Is your brand underfunding advertising? You’re probably not alone.

In over 20 years of helping brands measure and improve their advertising impact, we’ve found a striking pattern: nearly every brand we’ve worked with—bar one—was underinvesting in advertising. In every case, increasing spend would have driven incremental sales at a positive ROI (including time-discounted future cash flows).

And we’re not alone. Other seasoned practitioners report similar findings.

The only analytical approach that reliably reveals this underfunding—and prescribes how to fix it—is a properly built Marketing Mix Model (MMM). Not just any MMM, but one grounded in these five principles:

·       C-suite alignment – built to support executive-level goals

·       Accuracy – explains over 90% of historical sales variation and maintains predictive strength

·       Actionability – directly informs media buying across all channels

·       Holistic scope – incorporates paid, owned, and earned media, plus baseline drivers

·       Validated – tested and proven in forward-looking campaigns

At a time when brands face margin pressure and agencies are stretched thin, underfunding remains a silent killer of growth. It’s a shared problem for CMOs, CFOs, and CEOs—and a symptom of flawed budget-setting without robust analytics.

Want to unlock low-risk, high-return growth? Start by asking: Are we spending below the point where incremental sales match incremental costs? If so, upgrading your MMM may be the best investment you can make.