Why Marketing Lost Its Long View - And How To Get It Back | AdExchanger

"Marketing has an uncomfortable habit we rarely acknowledge: We're addicted to short-termism. For more than a decade, dashboards and last-click attribution have quietly dictated strategy. These tools were never built to explain how marketing drives growth; they were built to sell advertising. Somewhere along the way, we let them become the decision system for the entire profession. The cost has been significant."

"We are now at a genuine inflection point. Privacy regulation has fractured digital tracking. Signal loss has weakened attribution models that once looked precise. CFOs and boards are asking harder questions about incrementality. Meanwhile, channels like CTV, retail media and social commerce have blurred the line between brand and performance altogether. In short, the old dashboards are no longer sufficient, and everyone knows it."

"The next decade of marketing effectiveness will be shaped by the choices we make today. There's an easy path. Accept conflicted measurement, celebrate short-term wins and optimize for what is easiest to track rather than what truly matters. It's comfortable, familiar and keeps marketing small. The harder path is different. It means choosing independence, transparency and outcomes grounded in reality."

Marketing has become addicted to short-termism, driven by dashboards and last-click attribution that were designed to sell advertising rather than explain growth. That reliance pushed marketing into defending spend with quarterly reports and channel scorecards, making the function reactive and focused on transactions instead of enterprise value. Privacy regulation and signal loss are fracturing digital tracking and weakening attribution. CFOs and boards demand incrementality, while CTV, retail media and social commerce blur brand and performance. The old dashboards are insufficient. The future requires choosing independence, transparency and outcome-based measurement that rebuilds trust in how results are produced.

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