A conversation with founders David Dixon and Sebastian Shapiro
What was the impetus to start Truesight Consulting? (now named Marketscience)
David Dixon: Companies are rapidly embracing the strategic value of advanced marketing analytics, and we've been seeing them move marketing analytics to the very center of their strategies and operations. Many are also looking to bring these analytics in-house, given data risk requirements and a lack of transparency in current marketing services. However, there are several challenges to implementing these in-house solutions: attracting and training talent, staying current on all the possible analytic technologies, and getting buy-in and deploying them across the larger company are just a few.
Sebastian Shapiro: Given these challenges, companies need a marketing analytics partner that is versatile enough to adapt to their individual marketing needs and business models, while simultaneously enabling them with new tools, insights and an approach that is unbiased, verified and fully supported. Marketers are calling for - demanding, really - a different type of marketing analytics company. In this context, we recognized there is a tremendous need for an open box, fully transparent, platform-neutral approach to analytics and realized there was a big opportunity for us to leverage our areas of expertise.
How is Truesight different than other marketing analytics companies?
Sebastian: The majority of marketing analytics companies are owned by, and reside within, holding companies, which create inevitable conflicts. Because we are independent, we are inherently transparent, unbiased and unencumbered by competing interests, platforms, P&Ls or similar allowing us to be a truly unbiased, transparent partner. Our depth of experience means we can directly help inform the C-suite, as well as best operationalize those decisions within their specific organizational systems.
David: We've also forged strong partnerships with top faculty at Stanford University, Bentley University, VU University in Amsterdam and several others. These academic partnerships provide Truesight with a level of vetting, neutrality, credibility and additional R&D resources not available elsewhere.
Regarding what we do, we are experts in advanced marketing analytics - most importantly high dimensional marketing mix modeling (MMM) and multi-touch attribution (MTA).
- MMM is the most advanced, adaptive approach to modeling. At Truesight, we focus on the increasingly complex marketing environment from a top-down perspective. We pro-actively create the best modeling approach for each client.
- MTA solutions address the built-in challenges of siloed digital data. Our approach to MTA leverages machine learning and traditional direct marketing analytics to solve for the most informative and holistic solutions.
Sebastian: We have unique ways of approaching and implementing MMM and MTA that also help us stand out from competitors. We've developed and use a consultative engagement method with clients. Other firms typically have a single, prescribed way of doing MMM and MTA, or one platform to which clients' businesses are made to fit. We know, from years of experience around the world in virtually every business category, that every client has different strategic questions, different needs, performance requirements and mandates. Every situation is different, even those that may fall within the same business category. So, we reject the long practiced one-size-fits-all approach still embraced by most marketing analytics companies for MMM or MTA.
David: Truesight is created for clients who want a transparent analytics partner. Our tagline could be "no black boxes."
What benefits or advantages does Truesight uniquely provide clients and other marketers?
Sebastian: Today marketers need an analytics partner who is versatile enough to adapt both to their marketing needs and business models. Structurally, Truesight is designed to seamlessly accommodate the different requirements of a broad range of client business models including DIY (do it yourself), DIFM (do it for me) and DIWM (do it with me). Each of these has different staffing, operational, technology and partnership demands. Truesight has a unique consultative engagement approach and has developed solutions to address each of these models. The flexibility of our own business model - which accommodates clients' varying business models - is one of our differentiators.
David: Data is complex. Marketing is increasingly complex. Marketing science is extremely complex. Our capabilities, processes, and consultative approach are not complex, however. We're actively demystifying complexity with innovative, bespoke analytics solutions built around the specific needs of each client.
What industries or sectors are represented in Truesight's client list?
David: Our current clients include companies in consumer goods, B2B enterprise software, retail, telecom, media and entertainment, and financial services, and our experience is even broader.
In what ways do you see Truesight evolving in its services, capabilities and products moving forward?
Sebastian: We now have a team of around 20 marketing and advanced analytics professionals, which allows us to pioneer distinctive innovations and new product development in technology, IP, solutions delivery, and blue-chip academic and commercial partnerships. The future is exhilarating.
After-word:
David: If you’re a marketer seeking “success theater,” we're not the partner for you. If you’re a graduate looking for a manual and coffee-stand gossip, we're not the place for you.
We are: agile, entrepreneurial, fun, focused & determined.