Marketers are spending more than ever—global media advertising is expected to surpass $1 trillion this year—yet confidence in measurement remains shaky. Affinity Solutions, a consumer purchase insights company, is taking aim at that problem with the launch of the Outcomes Marketing Council, a new industry forum designed to bring clarity to one of marketing’s messiest debates: proving impact.
The Council gathers an eclectic but accomplished mix of leaders across media, martech, and even pro sports. At launch, members include Damian Garbaccio (Affinity Solutions), Doug Campbell (DoubleVerify), Chase Miller (Claritas), Nishat Mehta (Lexitas, formerly Circana), and World Cup champion-turned-podcast-host Kelley O’Hara. Their mission? To push the industry beyond clicks, impressions, and other proxies and toward verified, purchase-based outcomes.
“The Outcomes Marketing Council represents a commitment to advancing innovation through tangible action to align the industry around metrics that truly matter,” said Damian Garbaccio, Chief Commercial & Marketing Officer at Affinity Solutions.
Why Now?
Despite the rise of AI-driven optimization, Connected TV (CTV), and live sports streaming, the core problem persists: advertisers can’t always connect dollars spent to actual business results. This has opened the door for outcome-based measurement—tying ad performance directly to consumer purchases—to become the holy grail of marketing analytics.
But the industry remains fragmented. Various players are pushing their own definitions of “outcomes,” while measurement tools often vary by platform. The Outcomes Marketing Council aims to cut through the noise by driving best practices, research, and collaboration across the ecosystem.
The Council’s Game Plan
According to Affinity Solutions, the Council will focus on three key areas:
- Elevating Outcomes Measurement: Cementing consumer purchase data as a core foundation for understanding real-world advertising impact.
- Defining Best Practices: Sharing research and participating in industry conversations to advance optimized outcomes marketing.
- Expanding Affinity’s Role: Identifying ways to help advertisers extract more value from Affinity’s privacy-compliant, deterministic consumer purchase data.
Doug Campbell, Chief Strategy Officer at DoubleVerify, sees it as an industry-level opportunity:
“DV is focused on helping advertisers maximize media effectiveness, and this Council offers an important opportunity to advance outcome-based measurement across the industry.”
Industry Context
Measurement is fast becoming the new battleground in adtech. Competitors like Nielsen, Comscore, and iSpot are racing to adapt to streaming-first consumption, while verification platforms like DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science continue pushing transparency. At the same time, advertisers are demanding more than reach and frequency reports—they want proof of sales lift and ROI.
Affinity’s move positions it not just as a data provider, but as a convener of industry voices, a role that could give it more influence in shaping the standards advertisers are craving.
Why It Matters
Outcome-based marketing isn’t a shiny buzzword anymore—it’s becoming a survival strategy. As marketers face pressure to justify rising ad budgets, councils like this one could help standardize how effectiveness is defined, measured, and optimized across channels.
For brands entering a $1 trillion ad economy, the message is clear: vanity metrics won’t cut it. Purchase-driven outcomes will.
