Marketing Effectiveness: How to Measure What Actually Matters

Episode 168 with guest Sorin Patilinet, PepsiCo's Global Marketing Effectiveness and author of Marketing Effectiveness: Applying Marketing Science for Brand Growth  This week's episode is a technical skill that is fundamental to marketing leading the long-term commercial agenda – it's marketing effectiveness. We'll unpack what marketing effectiveness really means, the difference between effectiveness and efficiency, the importance of pricing being in marketing's remit and what makes a great dashboard (and why you should resist changing it)  Joining Abby is 'The Marketing Engineer' Sorin Patilinet, Global Marketing Effectiveness Executive and author of the best-selling book 'Marketing Effectiveness: Applying Marketing Science for Brand Growth'. With 20 years' experience in global roles, Sorin has helped shape how some of the world's most iconic brands measure and prove their impact. Previously he built and led the marketing science and testing solutions at Mars for over 14 years before moving to PepsiCo, where today he continues to turn marketing science into business growth.   Key takeaways  Marketing effectiveness is holistic… it's not just ROI and creative excellence but a holistic understanding of the effect of everything marketers do on business results  The biggest barrier is mindset, not tools… Sorin believes marketers need to spend more time identifying which decisions actually drive the biggest impact on the top and bottom line – and then finding the data to support those decisions, not the other way round.  Pricing belongs back in marketing's remit… Sorin argues marketing has lost its voice in the boardroom partly because it has given up pricing and product to finance and R&D.  Effectiveness beats efficiency… efficiency is effectiveness divided by cost, so focusing on effectiveness improves efficiency as a natural by-product.  Don't change a winning dashboard… Sorin measured advertising's sales impact the same way for 14 years at Mars. Consistency of method, even as data and partners evolve, builds the trust and shared language that gets stakeholders to actually act on the numbers.    00:00 — Welcome to the Whole Marketer Podcast  02:02 — Introducing Sorin Patilinet  02:25 — What Is Marketing Effectiveness?  03:40 — Why It's Not ROI or Creative Excellence  04:30 — What Inspired Sorin to Write the Book  07:18 — Bringing the Brand's Voice to Marketing Science  09:41 — Where the Profession Still Has Capability Gaps  11:02 — The Biggest Barrier: Mindset Over Tools  12:49 — Are We Slaves to Data Availability?  14:01 — Ranking Decisions by Commercial Impact  15:23 — Why Pricing Is the Link Between Marketing and the Boardroom  16:22 — Why Marketing Has Lost Its Voice in the Boardroom  19:11 — Have We Given Pricing Up, or Had It Taken Away?  20:44 — Effectiveness vs Efficiency: The Formula That Matters  23:32 — The Only True Measure of Creative Effectiveness  25:05 — Rethinking the 60/40 Rule for Short and Long Term  26:47 — Why Every Business Needs Its Own Time Frame  29:18 — Building the Right Data Sources  29:52 — Why Decisions Should Come Before Data  32:13 — The Case for Experimentation  32:46 — Where AI Actually Helps Measurement  33:05 — Why You Shouldn't Keep Changing Your Dashboard  34:51 — The Hidden Cost of Changing Your Methodology  36:33 — Setting the Right KPIs at the Strategic Planning Stage  36:58 — Finding Your Organisation's Flywheel  38:59 — How Data-Driven Is Your Organisation's Culture?  39:22 — The Balance of Art, Science and Human Intuition  40:36 — Sorin's Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow    Resources  Sorin's book – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marketing-Effectiveness-Applying-Science-Growth/dp/1398621056    Host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigailcdixon/  Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patilinet/    About The Whole Marketer  The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.  Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.  Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build successful and fulfilled marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.  Contact [email protected] to get in touch with Abby and the team