In our latest Voices from Cannes interview, Attain sat down with Whitney Rifkin, SVP, Client Service at The Trade Desk. Together, we covered why brand and performance marketing shouldn't be measured in isolation, what it means to work backward from a true business outcome, and how marketers can maintain visibility and accountability as AI takes on more of the media-buying process.
If there was one measurement assumption Whitney would challenge, it's the idea that brand and performance marketing can be evaluated independently. The way consumers perceive a brand is closely tied to whether they ultimately consider purchasing it. When brand metrics and purchase metrics are disconnected, marketers are missing part of the story—and potentially making investment decisions without a complete view of what is driving business results.
For Whitney, outcome-driven marketing starts with being clear about the business result you're actually trying to drive.
That means looking beyond metrics like return on ad spend to questions that connect more directly to growth: Are you bringing in new buyers? Are existing customers purchasing more often? From there, marketers can work backward to determine which audiences to reach, how much they're willing to pay, and how media metrics connect to the end goal.
As AI and agents take on more of the media-buying process, maintaining visibility into how decisions are made will become increasingly important. Advertisers and agencies need to ensure AI is evaluating the full context of every impression—from the metadata and the consumer behind it to how much they're willing to pay. The goal isn't simply to automate the buy, but to make sure the technology is making informed decisions that advertisers can understand and hold accountable.
The best measurement strategy starts with the business outcome.
Brand perception, purchase behavior, media metrics, and AI-powered decisioning all play a role, but none should exist in isolation. For Whitney, the opportunity is to connect those signals so marketers can understand not just whether a campaign is performing, but how it's contributing to the business result that matters.
