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In the first episode, Sam Bloom, Head of Partnerships at PMG, sits down with Claire BeDell, Editor of The Outcome, to finish the conversations the Outcome Summit started: what measurement-first actually requires, why everyone keeps confusing measurement with attribution, and gives us some real world examples of how he and his team are using purchase data to become more nimble and make decisions based on what’s happening in the real world.
"Historically, measurement has been the last thing people think about, not the input. I think it should be the input."
Everything starts with the scoreboard: what does winning look like for this specific business? Physical retail, digital, call center, each has a different answer. The measurement framework has to be built around it before any channel decisions get made. Most campaigns skip this and pay for it later.
"Measurement ultimately is a business outcome you're trying to solve. Attribution is just kind of how you arrange the chairs on the deck."
Measurement is the KPI: growth, lift, new customers. Attribution is the model you use to understand why. Useful, but not interchangeable. His other caution: be skeptical when the people selling you media are also the ones telling you the results.
Real sales data changed the cadence of measurement entirely, from mix models run twice a year to signals flowing in real time. But Sam's more interesting point is that the same dataset used for measurement should be used for targeting. Same data in, same logic out.
It also helped PMG spot something no one was looking for. Working with Carl's Jr., they noticed sales dropping every two weeks in Southern California. Pulling in outside data, they found a correlation with ICE activity in heavily Latino and Hispanic markets. The insight helped explain the drop while also pointing toward what to do next.
At the Outcome Summit, Sam said it plainly: "If you're not using CAPI, you're an idiot."
CAPI connects first party customer data back to platforms in a privacy compliant way, giving algorithms something real to optimize against. "I was reacting to executives saying they're measurement focused but not doing the basics. If you're so focused on measurement, you will want the highest fidelity in your campaigns."
"I think of AI as being like what Tony Stark is to the Iron Man suit. You still need the person in the suit. But AI can give that human way more capacity and a lot more weapons at their disposal. It's still the person who has to decide what to use and where."
