“The real trick to all of it is getting the data at a level of granularity and at a recency that makes it actionable both at the client and agency side.”
Lee Beale
About Lee Beale
Lee Beale started his career managing CPG brands client side at Reckitt Benckiser and GSK in the UK. In 2009, Lee moved to New York to work for Omnicom Media Group’s Analect data science division. Since joining Crossmedia in 2011, Lee has been the brains and driving force behind Crossmedia’s Red Box data analytics practice. He has been instrumental in making Red Box a world class offering that Crossmedia puts at the center of its approach to media planning and buying. In 2017, AdWeek named Lee a media all-star, recognizing his talents overall and for helping translate for clients seas of unstructured marketing data into actionable business intelligence. Lee also provides key support for the company’s new business growth.
Key takeaways:
[1:34] I introduce today’s guest, Lee Beale, and invite him to walk us through his career, from studying history to CPG, to today.
[4:43] Seeking truth may be one of Lee’s drivers in attribution, but his biggest task, as he sees it, is to ensure a smooth running long-term operation for both agency and client. He breaks down some of the moving parts in such an undertaking.
[7:20] Lee touches on what kind of resistance he faces in terms of adopting attribution as well as the tactics he uses to melt a cold attribution heart.
[14:44] I ask Lee to tell me how big of a mistake it might be only working with last click. He breaks down the amount most brands are overspending by — it’s MUCH more than you would think! — when they leave out multitouch offline data.
[17:44] I unpack some really interesting ROI information that Lee provided about non-brand search and the potentially high-cost/low value customers.
[20:40] Lee speaks to his experience of when there is a dramatic reduction in spend from certain social media vendors: some have come to his office to challenge his methodology, and some have even become more and more cooperative with their walled garden data in the hopes of getting parts of that budget back!
[26:09] Lee touches on how multi touch attribution can affect the fundamentals of advertising, even branding itself.
[27:53] Managing expectations with stakeholders may be the biggest lesson Lee has learned while working in the attribution space, he explains why.
[31:04] Attribution’s future according to Lee.
[34:37] Lee shares one thing that he knows that no one else knows: rethink your channels! I thank him for coming on the podcast and sharing so much of his experience.
Be sure to tune in for the next episode and thanks for listening!
Connect with our guest:
Quotes (edited):
“Ultimately what we’re doing is learning truths and insights about how large sums of money are performing on behalf of our clients.”
— Lee Beale
“The real trick to all of it is getting the data at a level of granularity and at a recency that makes it actionable both at the client and agency side.”
— Lee Beale
“The blessing and the curse of digital advertising is that: A) it is measurable but B) just because you can measure it, it doesn’t mean you’re measuring the right thing.”
— Lee Beale
“People convince themselves that there is almost no customer journey worth measuring.”
— Lee Beale
