Mutinex has unveiled industry-first pilots in collaboration with The Hershey Company and The Trade Desk, introducing outcome-based media activation during Cannes Lions. The initiative is designed to connect marketing investment directly to measurable business outcomes, enabling brands to improve transparency, speed, and financial accountability in media decision-making.
The pilots build on Hershey’s ongoing modernization of its marketing measurement systems and represent a shift from traditional media optimization toward real-time, outcome-driven activation.
Traditional marketing models rely heavily on lagging indicators such as impressions, reach, and CPMs. These metrics often fail to provide immediate insight into actual business impact, leading to delays in decision-making and inefficient budget allocation.
The Mutinex-led pilots aim to close this gap by transforming measurement systems into activation systems, allowing marketers to act directly on outcome signals rather than proxy metrics.
At the core of the initiative is the ability to link marketing performance data with programmatic buying systems. This enables advertisers to optimize toward real business outcomes such as incremental sales, revenue lift, and customer acquisition rather than surface-level engagement metrics.
By integrating Mutinex’s modeling capabilities with The Trade Desk’s programmatic infrastructure, brands can dynamically adjust media investments based on real-time performance signals.
The Hershey Company has been actively evolving its marketing measurement approach using Mutinex’s platform. The company has transitioned from infrequent marketing mix modeling cycles to more frequent, granular analysis across its media portfolio.
This modernization has enabled Hershey to:
These advancements provided the foundation required to test outcome-based activation in real-world environments.
The Cannes Lions demonstrations showcased how marketing signals can be operationalized within programmatic environments. The pilots explored how outcome data can directly influence bidding strategies across search, open web, and selected social platforms.
This represents a shift from retrospective analytics to continuous optimization, where media decisions are dynamically aligned with business performance signals.
"Our goal is to move faster, make better decisions, and tie every dollar of spend to real business impact. Mutinex has helped us build the foundation to explore activating outcomes in real time." said Vinny Rinaldi, Vice President, Consumer Connections, The Hershey Company.
A key theme emerging from the initiative is the growing alignment between marketing performance and financial accountability. CMOs and CFOs are increasingly seeking systems that provide clear, real-time visibility into the return on marketing investment.
Outcome-based activation models aim to:
This shift reflects a broader trend toward treating marketing as a measurable investment portfolio rather than a fixed operational cost.
The Trade Desk’s role in the pilot enables outcome signals to be translated into programmatic buying decisions across the open internet. This includes the ability to optimize campaigns dynamically based on performance data rather than static targeting rules.
This closed-loop approach allows advertisers to continuously refine media allocation and improve efficiency at scale.
"For too long, advertisers have had to rely on proxy metrics to evaluate success. The future is about optimizing toward outcomes that matter to the business," said Jordan Rost, VP Product, The Trade Desk.
The pilots presented at Cannes provide an early roadmap for scaling outcome-based media activation across industries and markets. The model combines real-time measurement, programmatic execution, and continuous optimization into a unified system.
Mutinex Founder and CEO Henry Innis noted that the goal is to make outcomes not only measurable but actionable, enabling a new category of performance-driven media systems.
Mutinex empowers global brands to unlock growth through AI-driven marketing decisions. By combining advanced market mix modeling with real-time insights, Mutinex offers precision and usability to brands seeking to outpace the competition. Customers think of Mutinex as their growth co-pilot. Learn more at www.mutinex.co.
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