Prophet has added several new big brands to its client roster including BYD, MYOB and Endeavour Group.
It comes as Prophet, which bills itself as a “growth consulting firm”, has reported 309 per cent year on year growth as the organisation adopts digital clones to run forward simulations on budget and media decisions before committing spend.
Rather than relying on quarterly or annual reports that explain what happened after budgets have been spent, organisations are increasingly investing in technology that allows teams to rehearse commercial decisions before they are made. The shift reflects growing pressure on marketing, finance and executive teams to make investment decisions with greater confidence in an increasingly uncertain economic environment.
Prophet’s platform creates a digital clone of an organisation, continuously analysing more than 100,000 macroeconomic and behavioural signals, including consumer confidence, inflation, fuel prices, employment, interest rates and category conditions.
This creates a rehearsal space where marketing, finance and executive teams can test different investment scenarios, understand likely commercial outcomes and make more informed decisions before budgets are committed.
The platform is now used across FMCG, retail, automotive, financial services, insurance, travel, wagering and software businesses, representing more than 40 brands and billions of dollars in annual media investment. Recent work by Prophet has supported organisations including BYD, MYOB, KitchenAid, Rest Super, TAL, Drummond Golf, Intrepid Travel, Picklebet and Suzuki, reflecting growing demand for more forward-looking approaches to marketing measurement across enterprise Australia.
Among the organisations adopting the approach is Endeavour Group, which is using Prophet’s digital clone across its BWS and Dan Murphy’s brands to better understand how media investment, market conditions and customer behaviour interact before major marketing decisions are made.
“As we simplify the business, we need a clearer view of what’s genuinely driving commercial outcomes and where investment can work harder,” Endeavour Group head of marketing – media and digital, Nick Berry, said. “Prophet lets us model decisions before we make them – how media, market conditions and customer behaviour interact across the whole system – so we can move faster and stay accountable for the call.”
The shift is also being driven by increasing pressure from outside the marketing function. Industry research indicates only 40 per cent of marketers believe advertising’s commercial contribution is well understood by the C-suite, increasing expectations for marketing leaders to demonstrate commercial impact before investment decisions are made, rather than after campaigns have finished.
Prophet describes its approach as “Rehearsed Reality”. Rather than simply measuring what happened, organisations create a digital clone of their business to rehearse different investment scenarios, compare likely outcomes and understand how changing market conditions are likely to influence performance before decisions are made. Instead of explaining yesterday’s decisions, teams can test tomorrow’s.
Prophet CEO and co-founder, Jordan Taylor-Bartels said the company’s growth reflected a structural shift in how enterprise organisations approach marketing measurement.
“For years, marketing measurement has been built around reporting. Every quarter, every six months or once a year, marketers receive a report explaining what happened. By then, the budget has already been spent,” he said.
“We’re now seeing organisations ask fundamentally different questions. What happens if consumer confidence drops? What happens if we move investment between channels? What happens if a competitor doubles its share of voice? Teams want to understand the likely outcome before they commit the budget.
“Every other major commercial decision gets rehearsed before it’s made. Marketing has been one of the few business functions expected to spend first and explain later. The organisations leading the charge have decided that’s simply too expensive a way to operate.
“Marketing measurement is evolving from a reporting function into a commercial decision-making capability. The organisations leading this shift aren’t replacing experience or judgement. They’re giving their teams a rehearsal space where they can test different scenarios, understand commercial risk and make more confident investment decisions before a dollar is spent.”
