Persistence Modeling in Marketing: Descriptive, Predictive, and Normative Uses

Abstract

There is general agreement that a firm’s scarce marketing resources should be managed for the purpose of long-term profitable growth. Putting that premise into practice is difficult, as only the short-term impact of marketing actions can be readily observed. Persistence modeling has become a well-accepted tool for long-run impact detection. Its consistent use across a broad range of settings has resulted in novel empirical generalizations on the long-run effectiveness of several marketing instruments and has contributed unique insights on, among others, (i) the marketing-finance interface, (ii) the role of new media, and (iii) the mediating role of a broad set of mindset metrics. Moreover, the recent addition of a more normative focus has added considerably to the actionability of these insights.