Robbie Thain
Founder, CEO
AI-generated illustrative image. Not an official campaign image.
A Forbes interview puts fresh customer data and ongoing measurement in focus. Makai examines the staffing, footprint and reporting implications.
On October 15, 2026, Forbes BrandVoice published an interview featuring Jon Humphrey of Rokt that argued for fresh customer information and ongoing measurement in marketing decisions. In the interview, Humphrey connected customer understanding with memorable real-world experiences. For CPG and beverage leaders, the immediate planning question is where that learning belongs before an activation reaches the field.
Humphrey’s position is that marketers should gather new information to anticipate customer needs rather than rely only on retrospective analysis. He argues that understanding people is necessary to create experiences that resonate. His emphasis is on making measurement an ongoing input to decisions rather than a final accounting exercise.
He also describes marketing as increasingly cross-functional, with CMOs working alongside engineering, analytics and other business areas. Applied to experiential work, that view raises a practical coordination issue: the people designing the interaction and the people evaluating its performance need a shared objective.
The Forbes piece is a practitioner argument, not a tested protocol or proof of event-driven sales. It announces no new product or industry rule. It does not establish a measurement cadence, attribution standard or quantified performance benefit.
The logistical takeaway is therefore narrower than a new marketing playbook might suggest. Field teams have an argument for bringing customer learning into activation planning. They do not have a new operating requirement to implement or a prescribed system to purchase.
Our view at Makai is simple: make people feel welcome and make the work accountable. A generous product conversation and a clear business objective belong together. Measurement should help explain the experience without turning every interaction into a form-filling exercise.
For CPG and beverage teams defending Return on Investment (ROI), that balance matters. Product trial is a meaningful objective when the campaign is designed around trial. Qualified pipeline is a different objective. The field brief should identify which outcome the experience is intended to support instead of treating every visible interaction as equivalent commercial progress.
We build festival zones, premieres and pop-ups that turn viewers into fans and fans into advocates. Music tie-ins, screenings and live stunts bring stories to life while our crews manage execution and track reach and response. That first-party experience shapes our position: the creative moment and its measurement deserve attention together.
The business-impact question also appears in Event Marketer’s coverage of experience measurement. For Makai, the useful follow-through is to put that commercial focus into the field brief rather than reserve it for the presentation prepared afterward.
This is also why we see connecting live marketing with retail sales as a planning concern. A strong activation should have an intended role in the customer journey. Its reporting should describe progress toward that role without assigning it credit for outcomes that have not been established.
Our operational reading of Humphrey’s argument starts with the work itself. If current customer understanding is going to inform an experience, the implications reach beyond the reporting dashboard. They touch ambassador responsibilities and the physical sequence of participation. They also belong in logistics discussions.
The staffing plan should acknowledge both the product interaction and the information the campaign intends to gather. Those are related responsibilities, but they are not the same task. A conversation about taste or product use has a different purpose from recording a contact for later follow-up.
Makai’s retail demonstrations use trained brand ambassadors to drive in-store sales through real conversations and product trials. Our view is that a data-capture step should support that human exchange rather than compete with it. The experience still needs to feel like an invitation to participate.
This is not an argument for adding headcount by default. It is an argument for making the intended work visible before assigning the crew. The brief should make clear whether the activation is prioritizing trial, qualified leads or purchase behavior so staffing decisions reflect the actual objective.
A booth or sampling footprint should give the intended experience a workable place to happen. If trial is the priority, the plan should support product interaction. If qualified leads are the priority, it should support a meaningful conversation and a clear next step.
We integrate QR codes and mobile technology across retail, event and tour experiences. In this discussion, the operational issue is where that digital step sits within the live interaction. Our position is that the technology should serve the experience rather than become a separate demand on the visitor’s attention.
For trade show coordinators, the useful review is how participation flows through the space. The product encounter and the follow-up option should make sense together. A visually busy footprint still needs an explanation of what its activity represents against the campaign objective.
Fresh customer information is a planning input, not a substitute for an execution plan. Our view is that a proposed change to the consumer interaction deserves an operational review. It should not be treated only as a change to the reporting brief.
Makai’s integrated services span permitting through CRM reporting. We also store sampling product and event gear while coordinating shipping, tracking and delivery nationwide. Those capabilities place the physical materials and the information handoff within the same broader scope of work.
The practical connection is straightforward: a change in what visitors are invited to do may affect the planned footprint or crew responsibilities. It may also affect which materials the activation needs. Reviewing those implications together is consistent with planning for operational disruption rather than leaving field execution to absorb an unfinished idea.
We provide reporting on reach, trials, leads and sales to guide campaign optimization. Our measurement approach tracks awareness, engagement and conversion. The value of those categories is not that they can all be combined into a large activity total. It is that they describe different parts of the experience and its commercial purpose.
For a field brief, we believe the intended outcome should lead the reporting discussion:
These are planning distinctions, not interchangeable labels for success. A report should say what was observed before drawing a conclusion about what the activation achieved. That keeps the next discussion focused on evidence rather than on the most flattering available total.
Makai’s emphasis on commercial progression in live marketing follows the same principle. A marketing leader should be able to see the intended business outcome alongside the evidence collected. Where a connection remains unestablished, the report should leave it unestablished rather than fill the gap with confidence.
Ongoing measurement also needs a decision to inform. Our view is that a useful review identifies what the team has learned and which part of the next activation deserves attention. That might concern the interaction itself or the clarity of the follow-up opportunity. Collecting more information is not the same as deciding how to use it.
The practical response to Humphrey’s interview is not to attach a new measurement label to an existing event plan. It is to establish the intended outcome and identify what evidence would indicate progress. Creative development and field planning can then work toward the same stated purpose.
For a CMO or VP of Marketing, the deeper issue is whether customer learning arrives while there is still room to shape the experience. A finished report has value. So does a clearer understanding of the people the next activation is meant to serve.
When your next activation is taking shape, will your team be learning from the people in front of it or waiting for the final report to explain them?
Experiential leads and trade show coordinators own the daily link between live engagement and business value; when Makai runs the activation, hands-on brand moments serve a qualified-lead objective. For CPG teams working through difficult Return on Investment questions, Makai’s experiential campaigns keep measurable sales pipeline as the intended outcome of emotionally engaging experiences.
30 Years Experiential & Retail Activation Partner for CPG & Beverage Brands | Multi-Market Demos, Roadshows & Costco/Club Programs That Actually Sell
