MEQ (Marketing Effectiveness Quotient) is a structured assessment developed by Cognatic that scores marketing effectiveness from 0 to 100. It examines four dimensions: Commercial Performance, Execution Quality, Organisational Alignment, and Agility & Governance.

Who is MEQ designed for?

MEQ is designed for CMOs, Marketing Directors, and senior business leaders who want a clearer, more structured understanding of marketing performance beyond dashboards and attribution reports.

MEQ: Marketing Effectiveness Quotient

Q: What does an MEQ score measure?

An MEQ score measures how effectively a marketing function is creating the conditions for sustained commercial success, organisational confidence, and operational excellence — going beyond individual campaign or channel metrics.

Most organisations have no shortage of marketing data. They can track campaign performance, website traffic, lead generation, customer engagement, brand metrics and commercial outcomes. Yet many marketing leaders still struggle to answer a simple question: How effective is our marketing, really?

A Different Approach to Marketing Measurement

MEQ (Marketing Effectiveness Quotient), developed by Cognatic, was created to answer that question. Rather than focusing on individual metrics or isolated activities, it provides a structured assessment of marketing effectiveness as a whole. This helps organisations understand whether marketing is creating the conditions for sustained commercial success, organisational confidence and operational excellence.

Traditional marketing measurement often focuses on what is easiest to track:

Leads generated
Revenue attributed
Campaign performance
Channel metrics

These measures remain important, but they rarely tell the full story. Marketing effectiveness emerges from the interaction of multiple factors, including commercial performance, execution quality, organisational alignment, responsiveness, governance and decision-making. MEQ brings these elements together in a single, easy-to-understand framework.

How MEQ Works

MEQ uses a structured assessment process to generate a score between 0 and 100, giving an overall indication of marketing effectiveness. The assessment examines four core dimensions:

Commercial Performance: How effectively marketing contributes to business outcomes and commercial objectives.
Execution Quality: How consistently marketing activities are planned, delivered and optimised.
Organisational Alignment: How well marketing supports broader business priorities and stakeholder expectations.
Agility & Governance: How effectively marketing responds to change while maintaining control and accountability.

Together, these dimensions create a balanced picture of marketing effectiveness that goes beyond traditional reporting.

More Than a Score

While the headline MEQ score provides a useful benchmark, the real value lies in the insight behind it. MEQ helps marketing leaders:

Understand strengths and weaknesses across the marketing operation
Identify the factors limiting effectiveness
Have more informed conversations with leadership teams
Build greater confidence in marketing decision-making
Track progress over time using a consistent framework

Designed for Modern Marketing Leaders

MEQ is designed for CMOs, Marketing Directors and business leaders who want a clearer understanding of marketing performance beyond dashboards and attribution reports.

It is not another analytics platform or reporting tool. It is a practical framework for understanding marketing effectiveness itself.

Know Your Marketing

MEQ offers a simple, accessible way to step back from individual metrics and see the bigger picture—because better decisions start with a better understanding of what is really driving marketing effectiveness.