113: Proof in AI Attribution with Jeff Greenfield

What if 80% of your marketing budget is actually being wasted right now?

Jeff Greenfield is an entrepreneur, advisor, and disruptor with three decades of marketing leadership under his belt. Today, he's the co-founder and CEO of Provalytics, a cookieless attribution solution that helps marketers prove the impact from upper funnel channels like CTV. Jeff didn't plan to get into measurement, but stumbled into it when he discovered a weight loss company was paying out five times for every new customer because all their partners claimed credit for the same sale.

Jeff gets that measurement isn't just about crunching numbers, it's about solving real business headaches and getting finance teams to trust marketing investments. He built and scaled C3 Metrics, one of the first multi-touch attribution companies, and exited just before COVID hit. What makes Jeff different is his experience living through both the wild west days of early digital and today's privacy-focused world.

This conversation digs into how the attribution landscape has shifted and why tools like Google Analytics are leaving marketers hanging. Jeff pushes back on the idea that digital marketing should be all about hyper-targeting and bottom-funnel optimization. Instead, he believes marketers have forgotten the basics: we're supposed to buy attention that builds awareness, not just chase clicks.

 

Here are the key takeaways from the conversation:

 

• Most Marketing Budgets Are Massively Wasted. Companies are throwing away 80% of their dollars by obsessing over bottom-of-funnel activities and non-brand search terms.
• Attribution Got Way Faster. Jeff's approach can crunch through 12 months of data in under a week, versus the old 3-4 month wait.
• Agencies Need Analytics to Win Business. The winning pitch now spends more than half the time on advanced analytics instead of media management promises.
• Marketing Forgot Its Fundamentals. Modern marketers buy clicks when they should be buying attention that builds awareness and drives sales.
• Emotional Storytelling Still Wins. Hyper-targeting and benefit-focused ads miss the emotional stuff that actually builds brands over time.
• White-Label Solutions Help Agencies Grow. Attribution platforms work best when baked into agency offerings instead of being separate tools.

Closing thought: "We invest dollars to buy attention, and that attention leads to awareness. When awareness is built up enough, people will walk into your store, and that eventually leads to clicks and sales."

Listen to the full conversation here:

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@frintmedia
• Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-marketing-umbrella-podcast/id1564111428
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4CoiR10nazd9zVIStLkcjk

 

Connect with Jeff:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffgreenfield/
• Provalytics: https://provalytics.com/

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To learn more about Umbrella and to connect with CEO Itamar Shafir, go to ⁠https://umbrellaus.com