Building In-House MMM Capability
How practical training, coaching and collaboration added external rigour and capability to Impression’s data science and measurement solutions
The engagement combined MMM training, client collaboration and focused model reviews.
About Impression
Impression is an award-winning performance marketing agency that helps brands grow through integrated digital strategy, media, content, digital experience and technology. Its teams combine channel expertise with data and consultancy, connecting marketing activity to meaningful commercial outcomes.
Measurement is an established part of that wider capability. Impression’s media effectiveness and measurement offering spans multi-touch attribution, incrementality testing and bespoke marketing mix modelling. It connects data collection and analysis with practical investment decisions, helping clients understand both what has worked and where future budget is most likely to create value.
The challenge
Impression’s analysts already brought strong technical and client-facing experience to marketing measurement. The opportunity was to build on those foundations with specialist support for the more nuanced parts of bespoke MMM work, from model specification and validation through to interpretation and client recommendations.
The team also wanted to extend its use of advanced methods, including time-varying parameters (TVPs) and hierarchical modelling. The objective was to identify when these approaches were appropriate, implement them well and explain their value clearly, with external expert input available for the more nuanced decisions.
The brief
Build on Impression’s established measurement capability through specialist training, close collaboration and expert review of nuanced, bespoke MMM analyses.
What we did
JTP designed and delivered a six-part applied programme aligned with the way an MMM engagement progresses from initial data assessment to investment decisions.
- PrepareData collection and processing
- ExploreExploratory analysis and identifiability
- BuildPriors, adstock and response curves
- ExtendHierarchical models, TVPs and lift-test calibration
- ValidateDiagnostics, out-of-sample testing and model comparison
- ActivateInterpretation and budget optimisation
The programme ran as live online workshops. Impression’s analysts worked through practical notebooks with Jake, bringing thoughtful questions and using the shared exercises to test ideas and discuss modelling choices as they arose. A reusable, configuration-driven workflow in PyMC let the team revisit the assumptions, decisions and diagnostics behind each model.
Advanced methods were taught as solutions to specific measurement problems. The programme covered hierarchical structures, time-varying parameters and the use of lift tests to calibrate MMM, alongside the judgement required to decide when each technique was warranted.
Support then moved from structured training into collaborative delivery. Impression’s analysts brought model builds to Jake for an independent audit before presenting results to clients. Each review considered the data, assumptions, implementation and validation, as well as whether the available evidence justified the conclusions being presented.
The result
The clearest evidence of progress was not a single model. It was the changing scope of the audits.
- TrainingA shared technical foundation
- CollaborationMethods applied to live client work
- AssuranceTargeted, increasingly focused independent audits
Early audits reviewed the full modelling workflow and offered an independent perspective on assumptions, validation and interpretation. As the team completed more work, the feedback became shorter and more focused on refinement. Jake’s involvement became progressively lighter.
Impression strengthened its ownership of end-to-end MMM delivery while retaining access to independent specialist review when it added genuine value.
For JTP, that is a stronger measure of capability development than attendance alone: better internal judgement, greater delivery confidence and targeted use of external assurance rather than ongoing dependency.
Testimonial
“Jake has played a valuable role in strengthening our in-house measurement capability. Through practical training, model audits and close collaboration on bespoke MMMs and incrementality testing, he has brought an external perspective to our work and helped our analysts build greater confidence with advanced measurement techniques.”
Related services: Agency Support · Team Education