You’re in the boardroom. The CMO asks for more budget to measure marketing performance. The CFO’s face goes blank. The tension is palpable. It’s the classic showdown: CMO vs. CFO.

In one corner, we have the CMO, eager to prove that marketing isn’t just a “cost center” but a growth engine. In the other, the CFO, armed with a calculator, laser-focused on the bottom line, asking the age-old question: “Show me the money!”

Sound familiar? Yeah, we thought so. But here’s the thing: marketing measurement doesn’t need to be a battle. In fact, with the right approach (and the right tools), you can speak the CFO’s language and win them over. Let’s dive into how.

1. Speak Their Language: Numbers, Not Feelings

The first step in talking to your CFO about marketing measurement is understanding their language. While the CMO is thinking in terms of brand awareness, engagement, and customer loyalty, the CFO is thinking in terms of ROI, incrementality, and data-driven decisions.

This is where Pēq comes in. With Pēq’s standardized measurement framework, you can easily show your CFO real, actionable data—not just fluffy metrics. The beauty of Pēq’s platform is that it connects the dots across all channels and retailers, providing a unified view of performance that’s comparable, transparent, and easy to digest. No more arguing over whether Amazon’s iROAS is comparable to Walmart’s. Pēq brings clarity.

2. Show Them the Impact (Not Just the Spend)

The CFO’s job is to keep the company’s financial health in check. When the CMO asks for more budget to measure marketing, the CFO wants to know: “What’s the return on this investment?”

No More Apples to Oranges

Let’s be real: Marketing measurement today is a mess. Everyone’s speaking a different language — and wondering why no one understands each other.

One platform says your campaign drove a 3.5x ROAS.
Another says it’s incremental.
A third just shrugs and gives you a PDF three weeks late.

Welcome to the Apples-to-Oranges Era of media measurement.

So… What’s the Problem?

You can’t optimize what you can’t compare.

Marketers are being asked to make million-dollar decisions across channels that don’t speak the same language — not in metrics, not in methodologies, not in timing, not even in logic.

One brand manager is looking at iROAS.
Another’s debating attribution windows.
The CFO wants “just one number.”
And the agency? They’re knee-deep in four dashboards and a spreadsheet that looks like it was built in 1997. It’s chaotic. It’s confusing. And it’s killing performance.

By Rikki Marler

If there’s one thing I learned managing marketing measurement during COVID while at Circana, it’s this: the brands that stayed active, invested smartly, and measured with discipline came out stronger. Those who pulled back or relied on instinct alone lost momentum — and in many cases, ceded market share to those who embraced data-driven decision making.

Today, that lesson is even more critical. With economic uncertainty, evolving consumer behaviors, and an increasingly complex media landscape, brands need more than just activity — they need clarity. They need marketing measurement and attribution tools that don’t just track exposure but truly measure incrementality — the additional value each marketing dollar creates.

At Pēq, we help brands move beyond surface-level reporting and into true outcome-driven insights. We isolate what actually drives incremental sales, empowering brands to optimize in real-time instead of relying on retrospective, siloed reports. Cross-channel analysis is no longer optional — it’s the only way to see the full picture across retail media, in-store, digital, and offline activations.

At Pēq, we help brands move beyond surface-level reporting.

We’ve also leaned heavily into AI and machine learning to power faster, smarter insights. Our platform enables brands to A/B test campaigns with live reporting, giving marketers the flexibility to adjust tactics mid-flight, not months later. Customization and flexibility are core to our model — because every brand’s strategy, category dynamics, and customer base are different.

And in a world where marketing technology can often feel opaque, Pēq is committed to transparency and trust. Our methodologies are clear, standardized, and designed to give brands complete confidence in the insights that fuel their investments.

Through this work, I’ve seen firsthand: brands who prioritize measurement, agility, and optimization not only survive uncertainty — they outperform. Those who default to old models and delayed decision-making fall behind.

That’s why we built the Pēq Real-Time AI Mix Model — giving marketers a dynamic, always-on view of incremental impact across all channels. It’s designed for brands that need scalable, global-ready solutions and a trusted partner who brings educational content and thought leadership alongside actionable insights. It’s the model I wish more brands had during COVID — and the one every brand will need to win in the next cycle of disruption.