How to build your own Marketing Catalyst: the secret weapon behind Diageo’s brand growth

The best brands do not grow by accident. They invest purposefully, intelligently and measurably, knowing where each marketing euro delivers the greatest return. This takes creativity and a solid foundation of data and models.

One of the most impressive examples comes from Diageo, known for Guinness, Baileys, Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker and Tanqueray, among others. It developed its own strategic tool: Marketing Catalyst. Each year, it uses the tool to allocate budgets across brands, markets, channels and campaigns, and predict which combination will deliver maximum growth.

At BrandQs, we increasingly hear this question:

“Can we build a tool like that too?”

The short answer: yes, provided you know where to start.

This blog explains, step by step, how to develop a Marketing Catalyst-style system adapted to your own scale and data.

Whether you work for a major brand, a B2B business or a fast-growing SME, this approach helps you get more impact from every marketing budget.

1. Define the objective and scope

Objective: Help marketing teams decide how much to invest, where best to invest it and what results to expect.

Define the scope:

• Time horizon: annual planning versus campaign optimisation

• Channels: TV, digital, social, out-of-home, in-store, sponsorship

• KPIs: sales uplift, brand growth, cost efficiency (CPC, CPM), long-term effects

2. Gather the right data

You need detailed historical data from several areas:

• Media investment & impressions

• By channel, format, market, brand and time period

• Including paid, owned and earned media

• Campaign performance

• Clicks, views, conversions, CTR, CPM, reach and frequency

• Any sales uplift through e-commerce or retail

• Brand health

• Brand awareness, consideration, preference

• Data from tracking studies, such as Kantar or other research agencies, potentially through BrandQs

• Sales & revenue

• Weekly or monthly sales figures by brand, channel or market

• Contextual variables

• Seasonality and cultural occasions, such as Easter, Christmas, Back to School, Halloween and Saint Nicholas

• Competitor activity

• Pricing strategies and promotions

• Delayed effects

• The impact of past media investment on current brand or sales results

3. Build the model — the tool's core

This is the technical heart. You need a combination of:

• Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM) — for long-term analysis

• Macro-level regression analysis, classical or Bayesian

• Measures each channel's contribution to brand and sales growth

• Provides incremental ROI by channel, brand and market

• Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) — for digital and short-term effects

• Follows individual users across their touchpoints

• Ideal for social, search and programmatic

• Lift tests / regional A/B tests

• For example: a test market or region with TV/radio versus one without

• Provides causal evidence of investment effects

The strength lies in combining all these models into one decision engine.

4. Develop the platform — the user interface

Once the model works, marketers need to be able to use it.

Interface components:

• Scenario planner: “What if we shift 10% from TV, radio or bus shelters to social?”

• ROI dashboard by channel & market

• Saturation curves (diminishing returns)

• Campaigns by occasion (holidays, promotional moments)

• Export options (Excel, Power BI, Tableau)

Technologies:

• Back end: Python, R, SQL

• Front end: Tableau, Power BI or custom-built with Streamlit, Shiny or React

• Cloud: AWS, Azure or GCP

5. Calibrate, test and train

• Backtesting: compare model output with historical reality

• Refine where needed based on business feedback

• Train teams to interpret the insights correctly

• Build trust: this involves data and a change in decision-making

6. Ensure governance and continuity

• Update the models quarterly or annually with new data

• Connect live data from other tools such as Sensor or CRM

• Establish a centre of excellence to safeguard the methodology

Ready to make smarter marketing decisions?

A tool such as Marketing Catalyst is the result of clear choices, smart data and a vision of what works. Whether you are starting with marketing optimisation or already using advanced dashboards, it is worth building a system that strengthens your marketing intuition with data insights.

At BrandQs, we help brands do exactly that:

• Structure data

• Build ROI models

• Develop clear dashboards

• And above all: make marketing budgets deliver better returns than ever

Want to know what this could look like for your brand or organisation?

Book an exploratory conversation without obligation, tailored entirely to your needs.

📩 Contact BrandQs. Smarter marketing starts here.