For more on this topic see: http://blog.joelrubinson.net/2014/04/if-we-can-moneyball-baseball-why-not-marketing-and-marketing-research/ Moneyball is the search for objective truth in baseball based on objective statistical analysis. If we apply this principle to marketing and research, it will greatly improve current practices.

1. Moneyball Baseball Moneyball Marketing and Marketing Research
Bill James defined Sabermetrics as "the search for objective
knowledge about baseball."
Guide marketing in a digital age away from trade journal characterizations and
towards evidence of how people consume media, and shopper impact
Oakland A‟s made $40MM payroll work as well as $100MM 1. Cut tracker survey budgets in half
2. Use behavioral and contextual targeting wherever possible, moving away
from demographics to make ad dollars work harder
Write a book about it, focused on exploding myths replaced with
new insights, and proof that the new approach works
Convey results with a story, focused on exploding myths replaced with new
insights, and showing evidence that the new insights are correct
Challenge all longstanding measures of player performance.
Nothing is sacred.
Challenge all analog era measures of brand performance that persist in a digital
age. Nothing is sacred.
Use big data to create a granular database of all pitch outcomes
(over half a million pitches per year) so we can datamine to
understand what drives positive outcomes.
Use big data to create a granular database of all marketing efforts and digital
behaviors, tagged by type of ad, brand, publisher, network, type of targeting,
creative element, etc. so we can understand what drives positive outcomes
Use stats to understand potential player contribution rather than
old school scout observation of size, speed, etc. (the „5 tool
player‟ idea). Ex: Speed is judged on results (e.g. stolen bases),
batting is based on getting on base not batting average because
that is what correlates with wins.
Don‟t just rely on attitudes to measure brand equity and preference. Create
naturally occurring digital and social measures of brand engagement that must be
proven by correlation to downstream shopper outcomes
Create new stats for position players that better correlate to wins,
like weighted On Base Average (wOBA)
Develop new metrics of success that directly relate to sales rather than using
attitudinal measures of brand equity that “sound good”
Change the way players are evaluated for trades or to be drafted
based on performance modeling against prior best matched
players (the Nate Silver PECOTA method)
1. Change the way we research how to segment consumers around predictive
analytics of consumer response to messages
2. Change the way we choose new products for introduction, moving towards
examining best matches of prior launches
New stats to evaluate player impact on a season‟s outcome lead
to new rankings of player contribution
New techniques, emphasis on experimentation, that go beyond marketing mix
regression modeling can improve our understanding of what works
Real time stats affect on the field manager decisions Real time metrics should drive agile and real time marketing
Move management towards stat geeks, away from insiders Create a data science team
Never forget the beauty and optimism of baseball plays out nearly
every day. It keeps the kid in us alive forever.
Never forget that marketing is about connecting brands to people that improve
their lives each and every day. It is a noble cause.
For more on this topic: http://blog.joelrubinson.net/2014/04/if-we-can-moneyball-baseball-
why-not-marketing-and-marketing-research/

2.  Smartphone understanding. For AOL, consulted on award winning project to understand smart phone
owners‟ usage and motivations, published in HBR
 Social sharing behaviors. For ShareThis, led one of the largest analyses of sharing behavior
 Value of a Facebook fan. With Compete, determined the value of a Facebook fan is real but only if they
pay return visits to the fan page
 Path to purchase research: What is media‟s influence on shopper actions, not just awareness and
intention
 Workshops on shopper and digital marketing
Rubinson game changing assignments
Innovation
Brand guidance
Consumer understanding
 Next generation Marketing Mix
Modeling:, RPI has created
approaches for improved estimation of
digital and social media impact
 Measurable model of media in a
paid, owned, earned, media world.
For large CPG marketers, created the
first contemporary measurable model of
media
 Sense, respond, anticipate. Designed
one of the most comprehensive
shopper insights listening and digital
sensing platforms ever created in CPG.
 Reinventing brand tracking. For
leading CPG marketers, created a next
generation approach to brand tracking
that fully leverages instant digital and
social data, integrated with survey and
mobile research
 Innovating Innovation. In partnership with InsightsNow, Inc. RPI offers an
award winning system called BehaviorLens ™ based on moments marketing

3.  Rubinson Partners, Inc. (RPI) founded in 2010 by the former Chief
Research Officer at the Advertising Research Foundation
 Includes a network* of world class talent
 Clients include leading marketers, marketing research firms, and digital
media companies.
 Founder was the Chief Research Officer at the ARF, 25 years as chief
research officer at The NPD Group, Advanced methods practice leader
for Vivaldi (leading branding consultancy), and head of analytics in
North America and global lead on shopper insights for Synovate. Joel
started his career at Unilever.
 Joel has an MBA from the University of Chicago, with concentrations in
Economics and Statistics.
 Joel is a widely read blogger, published author and frequent speaker.
A bit about Rubinson Partners, Inc…
*Senior resources formerly at Procter, Kraft, Mastercard, and current NYU
and Fordham faculty, and two leading research and analytic firms are all part
of the RPI network
Joel is also on the faculty of NYU Stern School of Business where he
teaches social media strategy.