In the process of developing my new coverage area: marketing measurement, I’m working on a report to clarify the market mix modeling landscape and give customer intelligence professionals a sense of where they can turn for help with these complex projects. We understand the challenges that surround the traditional approach to market mix modeling (they’re static, they require too much time to put together, they’re not granular enough) and have outlined them in a Q & A report. But we want to help you get a better sense of the partners behind the models.

We typically point to the same handful of vendors that can build these models — Analytic Partners, Hudson River Group, Marketing Evolution. These vendors, and a small group of up-and-coming technology-based solutions like ThinkVine, M-Factor, and MarketShare Partners, have the analytics and statistical chops to build models, for sure. But what I’m really after is who do customer intelligence professionals seek out and why? What are the plusses and minuses with your current partners? And what would you ideally like to accomplish?

The outcome of this research will carve up the market mix modeling space to share with customer intelligence professionals which vendors can help them make the best investments in the online space, deal with turbulent market conditions, provide the best ROI for their models. I need your help: I’m about to reach out to a host of vendors, but I need to know:

  • Who do you use to build your market mix models (so I don’t leave anyone off of my list)?
  • What questions would I regret not asking of the vendors?
  • What core challenges do you face in building or using the models?

Thanks for your help! I’ll keep you posted on the research as it develops.