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Anticipate Outcomes, Don’t Just Measure KPIs | CPG Marketing

Our insights
September 15, 2025

This is the newest chapter in our 2025 CPG Marketing at the Algorithmic Crossroads seven-part series designed to build a comprehensive playbook to win at CPG marketing in the new, third marketing era: the Algorithmic Era. You can find the five previously released chapters in the  CPG Content Hub.  

Carat CPG marketing visuals with blue snack packs and tagline on phone and flyers.

Consideration #5 challenges brands to scrap their stale, static vanity metrics and design live, adaptive measurement systems.  

For all the dashboards, attribution tools, and marketing mix models available today, most CPG brands still struggle with a fundamental question: Did our media investment drive growth we otherwise would not have realized? 

CPG brands need a new operating model for measurement, one that tracks performance and forecasts outcomes. They can no longer afford to simply report on what happened. They need to anticipate what comes next, simulate likely outcomes, and embed agility into their operating model.  

Planning must become prediction, and success must be designed to scale. 

This paper sets out Carat's view on what measurement must become for CPG brands to win in the Algorithmic Era. It’s a call to action that outlines specific real-life steps for building a smarter, outcome-driven operating model. 

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