• by Joe Mandese , Yesterday

All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain.

I can't think of a better way to kick off an interview I had with Ed Dittus than by the final line uttered by the character Roy Batty in Ridley Scott's 1982 science fiction classic "Blade Runner." And it's not just because we are on the cusp of actually having AI-powered synthetic humans in the not-too-distant future, but because Dittus kept repeating the line to me during a couple of conversations we had after reconnecting.

It's beautiful, wistful dialogue and it seemed to sum up some of Dittus' sentiment about an advertising, media and marketing world he helped create when he pioneered the field of marketing mix modeling many decades ago.

Covering Dittus' launch of MMA (Media Marketing Assessment) back then and watching as it jumpstarted a cottage industry of mix modeling -- and ultimately attribution modeling -- was one of the most interesting experiences in my time as a trade journalist, and I was reminded of it -- and Dittus -- by two recent events.

One was listening to long-time Nielsen and NBCU exec Kelly Abcarian wax poetic during April's CIMM East Summit about the fact that virtually every number we use in the industry today is now "modeled."

Another was a recent briefing I had with Henry Innis, CEO and founder of modern day marketing mix modeling platform Mutinex, and the fact that when I mentioned Dittus, Innis said he had never heard of him.

That was ironic for a number of reasons, especially the fact that both Dittus and Innis got their inspirations while toiling inside venerable agency Y&R -- Dittus in the agency's 1970s-80s media department, and Innis in VMLY&R's Australian operations.

My point isn't that Innis should have known not just about a former pioneering Y&R colleague, but that he was the guy who jumpstarted a revolution in marketing and media analytics, planning and buying.

And too me, that was also a bit like an important industry moment being lost like tears in rain.

As luck would have it, Dittus coincidentally reached out and asked me what was on my mind.

"Funny you should ask," I replied. "Are you game for an interview?

Watch it and you'll learn not just about the moment mix modeling took off, and why, but what its founder thinks of the current and not-too-distant variants of AI-enabled models and the impact they will have on advertising, media and marketing.