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Bringing analytics and insights together to drive business growth sounds like a mandate every insights leader already owns — the harder truth is the gap between owning it and actually delivering it. Ammar Basit, Analytics Director – Europe at Haleon, has spent his career closing it: turning a team once seen as “data crunchers” into strategic advisers with a real seat at the table.
In this conversation, he is candid about what that shift takes, the habit the insights industry keeps mistaking for progress, and a counterintuitive approach to running research across European markets — one that can reduce duplicated research across similar markets.
For Ammar, bringing analytics and insights together becomes tangible in marketing effectiveness. At Haleon, that includes an embedded MMM and measurement programme — but building the model is only part of the challenge. The other part is making sure insights travel through the organisation and connect to KPIs that turn evidence into action and growth.
From data crunchers to a seat at the table
For Ammar, the biggest change to the insights function is one of status. Analytics has moved from being “seen as data crunchers and analysts” to using insights to drive growth — from service provider to strategic adviser. But the seat wasn’t handed over; his team “had to force ourselves onto the table and build our credibility over time.” His challenge to peers is to become bolder: insights and analytics leaders should be “not afraid of speaking our mind,” because they hold strengths other functions simply don’t.
The question the industry keeps avoiding
He is blunt about a habit he has fallen into himself. The industry, he says, is “not really obsessed with addressing the human behavior challenge that we really want to address.” Too much research asks what to launch, or whether a pack resonates — and too little asks why, or what human problem the work is actually trying to solve. Get obsessed with the key insight, he argues, and that is when “we can move the dial.”
Research fewer markets, not more
Across European markets, he sees teams doing more research than they need — because, as he puts it, “people underestimate how similar some markets are.” Rather than researching every country, he builds market archetypes — grouping markets that behave alike in consumer and shopper terms — then researches the key ones and transfers the learnings to the rest. Less duplicated fieldwork, and a sharper European view for it.
From influence to better growth decisions
Earning a voice in business decisions is only part of the challenge. The next step is turning analytics into evidence that actually shapes marketing investment and growth.
At MRMW Europe 2026, Ammar Basit takes that conversation further with From Analytics to Growth: MMM, Insights, and Better Decisions. He’ll explore how MMM, pricing and marketing effectiveness can become part of marketing planning, investment and performance management — and the practical lessons behind turning measurement into better decisions.
Leaders from Mastercard, eBay, Warner Bros. Discovery, De’Longhi, and adidas will be in the room.
MRMW Europe 2026 | October 21–22 | Berlin. Explore the event.
