A.J. Workman

Good seeing ArymaLabs' very own Venkat Raman back at MeasureCamp Dubai. Even though we’re competitors in the market, it’s still good to cross paths with people who take the craft seriously. Too many people jump into MMM because they smell an opportunity, not because they understand it. They show up with big claims, then crumble the moment the work gets tested. I didn’t see that this time. I had conversations with people who actually cared about getting things right, and it was refreshing. One thing we all seemed to agree on is that the industry needs more honesty. Right now brands are drowning in noise. Fancy slides, loud claims, shortcuts dressed up as innovation. Most of it falls apart under basic scrutiny. The only way this gets better is if the people who know what good MMM looks like step up and speak plainly. Not to sell. To teach. That’s something I’ve been pushing for a while, and it was good to see others pushing in the same direction. I left the event clearer about what the future of MMM in the region should look like. I want competition, but I want the kind that raises the bar. Losing to someone solid is fine. Losing to shortcuts isn’t. That’s how markets get ruined. Seeing that there are still people who take MMM seriously gave me hope that we’re not heading in that direction. It also pushed me to raise my own game. I needed that. If the industry had more people willing to treat MMM like the discipline it is, we’d all benefit.

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👕 Scale Smarter with AMC’s CLTV Report Most brands measure performance on ROAS today. But the real question is: 👉 How much will this customer spend with you in the next 3, 6, or 12 months? That’s exactly what the Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) Report inside Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) helps answer. 🔎 What this report shows: ▪ CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost): How much you spend to acquire a new shopper. ▪ Repeat Purchase Rate (RPR): How often customers come back after their first order. ▪ Cohort Growth: How monthly cohorts of customers behave in the following months. ▪ Lifetime Value Growth: How revenue per customer expands over time. 📊 Example from a men’s clothing brand (₹ values): ▪ In Nov 2024, CAC dropped to ₹19.8 while delivering ₹1.64 Cr sales with 53.4 ROAS → showing efficient acquisition at scale. ▪ Customers acquired in Dec 2024 spent an average of ₹868 in their first purchase, and within just 3 months, their CLTV grew to ₹1,064 per customer. ▪ By the 7th month, the same cohort had expanded to ₹1,076–1,080 CLTV, proving strong repeat behavior. 👉 Insight: Every rupee invested in Dec 2024 customers kept compounding in the following months, not just on Day 1. 💡 Why this matters for brand growth: 1️⃣ Move Beyond ROAS → Optimize for lifetime value, not just immediate sales. 2️⃣ Smarter Budgeting → If one cohort shows higher CLTV, reinvest into the same acquisition strategies. 3️⃣ Retention Signals → Spot which months/customers are stickiest, and tailor retargeting offers. 4️⃣ Profitability Lens → Compare CAC vs. CLTV to decide how much you can afford to spend for growth. Brand owner can also consider Paid features of AMC to analyze a 5 year data instead of 12 months . At Regro Media, we leverage AMC’s CLTV Cohort Reports to help brands see beyond “today’s ROAS” and scale profitably with a retention-first strategy. 🔥 Question for you: Are you optimizing only for first-purchase ROAS, or are you tracking how much your customer is worth in 12 months? hashtag #AmazonAds #AmazonMarketingCloud #AMC #CLTV #CustomerLifetimeValue #EcommerceGrowth #D2CIndia #RetailMedia #AdTech #MarketingAnalytics #AmazonDSP #AmazonSponsoredAds #DigitalStrategy #DataDrivenMarketing #FullFunnelMarketing #BrandGrowth #RegroMedia

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Andy West generously included me in his issue #83 of The Agency Advisory focused on sales insights. He directed followers to view my post on reframing pricing conversations from outputs to outcomes. THANK YOU and here is a bit more on the topic that goes deeper with 7 specific moves you can make to protect margin when you get the "AI drops your cost, now drop ours" procurement call... 1. Split your pricing into two distinct tiers. AI-augmented production gets fixed or unit-based fees. Strategic judgment — the problem definition, the cultural read, the final creative call — stays human-only and priced accordingly. Never let procurement blend those rates into one convenient average they can drag down. 2. Add an AI infrastructure line item. Two to four percent. You are absorbing enterprise-grade tools, maintaining closed-loop systems, and providing IP indemnity that a freelancer or their own internal team simply cannot offer. That's not padding the invoice. That's a service they need and probably haven't thought to ask for. 3. Price the accountability, not just the output. AI makes mistakes. Brand-damaging, relationship-ending mistakes. Your fee covers the human judgment that catches those mistakes before they ship — and the team that fixes them when they don't. That's insurance, and insurance has always cost money. 4. Trade base fee cuts for performance upside. If they want 10% off because AI makes you faster, give it to them — in exchange for a success fee worth 20%, tied to conversion, brand lift, or lead gen. If the work performs better because the tools improved, the agency should participate in that upside, not just absorb the discount. 5. Start licensing a Brand Intelligence system. Off-the-shelf AI produces generic work that makes every brand sound like every other brand using the same tool. What your agency has built is different. Hundreds of hours fine-tuning a bespoke AI environment trained on that client's historical data, brand voice, past performance, and what actually moved their numbers. Make them pay for the proprietary system they're licensing. 6. Own your prompts and protect them contractually. Deliverables go to the client. Your proprietary methodology, your brand-tuned prompt architecture, your training data — that stays yours. 7. Reinvest the efficiency gain instead of surrendering it. AI has freed up real capacity on your team. Before you hand that back as a budget cut, make the case for redirecting it — deeper research, better attribution modeling, new platform experimentation. SoulPurpose Advisory hopes these are helpful and if you want an expert who knows procurement well hit up Brett Colbert

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If proposals are where deals go to die, it’s not the price. It’s the timing. Most agencies send proposals: • Before urgency exists • Before cost of inaction is clear • Before decision criteria are defined • Before authority is established So prospects “review internally” until the deal evaporates. That’s not bad luck. That’s bad sequencing.

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I challenged ChatGPT to use SponsorSignals data to produce a research-worthy summary in under a minute. It solves one problem: removing guesswork from sponsor positioning by showing what a brand is actually testing with real spend, not what they claim in their marketing. Spend data → positioning clarity → angles you can support with confidence.

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CMOs are being pulled in 10 directions—and expected to deliver in all of them. Brand, pipeline, ABM, ops, AI… and oh yeah, don’t forget attention (good luck with that). Adam MacLean and I break down the real mandate modern CMOs are facing—and what it takes to thrive when the job keeps expanding in this week's blog post. We're curious. CMO's -- what's keeping you up at night? Adam and I are always seeking feedback on our content. We welcome it. Link in comments...

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