Pilots designed to help brands connect marketing investment more directly to measurable business results with greater speed, transparency, and financial accountability.

NEW YORK and SYDNEY and MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, June 24, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- In an industry first, Mutinex debuted new pilots advancing outcome‑based media activation during Cannes Lions yesterday. The Hershey Company is participating as an early tester, while The Trade Desk is serving as a technology enabler supporting activation across programmatic environments. The pilots are designed to help brands connect marketing investment more directly to measurable business results with greater speed, transparency, and financial accountability.

The demonstrations build on Hershey's ongoing modernization of its measurement and decisioning capabilities using Mutinex's platform. With these foundations in place, Mutinex showed how outcome signals can move beyond measurement into activation and optimization across media channels.

Why CMOs and CFOs Are Watching

Outcome‑based media activation aims to address several long‑standing challenges for growth and finance leaders.

1. Improving the predictability of marketing investment

Organizations have historically struggled to connect media spend to revenue impact quickly enough to inform planning cycles. Outcome‑based approaches support:

• Continuous performance readouts
• Faster budget reallocation
• Clearer ROI signals tied to business‑relevant metrics

This helps position marketing as a managed investment rather than a fixed cost.

2. Accelerating planning and decision cycles

Hershey has shifted from infrequent MMM cycles to more frequent, portfolio‑wide modeling. This enables leaders to:

• Adjust plans more quickly
• Respond to market conditions with fresher data
• Make investment decisions with greater confidence

This is especially relevant in volatile or inflationary environments.

3. Aligning media buying with business outcomes rather than proxy metrics

Instead of optimizing toward impressions, reach, or CPMs, outcome‑based activation explores the ability to transact against:

• Incremental sales
• Revenue lift
• Customer acquisition outcomes
• Retail and trade performance indicators

This brings media buying closer to the financial metrics that matter to executive teams and boards.

Hershey's Measurement Modernization

Earlier this year at the Possible Conference, a Hershey use case outlined how Mutinex's platform has supported the company's efforts to:

• Analyze and optimize $2B in annual media and trade spend
• Reduce model cycle times from several months to a few weeks
• Shift from reach‑based buying to outcome‑oriented decisioning
• Expand from limited MMM cycles to monthly portfolio‑wide reads at granular levels including SKU, creative, platform, format, and audience

These capabilities created the data and governance foundation required for outcome‑based activation pilots.

What Was Demonstrated at Cannes

Since early 2026, Mutinex has been developing pilots that combine:

• Mutinex's real‑time outcome measurement
• The Trade Desk's programmatic infrastructure enabling outcome‑based activation
• Hershey's testing across its marketing portfolio

The Cannes demonstrations revealed:

• How outcome signals can be made actionable in biddable environments
• How closed‑loop optimization works across search, open‑web, and selected social platforms
• How brands can transact against business results rather than proxy metrics
• How the model can scale across categories and markets
• The financial and operational implications for CMOs and CFOs

Executive Commentary

"Outcome‑based activation requires continuous, reliable measurement of real business impact. Over the past year, we've built the systems that make outcomes not just measurable, but actionable."— Henry Innis, Founder & CEO, Mutinex

"Our goal is to move faster, make better decisions, and tie every dollar of spend to real business impact. Mutinex has helped us build the foundation to explore activating outcomes in real time."— Vinny Rinaldi, Vice President, Consumer Connections, The Hershey Company

"For too long, advertisers have had to rely on proxy metrics to evaluate success. The future is about optimizing toward outcomes that matter to the business. We're excited to work with innovators like Mutinex and brands like Hershey to explore how real‑world business signals can be activated across the open internet, giving marketers greater transparency, agility, and accountability." — Jordan Rost, VP Product, The Trade Desk

What Was Showcased at Cannes

Mutinex — with Hershey as an early tester and The Trade Desk as an enabling platform — showcased:

• Working examples of outcome‑based activation
• Early learnings from the pilots
• A roadmap for scaling outcome‑based buying
• Financial and operational implications for leaders

This marks a step toward a future where brands can buy media based on what drives growth, not what merely signals it.

About Mutinex

Mutinex empowers global brands to unlock growth through AI‑driven marketing decisions. By combining advanced market mix modeling with real‑time insights, Mutinex offers precision and usability to brands seeking to outpace the competition. Customers think of Mutinex as their growth co‑pilot. Learn more at www.mutinex.co.

Media Contact

Lana McGilvray, Purpose Worldwide for Mutinex, 1 5129708310, lana@purposenorthamerica.com, www.mutinex.co

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SOURCE Mutinex