Podcast Summary

Podcast: The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®
Episode: #757: Funnel CEO Fredrik Skantze on the Evolution of Marketing Measurement
Date: October 27, 2025
Guest: Fredrik Skantze, CEO & Co-Founder, Funnel

Episode Overview

This episode explores the transformation of marketing measurement in the age of AI, data complexity, and the increasing centrality of first-party data. Host Greg Kihlström and guest Fredrik Skantze, CEO and co-founder of Funnel, dive into how technology, evolving data strategies, and agile approaches are reshaping how marketers understand and drive performance. Fredrik shares practical insights on the challenges marketers face, the future of marketing intelligence, and the operational lessons learned while scaling Funnel to serve leading global brands.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Fredrik Skantze's Background & Funnel's Mission

• Timestamp: 02:04
  • Fredrik introduces himself as CEO & co-founder of Funnel, a SaaS marketing intelligence platform approaching $70M in ARR and serving a global client base across the US, Europe, and APAC.
  • He outlines his journey from Sweden to Silicon Valley and then London, highlighting his first-hand experience with the challenges of measuring marketing effectiveness during his time building an e-commerce company.
  • Quote:

    “At that time, you know, really kind of understanding like the P and L of your marketing … which channels are driving what effect? And so everybody had a spreadsheet and that’s what we then later came to start to solve with Funnel.”
    — Fredrik Skantze, 02:04

2. Modern Data Challenges — Too Much Data, Not Enough Clarity

• Timestamp: 03:58
  • The discussion addresses the explosion of marketing data and platforms—growing from 1,000 platforms in 2014 to 13,000+ in 2025.
  • Complexity in data integration and the need for cross-channel, cross-initiative attribution are at the heart of what Funnel solves.
  • Quote:

    “Complexity of data is just going through the roof … the harder problem is cross channel, cross marketing initiative attribution and that is our focus.”
    — Fredrik Skantze, 03:58

3. AI's Transformative Role in Marketing Measurement

• Timestamp: 05:41
  • Fredrik shares excitement about conversational analytics—the next wave of data interaction through generative AI-powered chat interfaces, unlocking deeper access and analysis.
  • Funnel leverages vertical expertise and a robust data model for marketing, positioning themselves to advance these capabilities versus generic, horizontal tools.
  • Example: Use of long short-term memory neural networks to model user behavior sequences and optimize attribution.
  • Quote:

    “Now with generative AI, there is an opportunity … a new interface is emerging for how to interact with your data, which is sort of this chat interface … conversational analytics.”
    — Fredrik Skantze, 05:41
    “We use long short term memory neural networks … really good at understanding sequences where the order of the sequence matters.”
    — Fredrik Skantze, 07:05

4. Measurement Triangulation: The Gold Standard

• Timestamp: 09:05
  • Triangulation—combining models like marketing mix modeling, multi-touch attribution, and incrementality testing—is increasingly the advanced standard, promoted by both industry thought leaders and platforms.
  • This approach compensates for the loss of determinism due to third-party cookie deprecation, providing a more holistic view of ROI.
  • Requirements: Significant data volume, multiple media channels, organizational sophistication.
  • Key modeling elements: Baseline sales, ad stock, incremental CPA, channel saturation curves.
  • Quote:

    “Triangulation is really the gold standard, using all algorithms essentially available for measurement … when you use them together … they provide a very accurate picture.”
    — Fredrik Skantze, 09:05
    “For most brands, if you actually stop marketing, you probably get 70% of the sales anyway because you have a really strong brand. That’s called the baseline.”
    — Fredrik Skantze, 11:53

5. Navigating the Death of Third-Party Cookies & Rise of First-Party Data

• Timestamp: 15:36
  • Loss of third-party cookie signals intensifies the challenge for both advertisers and platforms.
  • Modern measurement now requires sophisticated data science and AI—simple click-based attribution is insufficient.
  • Critical new workflow: Feeding attribution and conversion data (including quality and value) back into ad platforms in real time can improve performance by ~20%.
  • Quote:

    “Now you actually need to use data science to sort of make these decisions and you have to use algorithms and increasingly AI to do it … That is the first thing and that’s sort of modern measurement.”
    — Fredrik Skantze, 15:36
    “If you do that, you can improve your performance per platform by something like 20% … massive increase in performance.”
    — Fredrik Skantze, 18:16

6. Scaling for Global Enterprises: Customization vs. Scalability

• Timestamp: 19:17
  • Funnel serves multinationals like Adidas, Sony, Uber, Samsung, and large agency networks.
  • The key challenge (“funnel at scale”): Managing tens of thousands of data sources and connectors.
  • Funnel commits to building any new data source a customer needs—delivered as a true “data as a service,” under strict SLAs.
  • Product philosophy: One flexible, “Lego-like” platform suits all customers, with only connectors/custom integrations as exception.
  • Quote:

    “We have a service level agreement. We will build any new platform that they have that we haven’t seen before … And that has really been transformational.”
    — Fredrik Skantze, 19:55
    “You never outgrow Funnel. It is a little more … you have to be a bit more sophisticated when you come in … But you never outgrow it … Lego for marketing data.”
    — Fredrik Skantze, 21:20

7. The Future of Marketing Measurement & the Marketer’s Evolving Role

• Timestamp: 23:18
  • Ongoing shift: AI-driven platforms (Google, Meta) are handling bidding, content, and lead gen, but attribution and ROI modeling remain a complex, essential, and unsolved data science problem.
  • Regardless of automation, marketers and AI agents must still quantify and track results relative to spend.
  • Quote:

    “Ultimately you still have to attribute your marketing spend to what your results are … that doesn’t go away. And we’re going to continue to evolve that and continue to solve that.”
    — Fredrik Skantze, 23:18

8. Agility in Leadership & Organization

• Timestamp: 24:36
  • On personal and organizational agility: Lifelong learning and continuous evolution are key.
  • As a company scales, staying agile requires intentional operating model changes—combining bottom-up culture with top-down strategic planning to increase speed and alignment.
  • Quote:

    “One of the most important things you can do is keep learning … The other thing to be agile in my role as a CEO is … get the company to be agile. That is actually much harder … That combination has caused us to be probably twice as fast as we were three years ago.”
    — Fredrik Skantze, 24:36

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Triangulation is really the gold standard, using all algorithms essentially available for measurement … they provide a very accurate picture.” (Fredrik Skantze, 09:05)
• “If you do that, you can improve your performance per platform by something like 20% … massive, massive increase.” (Fredrik Skantze, 18:16)
• “You never outgrow Funnel … Lego for marketing data.” (Fredrik Skantze, 21:20)
• “Ultimately you still have to attribute your marketing spend to what your results are … that doesn’t go away.” (Fredrik Skantze, 23:18)
• “One of the most important things you can do is keep learning … get the company to be agile. That is actually much harder.” (Fredrik Skantze, 24:36)

Key Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:04 | Fredrik's background and Funnel’s founding story | | 03:58 | Data explosion and complexity in marketing | | 05:41 | AI’s new interfaces and analytics, LSTM neural networks | | 09:05 | Advanced measurement: triangulation and its requirements | | 11:53 | Modeling baseline, ad stock, channel saturation | | 15:36 | Impact of third-party cookie loss, rise of first-party data| | 18:16 | Real-time feedback into ad platforms, performance impact | | 19:17 | Scaling Funnel for global enterprise customers | | 21:20 | Customization vs. scale: “Lego for marketing data” | | 23:18 | The evolving role of marketers, AI, and measurement tools | | 24:36 | Agility in leadership and company culture |

Conclusion

Fredrik Skantze and Greg Kihlström deliver a comprehensive overview of the state and future of marketing measurement, blending strategic vision, technical details, and hard-earned operational wisdom. Fredrik makes a compelling case for advanced, AI-infused, data-driven measurement practices as not just a future trend but a present-day necessity, emphasizing the continuing critical role of marketers and measurement experts—even as AI automates other aspects of the customer journey.

For marketers, data scientists, and CX leaders—this episode provides both inspiration and practical advice on structuring data strategies, leveraging AI, and maintaining agility in a fast-evolving landscape.