Marketing Is Data-Rich but Still Insight-Poor, Says Quigley-Simpson CEO
AMENIA, NY – The fundamentals of marketing have not changed in four decades – attracting and retaining profitable customers. What has changed is the sheer volume of data available to pursue that goal, and the industry’s struggle to turn that data into action.
That tension is the central challenge facing marketers today, according to one agency leader.
“It’s still complicated. It’s still not easy to cull all that data and information and pull insights,” said Carl Fremont, CEO, Quigley-Simpson, in this video interview with Beet.TV at the Beet Retreat in the Berkshires. “At the end of the day, those insights is what’s going to drive the whole marketing ecosystem downstream.”
The measurement gap persists
A Forrester analysis published in July 2026 found that 49% of B2C marketing decision-makers say analytics findings do not translate into action. Meanwhile, Emarketer’s 2026 measurement outlook reported that 46.9% of US marketers planned to invest more in marketing mix modeling, reflecting growing pressure to connect media activity to business outcomes.
Gartner’s 2026 CMO Spend Survey found that 70% of CMOs say their internal marketing processes are not mature enough to implement and scale AI effectively, even as digital media now represents more than two-thirds of total media investment.
Fremont argued that marketers must operate at both macro and micro levels simultaneously. “You can look at it at a macro level in terms of entire marketing system and what it’s driving in terms of sales,” he said. “And then you can look at it at a micro level and you have to do both.”
Defining outcomes before measuring them
The conversation at the Beet Retreat kept returning to “outcomes”, a word Fremont said had dominated discussions. But he cautioned that marketers must first define what they are trying to achieve before they can measure it.
“Well, first we have to understand what impact we’re trying to create,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s about sales and looking at, is our investments paying out for us? Are we getting the most value from our investments?”
Fremont acknowledged that measurement will never be perfect. The industry will still be grappling with these questions years from now, he predicted. “We all need to continue to do is ask the questions and look for how are things performing, how are things improving, learn, test and learn constantly,” he said. “Be open to things not working. Be open to things that aren’t going to be successful because you’ll learn from that as well.”
What ‘impact obsessed’ actually means
Quigley-Simpson describes its philosophy as “impact obsessed,” a phrase Fremont said the agency developed deliberately. The Los Angeles-based agency, founded 25 years ago, has built its practice around measurement and accountability.
But Fremont argued that impact extends beyond financial metrics. “You can look at impact from a financial side, from a business side. You know, what impact are you having on sales?” he said. “You can look at impact from an enterprise. How is what you’re doing impacting the employees and the other people that a brand and a company are engaging with?”
The agency recently expanded its relationship with Generac, becoming the company’s digital agency of record after a competitive review. The remit includes integrated media strategy, planning, implementation, reporting and analytics, reflecting the agency’s emphasis on connecting media activity to measurable outcomes.
AMENIA, NY – The fundamentals of marketing have not changed in four decades – attracting and retaining profitable customers. What has changed is the sheer volume of data available to pursue that goal, and the industry’s struggle to turn that data into action.
That tension is the central challenge facing marketers today, according to one agency leader.
“It’s still complicated. It’s still not easy to cull all that data and information and pull insights,” said Carl Fremont, CEO, Quigley-Simpson, in this video interview with Beet.TV at the Beet Retreat in the Berkshires. “At the end of the day, those insights is what’s going to drive the whole marketing ecosystem downstream.”
The measurement gap persists
A Forrester analysis published in July 2026 found that 49% of B2C marketing decision-makers say analytics findings do not translate into action. Meanwhile, Emarketer’s 2026 measurement outlook reported that 46.9% of US marketers planned to invest more in marketing mix modeling, reflecting growing pressure to connect media activity to business outcomes.
Gartner’s 2026 CMO Spend Survey found that 70% of CMOs say their internal marketing processes are not mature enough to implement and scale AI effectively, even as digital media now represents more than two-thirds of total media investment.
Fremont argued that marketers must operate at both macro and micro levels simultaneously. “You can look at it at a macro level in terms of entire marketing system and what it’s driving in terms of sales,” he said. “And then you can look at it at a micro level and you have to do both.”
Defining outcomes before measuring them
The conversation at the Beet Retreat kept returning to “outcomes”, a word Fremont said had dominated discussions. But he cautioned that marketers must first define what they are trying to achieve before they can measure it.
“Well, first we have to understand what impact we’re trying to create,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s about sales and looking at, is our investments paying out for us? Are we getting the most value from our investments?”
Fremont acknowledged that measurement will never be perfect. The industry will still be grappling with these questions years from now, he predicted. “We all need to continue to do is ask the questions and look for how are things performing, how are things improving, learn, test and learn constantly,” he said. “Be open to things not working. Be open to things that aren’t going to be successful because you’ll learn from that as well.”
What ‘impact obsessed’ actually means
Quigley-Simpson describes its philosophy as “impact obsessed,” a phrase Fremont said the agency developed deliberately. The Los Angeles-based agency, founded 25 years ago, has built its practice around measurement and accountability.
But Fremont argued that impact extends beyond financial metrics. “You can look at impact from a financial side, from a business side. You know, what impact are you having on sales?” he said. “You can look at impact from an enterprise. How is what you’re doing impacting the employees and the other people that a brand and a company are engaging with?”
The agency recently expanded its relationship with Generac, becoming the company’s digital agency of record after a competitive review. The remit includes integrated media strategy, planning, implementation, reporting and analytics, reflecting the agency’s emphasis on connecting media activity to measurable outcomes.
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