The Four leading Marketing Science Gurus lay out their growth frameworks in a content series that culminates in a CMO debate

New York, June 22, 2020 — MMA Global, the industry organization dedicated to driving modern marketing and shaping the future, has created the definitive opportunity to debate which growth strategy is best for each marketer. In a content series beginning this month that it’s calling The Great Marketing Growth Debate the MMA will give the opportunity for each architect of the four most highly regarded frameworks to share in a series of presentations and debates, their inherent opportunities and challenges for marketers. Any marketer, regardless of size, industry or goal, should participate in the series, since it’s vital each marketer understand these core principles.

“I’ve never seen anywhere else you can get a series with all these thinkers putting forth their ideas or a community to discuss and debate,” said Norman de Greve, CMO of CVS Health. “Everyone who sees themselves as marketing strategists at companies of any size must participate.”

This comes at a time when marketing is needed more than ever to restart the growth engine that will get the U.S. and global economies roaring again. With CMO tenure at its shortest in modern history, this series of eight virtual meetings will dive deeply into four major marketing growth frameworks, each of which will be presented by their creators:

Dr. Peter Fader, PhD, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

• Professor of Marketing & Co-Director of the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative
• Co-founder of predictive analytics firm Zodiac in 2015, which was acquired by Nike in 2018
• Author of Customer Centricity: Focus on the Right Customers for Strategic AdvantageandCoauthor of The Customer Centricity Playbook
• Named by Advertising Age in 2017 as one of its inaugural “25 Marketing Technology Trailblazers,” and was the only academic included on the list.

Dr. Dominique Hanssens, PhD, UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management

• Distinguished Research Professor of Marketing and Executive Director of the Marketing Science Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts; he has also served as the Faculty Chair and Associate Dean as well as holding the position of Executive Director of the Marketing Science Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Winner of multiple awards including the AMA Churchill Lifetime Achievement Award, AMA Mahajan Award for Career Contributions to Marketing Strategy Research and the INFORMS Society for Marketing Science Buck Weaver Award.
• Founding partner of MarketShare, a global marketing analytics firm, sold to Neustar for $450m
• Author of Long-Term Impact of Marketing: A Compendium and several award winning research papers

Dr. Byron Sharp, PhD, University of South Australia

• Professor of Marketingand Board member at the Wharton SEI Center's Future of Advertising project
• Director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, the world’s largest center for research into marketing, leading a team of 50+ marketing scientists
• Author of How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know voted one of the most influential marketing books of the past decade by WARC & marketing book of the year by AdAge. The book boasts a 4.5 star rating on Amazon
• He has written over 100 papers and articles published in leading business and marketing journals.

Joel Rubinson, MBA, President Rubinson Partners, Inc

• Faculty at NYU Stern School of Business
• Former Chief Research Officer at the Advertising Research Foundation and Marketing Attribution expert
• Founder of Rubinson Partners, Inc. with clients including Viant, Coca-Cola, AOL, Unilever, General Mills and comScore.
• Published author of numerous papers in professional journals and white papers regarding brand growth and marketing effectiveness

Three debates, featuring marketers, analytics experts, and finally, CMOs, to assess which framework offers the most effective path to sustainable growth and under what conditions, will follow the four framework presentations. These vital conversations aim to answer basic fundamental questions around the marketing discipline, including:

• Should brands “go broad” to maximize consumer penetration, or focus on existing consumers and even high lifetime value consumers?
• Does having a short-term focus really mortgage the future of a brand or can it build brands in a different way?
• How should media plans balance investments across media channels? Should plans focus more on their effectiveness or their ability to deliver reach?
• Is it better to target a smaller segment of heavier buyers or solve for reach against the entire market?
• Are brand loyalty goals and loyalty programs a waste of time and money or a key part of a total marketing plan?
• How do these answers apply to “my” business and under what conditions?

Leading tech, measurement and analytics firm Neustar, which helps marketers optimize and execute their strategies, is partnering with the MMA to provide its expertise as the marketing science advisor on The Great Marketing Growth Debate series. 

“It’s shocking to me when I find marketers that are not intimately familiar with these benchmark theories on achieving marketing growth or that they haven’t proven which is best for their business,” said Greg Stuart, CEO of MMA Global, and a longtime marketer himself. “Lack of knowledge of these frameworks, sadly, contributes to the lack of respect that marketers suffer from too often in their companies and why CMO tenure is shorter than ever. The MMA Board is excited to provide forums for capturing a deeper understanding of these growth frameworks and to put them to use exactly when the global economy needs to spark back to life.”

Already, some of marketing’s biggest names are throwing their support and participation into The Great Marketing Growth Debate series.

“Effective marketers need to know these frameworks and apply them to their business and marketing strategy,” added Lou Paskalis, Senior VP, Customer Engagement and Media Investment at Bank of America. “Ironically, the discipline of marketing is often viewed as undisciplined and the Great Marketing Growth Debate series is one step in overcoming that.”

The first webinar with Dr. Peter Fader will be moderated by Joanna O’Connell, VP/Principal Analyst, Forrester. For more information or to register visit: www.mmaglobal.com/thegreatdebate2020.

This initiative was developed as a part of MMA’s Marketing Attribution Think Tank (MATT), which includes analytics leads from over 80 major marketers and aligns to the MMA’s mission of enabling marketers to drive enduring business value.

##

About the MMA:

Comprised of over 800-member companies globally and 14 regional offices, the MMA is the only marketing trade association that brings together the full ecosystem of marketers, tech providers and sellers working collaboratively to architect the future of marketing, while relentlessly delivering growth today. Anchoring the MMA’s mission are four core pillars; to cultivate inspiration by driving innovation for the Chief Marketing Officer; to build the mobile marketing capabilities for marketing organizations through fostering know-how and confidence; to champion the effectiveness and impact of mobile through research providing tangible ROI measurement; and to advocate for mobile marketers.

Members include: 1-800-Flowers.com, Adobe, Allstate, Ally Financial, American Eagle, American Express, AT&T, Bank of America, Calvin Klein, Campbell’s, Carbon, JPMorgan Chase, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Chobani, Choice Hotels, Clear Channel Outdoor, Colgate Palmolive, Cuebiq, CVS Health, Dunkin’ Brands, eBay, E*TRADE, ESPN, Estee Lauder, Facebook, Ford, Foursquare, General Motors Company, Google, GSK, Hilton Worldwide, IBM Watson, Jumpshot, Kellogg Company, LinkedIn, L’Oreal, Marriott International, Match Group, Mastercard, McDonald’s, MillerCoors, Monster, NBCU, Pandora, Pinterest, PlaceIQ, Salesforce, Samsung, Snap Inc., SUBWAY, Target Inc., The Coca-Cola Company, T- Mobile, Turner Broadcasting, Twitter, Uber, Unilever, Verizon Media Group, Verizon Connect, Vibes, Walmart, Waze and many more. The MMA’s global headquarters are located in New York with regional operations Asia Pacific (APAC), Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) and Latin America (LATAM). For more information see www.mmaglobal.com.

Media Contacts:

Greg Stuart
CEO
MMA Global
[email protected]
+1 631 702 0682