Real estate in the Gulf is moving faster and at a larger scale than at any point in the last decade. In Dubai, more than 43,000 property deals worth AED 115 billion were recorded in Q1 2025, with nearly 70% off-plan — evidence of liquidity but also exposure to delivery and handover risks.
In this article, we explore why marketers – despite having more data than ever – struggle to turn it into actionable insights, and how AI Agents promise to deliver autonomous, high-value recommendations. Yet there’s a hidden barrier few talk about: inconsistent naming conventions. Without a standardized structure, AI Agents can’t reliably read, unify, or optimize your campaign data. Daniel shows why grounding your AI Agents in clean, enforceable data is critical for cross-channel analysis, faster insights, and confident budget decisions.
MotherDuck extends DuckDB's analytical performance to the cloud with collaborative features, delivering 4x faster performance than BigQuery and cost savings over traditional data warehouses through serverless, pay-per-use pricing. Following the announcement of MotherDuck’s new European cloud region, we were impressed by its performance and attractive pricing. MotherDuck can already be integrated into your gold layers in order to accelerate the serving of data use cases while saving costs at the same time. See performance benchmark.
The travel retail sector is at a fascinating crossroads. Passenger numbers across air and rail have rebounded to pre-COVID levels and are set to grow steadily in the years ahead - in stark contrast to declining footfall on the high street. Yet beneath this apparent recovery lies a challenge: spend per passenger remains 15% lower than before the pandemic, squeezed by rising costs and increasingly value-conscious travellers.
AI is transforming search, shifting it from ranking and retrieval towards reasoning and synthesis. This whitepaper charts this evolution, explains the mechanics of large language models (LLMs), and sets out the implications for marketers and brands. At the center of the new measurement landscape is the golden triangle of MROI: Marketing mix modeling (MMM) provides the strategic view, quantifying the impact of marketing on sales and offering optimizers and simulators to guide budget allocation. Incrementality testing validates whether campaigns truly drive additional outcomes, using test-versus-control experiments to establish causality. It also calibrates both MMM and attribution models. Attribution informs in-flight optimization by assigning credit across customer journeys. In 2025, advanced models use deep learning and attention mechanisms to capture channel interactions more effectively. These methodologies are most powerful when used together: MMM for long-term planning, incrementality for ground truth, and attribution for real-time agility. Companies also face the decision of in-housing vs. SaaS solutions. In-housing brings customization and control but requires talent and investment, while SaaS offers speed and expertise. The right choice depends on resources and data maturity. Real-world examples highlight best practices: Google’s Meridian introduces an open-source MMM toolkit to improve calibration, upper-funnel measurement, and bias correction. Accor uses incrementality testing to question assumptions and optimize budget allocation. Nike demonstrates the power of persistence and cultural change, embedding measurement into processes and democratizing insights. Artefact stresses the 95-5 rule, showing how brand equity measurement links long-term growth with short-term performance efficiency. Looking forward, five trends will shape measurement: improved data quality, new frameworks for retail media and connected TV, in-housed MMM with testing, privacy-first approaches, and attention-based metrics. The conclusion is clear: marketing measurement is now a strategic enabler. By integrating methodologies, embedding them in culture, and focusing on both performance and brand, CMOs can defend their budgets and unlock sustainable growth.
In 2025, marketing measurement has become a top priority for the C-suite. While generative AI is transforming campaign execution, measurement is what proves value and secures budgets. Yet maturity remains low: most CMOs still struggle to dynamically adjust spend based on performance. The challenge lies in balancing brand and performance marketing, coping with fragmented data, and aligning decisions across strategic and operational levels. At the center of the new measurement landscape is the golden triangle of MROI: Marketing mix modeling (MMM) provides the strategic view, quantifying the impact of marketing on sales and offering optimizers and simulators to guide budget allocation. Incrementality testing validates whether campaigns truly drive additional outcomes, using test-versus-control experiments to establish causality. It also calibrates both MMM and attribution models. Attribution informs in-flight optimization by assigning credit across customer journeys. In 2025, advanced models use deep learning and attention mechanisms to capture channel interactions more effectively. These methodologies are most powerful when used together: MMM for long-term planning, incrementality for ground truth, and attribution for real-time agility. Companies also face the decision of in-housing vs. SaaS solutions. In-housing brings customization and control but requires talent and investment, while SaaS offers speed and expertise. The right choice depends on resources and data maturity. Real-world examples highlight best practices: Google’s Meridian introduces an open-source MMM toolkit to improve calibration, upper-funnel measurement, and bias correction. Accor uses incrementality testing to question assumptions and optimize budget allocation. Nike demonstrates the power of persistence and cultural change, embedding measurement into processes and democratizing insights. Artefact stresses the 95-5 rule, showing how brand equity measurement links long-term growth with short-term performance efficiency. Looking forward, five trends will shape measurement: improved data quality, new frameworks for retail media and connected TV, in-housed MMM with testing, privacy-first approaches, and attention-based metrics. The conclusion is clear: marketing measurement is now a strategic enabler. By integrating methodologies, embedding them in culture, and focusing on both performance and brand, CMOs can defend their budgets and unlock sustainable growth.
Margin leakage often hides in complex pricing, promotions, and multi-channel strategies, where list prices rarely match the final pocket price. Promotions can cannibalize sales, and inconsistent channel discounts create arbitrage risks, silently eroding margins. Companies that define clear pricing architectures, analyze demand deeply, and govern execution with real-time monitoring turn pricing into a strategic lever. The result: higher profitability, smarter commercial decisions, and sustainable value capture.
AI Agents are revolutionizing commercial operations by automating tasks, enhancing customer relationships, and providing actionable insights. From boosting salesforce efficiency to optimizing pricing strategies, these intelligent systems help businesses achieve measurable growth and competitive advantage.
Artefact, in partnership with Societe Generale and Sorbonne University, presents a new AI approach to identify atypical customer profiles. Tested on real banking data, this open-source algorithm improves scoring accuracy while ensuring interpretability and practical applicability.
