Table 120 Aug 2026From “Marketing mix modeling is a calibration problem”

What each measurement instrument can carry

The instrument is not judged by whether it produces a number. It is judged by the question that number can answer.

Table 1What each measurement instrument can carry

Instrument	What it observes	Strongest defensible output	Invalid leap
Touchpoint attribution	Recorded exposures and conversions	Which touches are present in the observed path	Those touches caused the conversion
Marketing mix modeling	Aggregate outcomes, spend and controls over time	A scenario relationship under stated model assumptions	The coefficient is experimental lift
Holdout or lift test	Treated and untreated units under a designed intervention	Incremental outcome under the tested conditions	The result transfers unchanged to every channel
Calibrated portfolio view	Model scenarios plus experiments and operating bounds	A decision with a stated confidence and downside	One dashboard is the truth

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Source: Author's synthesis of Gordon et al. (2019), Blake, Nosko & Tadelis (2015), Lewis & Rao (2015), and Johnson, Lewis & Nubbemeyer (2017).

PNG4:3, 1600 × 1200, with the title, the source line and the attribution set in the image isoglu-2026-marketing-mix-modeling-is-a-calibration-problem-fig01.png

From the essay

Growth that compounds

Marketing mix modeling is a calibration problem

Marketing mix modeling can organise an aggregate budget, but it cannot certify causality by itself. Calibrate the model before trusting the allocation.

20 Aug 2026

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APA 7

Isoglu, S. (2026). What each measurement instrument can carry [Table]. isoglu.com. https://isoglu.com/insights/exhibits/isoglu-2026-marketing-mix-modeling-is-a-calibration-problem-fig01/

BibTeX

@misc{isoglu-2026-marketing-mix-modeling-is-a-calibration-problem-fig01,
  author = {Isoglu, Sinan},
  title = {{What each measurement instrument can carry}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Table 1, isoglu.com},
  url = {https://isoglu.com/insights/exhibits/isoglu-2026-marketing-mix-modeling-is-a-calibration-problem-fig01/},
  note = {From the essay {Marketing mix modeling is a calibration problem}}
}

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  <figcaption>Table 1: What each measurement instrument can carry. Source: Author&#39;s synthesis of Gordon et al. (2019), Blake, Nosko &amp; Tadelis (2015), Lewis &amp; Rao (2015), and Johnson, Lewis &amp; Nubbemeyer (2017). <a href="https://isoglu.com/insights/exhibits/isoglu-2026-marketing-mix-modeling-is-a-calibration-problem-fig01/">View exhibit</a>.</figcaption>
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