Mutinex is a fast growing SaaS company. We partner with third parties such as media or creative agencies, media publishers and tech platforms to help us find new customers and to work more effectively with existing customers. However, we acknowledge that in the world or marketing measurement, partnerships could create conflicts of interest. Whilst partnerships are a valuable channel for Mutinex to reach new customers, we believe strongly that market mix models (and their results), should be independent measurement solutions. Which is why we have committed to the following principles in partnering with third parties.
Media and creative agencies or marketing consultancies
What does it look like?
When we partner with media and creative agencies or marketing consultancies these parties may suggest MMM as a solution to their customers and recommend Mutinex as a provider.
What are the incentives?
In return for this referral Mutinex may provide the agency with training, data and insights and a referral fee. If a referral fee is provided to the agency then this will always be disclosed to the customer.
What about the contracts?
Mutinex prefers for the contract to be directly between the customer and Mutinex to reduce any perception of conflict around independence. On occasion, some customers have asked for Mutinex to contract with their agency, these requests are handled on a case by case basis and are not standard practice.
How does the customer benefit?
Mutinex offers the customer a third party measurement solution that will independently evaluate marketing results. At the same time, if a customer has been referred to Mutinex via a partner agency, they can be confident that their agency are well versed in using the tool to its full capability and will be able to onboard and provide data quickly.
Media publishers and tech platforms
What does it look like?
When we partner with media publishers and tech platforms, Mutinex usually becomes part of an established MMM program (with vetted providers) offered by these vendors. The vendors will suggest to a customer that they take undertake MMM and may recommend Mutinex as a partner where we meet the customer requirements. The customer has full control over MMM provider selection from within the program.
What are the incentives?
When vendors ask customers to take part in these programs, they will often offer to fund a portion of the cost of the MMM solution – which can significantly lower the cost for customers. In return, they will usually ask for access to the MMM results so that they can provide recommendations to optimise their channels within the customer’s mix. This is usually done with the expectation that customers will maintain or increase spend with that vendor, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Often publishers will also make discounted or free media available to these customers in order to ensure that the sample size measured is sufficient. The only way Mutinex benefits from these partnerships is by being introduced to customers who may not have otherwise known about our offering.
What about the contracts?
Mutinex contracts directly with the customer in these deals.
How does the customer benefit?
Mutinex offers the customer a third party measurement solution that will independently evaluate marketing results. At the same time, if a customer has been referred to Mutinex via a partner media publisher or tech platform, they can expect to face reduced costs and receive significant support from the channel or platform in interpretation of results.
How Mutinex proactively avoids conflicts of interest
To further decrease the chance of conflicts of interest, Mutinex also commits to the following
- We don’t build publishers specific models – which means that we’re never looking at channel results in isolation
- We don’t build industry specific models
- We never build models directly with agencies or publishers in order to sell them on to customers
- We always build product roadmaps from customer requirements and not partner requirements
- We’re committed to working more closely with publishers and agencies in order to integrate data directly from the source so that it never has to be handled directly by industry partners before it comes to us
Asking the right questions
If you’re assessing MMM vendors, we suggest that you ask the following questions about how they operate in the partnerships space to understand more about where their incentives are placed and what outcomes they expect.
- What are the key influences shaping your product development, especially for early-stage products? Could you share examples of how input from customers, agencies, or media companies has contributed to these stages?
- Are there any partnerships or financial relationships with media companies that support measurement efforts? How are these structured, and how do you ensure they align with an independent and unbiased approach?
- Could you outline any partnerships or fees received from other companies related to R&D or research initiatives? Transparency here is valuable for understanding the resources that support innovation.
- Has your MMM model been reviewed or validated by an independent third party? If so, who conducted the review, and what criteria were used to ensure objectivity and robustness?
- Is your MMM solution customized in any significant way for clients? If applicable, are you able to share details about any custom parameters or assumptions that have been integrated?
