of improvement.

The Right Path Over the Fast Path

"When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."

Tailoring case studies to showcase unrealistic numbers only fuels a rat race among vendors.

At Aryma Labs we choose to walk slowly but in the right direction while enjoying the journey.

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Thanks for reading.

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