MMA Global to launch creative think tank to bridge strategy and science in advertising

New Delhi: Conversations in the advertising landscape, of late, are dominated by data and personalisation. In such a space, MMA Global is preparing to launch a new think tank focused on creatives in the realm of marketing campaigns. 

Speaking to BestMediaInfo.com in an invite-only roundtable, Greg Stuart, CEO, MMA Global revealed that the association will soon fortify a think tank around creativity in campaigns. He addressed a key gap in how marketers measure brand value and the impact of creativity in an increasingly personalised marketing environment.

According to Stuart, the advertising industry has long relied on flawed audience segmentation models—ones based on broad demographics or past purchasing behaviour. These approaches, he argued, fail to align with how the human brain actually processes information. Stuart noted that the brain filters out irrelevant content in a split second through what is called ‘inattention blindness.’ He highlighted the importance of targeting consumers who are neurologically predisposed to consider a brand.

Central to MMA’s evolving methodology is the concept of the “movable middle”—consumers with a 20% to 80% likelihood of considering a brand. Unlike high-propensity buyers who will convert regardless of advertising or low-propensity ones who are unlikely to be swayed, the movable middle represents the most fertile ground for marketing investment. Targeting this group can significantly amplify campaign returns, in some cases doubling performance outcomes.

Stuart was critical of the persistent reliance on reach-based planning, describing it as outdated and unscientific. He warned that indiscriminate spending across all audience segments often dilutes effectiveness, sometimes leading to negative ROI. “Advertising to consumers whose brains will never engage with your brand is not just ineffective—it can actively harm your profitability,” he stated.

On the subject of personalisation, Stuart acknowledged that while hyper-personalisation is a dominant trend, executing it effectively remains complex. He pointed to the failures of Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO) in the past but shared that newer techniques using unsupervised machine learning have yielded better results. These models identify behavioural cohorts and tailor ad creatives accordingly, with performance gains sometimes reaching up to 80%.

One such example came from a US-based digital audio campaign for Progressive, an insurance company in America. By adjusting ad voiceovers based on geography and time of day, the campaign saw significant improvement in engagement—male voices performed better in patriarchal regions and after 10PM, while female voices dominated elsewhere.

Yet, despite these technological advances, Stuart remains cautious about over-reliance on performance metrics alone. He believes that creative excellence remains a vital, though under-researched, component of campaign success.

To address this knowledge gap, MMA Global plans to launch a dedicated think tank focused on creativity by the end of the year. This initiative will join the organisation’s existing think tanks on AI, data and customer experience, marketing attribution, and market-oriented research. Stuart hopes the new unit will bring scientific rigour to creative strategy and integrate it more effectively into personalised marketing.

He concluded by stressing the importance of continual learning and methodological advancement. “Marketing is not yet a certified profession. We’re trying to change that. The stakes are too high—for budgets, businesses, and careers—for us to rely on outdated models or intuition alone,” Stuart said.