One of the largest insurance and financial services providers in the US, Nationwide offers a diverse portfolio of products and services to both consumers and businesses. Because most sales are generated through intermediaries, Nationwide has employed marketing mix modeling (MMM) to measure marketing performance for nearly a decade. The company recently overhauled its approach, starting with the decision to centralize marketing measurement within its newly established marketing operations team.
A New Marketing Operations Team Made MMM A Well-Oiled Machine
In 2021, disconnected data sources, limited modeling capabilities, vague reporting, and immature tech hampered Nationwide’s MMM. To address these issues, marketing leadership established a marketing operations team to manage the data, processes, and technology related to marketing measurement. The team’s first order of business was developing a data strategy that:
- Centralized responsibility. Marketing ops took on responsibility for aggregating and preparing data for the model and reporting the findings. This meant the team needed robust tech that mitigated discrepancies and increased operational efficiencies. The team established the marketing data hub, a collection of technologies that automate the ingestion, curation, and sharing of data with internal stakeholders and external partners.
- Improved data validation and standardization. Marketing ops implemented two key initiatives that improved cross-functional collaboration and credibility of the model’s results. They now validate the data with SMEs across business lines and marketing teams before it enters the model. And, they created a formalized marketing data taxonomy that is used by all Nationwide marketing employees, tech providers, and agencies.
- Outsourced the modeling to an expert. Nationwide had experience with in-house modeling but wanted to capitalize on advancing methodologies. The team selected Ipsos MMA for its granular measurement methodology, cookieless approach to attribution and modeling, and its ability to incorporate brand health tracking into the model.
Since implementing these changes, Nationwide has improved its measurement of marketing activities, its ability to quantify the impact of brand campaigns, and expanded participation in MMM from other business lines.
You can find the full details in our recently published case study, sourced from interviews with Nationwide and Ipsos MMA. To learn more about the case study, request a guidance session. For other questions about B2C marketing measurement, schedule time with our new measurement analyst Brad Haag.
