Nerd Alert: The Problem with Last-Touch Attribution

Welcome to Nerd Alert, a series of special episodes bridging the gap between marketing academia and practitioners. We’re breaking down highly involved, complex research into plain language and takeaways any marketer can use. 

In this episode, Elena and Rob explore how last-touch attribution leads marketers to overvalue certain ads and make poor bidding decisions. They reveal why having no attribution model could be better than using last-touch attribution alone. 

Topics covered:   

• [01:00] "Beyond the Last Touch Attribution and Online Advertising"
• [02:10] Understanding game theory in marketing decisions
• [04:00] The problem with multi-platform consumer journeys
• [05:30] Why publishers benefit from last-touch attribution
• [06:45] Introduction to Shapely value attribution
• [08:20] Making attribution drive strategy, not just reporting 

 





To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter. 
 

Resources: 
Berman, Ron. (2024). Beyond the Last Touch: Attribution in Online Advertising. The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. 
 

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