Marketing Value Metrics is an update to "Marketing Accountability" where McDonald introduces a new perspective on marketing accountability. "We argue that marketing should be accountable for creating new markets and extracting a sustainable flow of profit...accountable to both customers and shareholders in equal measure." In it, McDonald guides readers through a systematic metrics-based framework emphasizing where marketing contributes to shareholder value. Key steps in the framework and modeling processes are detailed. This includes adding metrics for social media and a discussion on techniques of correctly measuring the impact of a multi-channel approach of marketing. Being able to correctly measure how resource allocations translate into performance consequences then into financial effects will help decide which approaches produce the best yield.

Scholarly written, each chapter starts with a summary and leads into a hierarchy of information. One would hope some of the work (like organizational goals) might already be established, but McDonald covers those elements as well. Lots of good figures and diagrams dot the book and provide some visual ways to understand the data. Interestingly, figure 2.10 is the McDonald Portfolio Matrix, a revised 2x2 matrix where the author emphasizes "you cannot be all thing to all people" which is an important key item to remember when designing metrics to prevent scope creep.

Marketing Value Metrics is comprehensive and well-diagrammed. It creates a solid basis of understanding how to go about designing the right metrics for the organizational goals.