Clients now want proof of the incremental value marketing delivers: Jakub Otrząsek, Monks

In an exclusive interaction with exchange4media, Jakub Otrząsek, Senior Vice President, Data APAC, Monks, said that the need of the hour is for disciplines across the board to work together instead of in silos to create significantly more value for the clients.

According to him, the biggest shift now is that clients increasingly want proof of the incremental value marketing delivers and are no longer satisfied with simply measuring efficiency; they want to demonstrate effectiveness. Otrząsek explains why brands increasingly recognise that competitive advantage comes from responding in real time, which reinforces the need to become a real-time brand.

He also shares his insights of the need for an aggregated holistic measurement approach in a fragmented marketing ecosystem and why he believes YouTube will remain one of the most important platforms, particularly in India. 

Edited excerpts:

Monks recently launched Creative Intelligence in Asia-Pacific, an AI-powered capability within Monks. You described it as a testament to the intersection of creativity, media and data. Could you explain what inspired this solution and how it works?

Traditionally, marketing has been highly siloed. Brands would hire one agency for ideation, another for production, a third to manage media, and someone else to analyse performance. The people who created the campaign often never received meaningful feedback on how their creative actually performed. AI is changing that dynamic. Today, brands can produce significantly more creative assets, much faster and at a lower cost. Those assets can also be far more diverse than before. While that creates exciting opportunities, it also introduces a new challenge—understanding which creative elements actually resonate with audiences.

Creative Intelligence addresses that challenge. It analyses creative assets at a very granular level, helping marketers identify which components—whether it's the background, clothing, actors or other visual elements—resonate with the consumer and drive better performance We're building on Nielsen research that suggests nearly 47% of a campaign's success can be attributed to the creative itself, which is roughly twice the impact of audience targeting or media placement. This builds the need for understanding the creatives better.

Creative Intelligence bridges that gap by combining media data with creative analysis, giving creators direct feedback on what works and why. That's something that has been extremely difficult to execute in the past. Monks is uniquely positioned to deliver this because ideation, production, media and analytics all exist within one integrated organisation. When those disciplines work together instead of in silos, we can create significantly more value for our clients.

While agencies often work in silos, client organisations face similar challenges, with separate teams handling media, influencer marketing, digital and offline campaigns. How do you help clients overcome these internal barriers?

That's absolutely true. Breaking down organisational silos is a major part of our AI transformation work with clients. Adobe introduced the concept of the content supply chain, and we are telling brands to simplify and collapse that supply chain by removing unnecessary barriers and between teams. Our ethos is to help transform our customers and help remove the siloes to enable that. Technology alone isn't enough. Organisations need to transform the way different functions collaborate. That's a key element of building a real-time brand, where data, content, media and creative all work together rather than operating independently.

When pitching to clients today, what are they prioritising? Has technology become the primary focus, or do creativity, effectiveness and brand building still carry equal importance?

The biggest shift we're seeing is that clients increasingly want proof of the incremental value marketing delivers and are no longer satisfied with simply measuring efficiency. It’s not only the incremental value; clients want to understand whether marketing actually influenced consumer behaviour and led to purchase from the brand and contributed to business outcomes.

This has led to growing interest in tools, measurement frameworks such as Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM) and Google's Meridian, which focus on understanding and measuring marketing effectiveness rather than efficiency. I see a positive industry shift—from optimising efficiency to demonstrating effectiveness. The other major priority is speed. Brands increasingly recognise that competitive advantage comes from responding in real time, which reinforces the need to become a real-time brand.

Marketing metrics continue to evolve—from viewability to attention, and now towards effectiveness and transparency. Where do you think measurement is heading?

 I believe the future is centred around transparency—understanding exactly how marketing budgets are spent and what business value they generate.

Today's media ecosystem is incredibly fragmented. Channels like retail media, influencer marketing and Connected TV (CTV) all operate with different feedback loops and when you dive into details, you notice that the feedback from every platform is defined in a different way. Even something as basic as viewability can vary from platform to platform.

That's why brands need an aggregated holistic measurement approach that sit above individual platforms and evaluate performance across the entire marketing ecosystem.

Marketing Mix Modelling is one such approach, although many brands don’t execute it to the detailed level that it offers, which enables measurement of newer channels like influencer marketing. Influencer marketing, in particular, is challenging to measure—but it's certainly not impossible. Markets such as China, where influencer marketing accounts for a significant share of media investment, have developed much more rigorous approaches to measurement.

Across Europe, we're already seeing brands adopt more structured frameworks to measure user-generated content, social platforms and influencer campaigns and there are case studies to show this. That's an encouraging trend. Ultimately, every marketer wants to demonstrate to the CFO that marketing investment delivered tangible RoI and delivered business returns. The challenge is complex and we are in the pursuit of simplification, which will enable marketers to go to their CFO with concrete details in the future.

Marketing Mix Modelling can demonstrate incrementality, but it doesn't always prove causation. Correlation is not causation and that's why brands increasingly need multiple complementary measurement techniques to prove causation.

Australia is already having mature conversations around effectiveness and transparency, and I'm beginning to see similar discussions emerging in India as well. Brands here are becoming more focused on understanding exactly what's driving performance, effectiveness and transparency rather than simply reporting campaign metrics.  When you look at the overall hygiene of the media spend, clients still struggle in 2026 with naming conventions, taxonomies. This is a preventive factor to have more informed guesses about how to spend money.

Looking ahead, what are the most important data capabilities brands should build over the next three years?

The most fundamental challenge is still the lack of transparency in media buying. Many brands continue to depend on traditional agency structures, and they often do not get timely access to performance data. In some cases, performance reports arrive two or three months later, which is simply not good enough for a brand that wants to operate in real time.

Interestingly, I do not think brands need to invest heavily in deep technical skills anymore. AI has significantly lowered the barrier to entry, and many analytical tasks have become much easier than they were a few years ago.

What brands are really missing today is informed talent—people who understand the ecosystem well enough to ask the right questions of agencies, technology partners and other stakeholders.

You do not know what you do not know. And if you are not asking the right questions, you are unlikely to get the right answers. So, in my view, the most important capability for the next three years is not necessarily advanced technical expertise, but the ability to interpret data strategically, challenge assumptions and make better business decisions based on the information available.

Given the current macroeconomic environment—with inflation, geopolitical uncertainty and slowing growth in several markets—what sentiment are you seeing across APAC? How do you view India's position in comparison with other economies?

India remains one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, with growth of around 6% year-on-year. That still places it among the top-performing economies in the region. Of course, there are challenges. Inflation remains a concern, interest rates are higher than they used to be, and there are ongoing discussions around rising unemployment. The exact numbers may vary depending on the source, but those are issues the market continues to monitor. That said, when you compare India with many developed economies, it is in a much stronger position. Australia is technically in a recession, several Western economies are facing prolonged economic slowdown, and Japan—despite being one of the world's most developed economies—has been grappling with stagnation for decades.

From our perspective, India is moving in a very positive direction. The country's scale, combined with its strong economic momentum, creates enormous opportunities for businesses and brands. High growth over the next five to six years has the potential to double the size of the economy.

What are your expectations from the Indian market over the next few years?

One of the most encouraging developments would be the continued shift from traditional media to digital. That transition isn't just about advertising—it also reflects improvements in people's everyday lives. As more consumers gain access to the digital ecosystem, they're able to participate in the digital economy. At the same time, brands also become more active participants in that digital ecosystem, creating greater opportunities for engagement and growth.

India has witnessed explosive growth in retail media, e-commerce and quick commerce, with platforms like Flipkart, Amazon and others driving rapid adoption. Brands are also increasing investments in CTV, influencer marketing and even emerging formats such as micro dramas. Which platforms do you believe will be the next big battleground for consumer attention?

While short-form content continues to gain momentum, I still believe YouTube remains one of the most important platforms, particularly in India. What makes YouTube unique is its ability to deliver high-quality long-form content at scale.

Micro dramas are also gaining popularity across Asia, and we expect that trend to continue. However, I'm still cautious about predicting how much they will ultimately move the needle for brands.

Social commerce, on the other hand, is particularly compelling for lower-priced products, such as beauty and personal care items.

The bigger question for brands is what will actually will move the needle from a brand perspective, identifying the moments that truly influence consumer decisions—especially those emotional moments that happen beyond a traditional screen. I think we'll see new opportunities emerge across a wider range of consumer touchpoints. As AI becomes embedded in almost every connected device, entirely new ways for consumers to discover, engage with and purchase products will emerge. That evolution is likely to reshape how brands think about customer engagement far beyond today's digital platforms.