Updated Jan 19, 2026

The Problem With Driving Your
Marketing Using a Compass

There’s something poetic about how marketing still debates measurement frameworks in 2026. On the one side, you’ve got the modern, data-reactive technologies like INCRMNTAL - agile, precise, constantly learning and adapting (anyone said AI measurement?). On the other, you’ve got Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) - a method that’s been around for decades, stable, mathematically sound, and surprisingly resilient.

But here’s how I see it: INCRMNTAL is like a turn-by-turn GPS navigation system, while MMM is more like a compass.

And to be clear – I’m not being an Anticonometrics (MMM comes from econometrics, if you didn’t get the joke). I’m not saying “throw out the compass.” In fact, I’d argue that large and smart marketers should carry one. But you wouldn’t rely on a compass to drive through downtown Tokyo during rush hour. You’d use the right tool for the job.

MMM as the Compass: Directionally Sound, But Limited

MMM, is like a trusty compass. It’s elegant in its simplicity. It points north. Always has, always will. It gives you direction - but not the road conditions, speed limits, or detours.

How MMM works ?

MMM (Marketing Mix Modeling) uses econometric analysis to find correlations between historical marketing spends and business outcomes like sales or revenue. It looks back over long periods to estimate how different channels contributed to performance. While it’s great for spotting high-level trends, MMM relies on correlation rather than causation, and its accuracy depends on stable market conditions and clean, consistent data. It’s slow to update, often blind to real-time changes, and struggles in today’s dynamic, multi-channel digital landscape.

If you’re planning a big-picture journey - “Should we invest more in TV or digital globally?” - MMM can absolutely help you orient your strategy. But it’s not built to handle the minute-by-minute decisioning that digital marketing now demands.

If you’re trying to make a decision about your campaign on TikTok, which targets Android users in Estonia, or trying to understand the results of your Netflix Ads campaign vs. your Hulu campaign – you need a more granular approach. MMM simply doesn’t get there.

And that’s not a flaw. It’s just not what it was designed for. MMM was built in a world before real-time attribution, before APIs, before the data firehose we all swim in today. It’s remarkable that it still works as well as it does - but it’s not enough to guide every move when markets shift hourly.

INCRMNTAL, the GPS: Real-Time, Reactive, Contextual

When you use a modern GPS, you expect it to know what’s happening right now.
Traffic jam ahead? It reroutes.
Road closed? It updates the route instantly.
New highway opened? You don’t even have to know about it - the system does.

That’s what INCRMNTAL’s technology does for marketers. It processes data daily, reacts to changes in spend, creative, audience, promotions, and platform conditions, and continuously refines its understanding of causality. The algorithms adapt to reality as it happens, and AI reinforces the learnings by rewarding self-validated results so that the system gets even better with usage.

In other words, it doesn’t just measure what worked last quarter - it guides your next move.

You don’t have to stop the car to recalculate. You just keep driving, and the system adjusts around you.

The Freenow by Lyft Case: When Incrementality Met Reality

Let’s make this real. Freenow by Lyft – the mobility giant – wanted to grow new active users. They had sophisticated analytics and internal models, but they struggled to detect waste.

They were optimizing attribution, not impact. Using INCRMNTAL’s platform, Lyft applied continuous incrementality analysis across campaigns, week by week.

What they found:

19% decrease in Cost per New Active User
Better channel allocation
Zero change in spend

They didn’t need more ads. They needed better understanding. They stopped chasing ghosts in attribution reports and started investing in actual growth drivers.

You can download the full case study here.

2026: Use the Right Tool for the Job

The mistake companies make is assuming they have to pick a side. You don’t.
Use MMM as your compass - to set the direction, understand macro impact, and inform long-term decisions.

Then use INCRMNTAL as your GPS - to navigate the real-time path, avoid wasted spend, and react to the conditions around you.

MMM Can Tell You Where to Go - But Not How to Get There

Both tools are valuable. But using one without the other is like trying to explore the world with only half the picture.

In 2026, marketers deserve both the wisdom of experience and the precision of modern technology. The ones who combine them - those are the brands that will find not just the right direction, but the fastest, smartest, and most efficient way to get there.

The Problem With Driving YourMarketing Using a Compass