Mekko Graphics is a software tool used by marketing managers to develop data-driven insights. It contains specialized chart types like Marimekko, cascade, and bridge charts that help analyze market opportunities. These charts can show year-over-year changes, highlight growth rates, compute growth by segment, and manage outlier data. The software also allows mapping markets by region and competitor using proportional bar charts to identify top competitors and opportunities in each area.

1. TOOLS FOR
MARKETING
David Goldstein
President, Mekko Graphics
david@mekkographics.com

2. Introduction
• Mekko Graphics is used by marketing managers at consumer goods and B2B
companies
• Category managers use it to develop data-driven insights to share with retail customers
• Marketing staff use it to explore market opportunities and report to senior management
• Mekko Graphics supports chart types and features that are valuable for marketing
analyses and not found in PowerPoint or Excel:
• Marimekko chart
• Bar Mekko chart
• Cascade, waterfall or bridge chart
• Data rows, data columns and CAGR columns that align with the chart
• Axis breaks, growth lines and comparison lines
• Mekko Graphics has over 15 years experience satisfying the charting needs of:
• Strategy consultants
• Private equity firms
• Strategy and marketing professionals at Fortune 500 companies
2

3. Showing Year Over Year Changes
3
0
50
100
150
200
Last Year's
Revenue
100
Incremental
Advertising
30
Incremental
Promotions
20
Line Extensions
10
This Year's
Revenue
160
A cascade (aka bridge or waterfall) chart captures factors that caused changes from one period to the
next. Changes can be positive or negative. The changes can also be represented as stacked bars to
divide them by customer segment or product line.

4. Highlighting Overall Growth
4
0
50
100
150
Year1
40
20
60
Year2
50
60
110
Year3
80
50
130CAGR +47%CAGR +47%
Vertical2
Vertical1
Adding a growth line to a stacked bar chart highlights the percentage change over time. Mekko
Graphics can calculate an absolute, percentage or CAGR (computed annual growth rate) change.

5. Computing Growth by Product, Channel
or Vertical
5
0
50
100
150
Year1
40
20
10
70
Year2
50
60
15
125
Year3
80
50
15
145
26%
36%
14%
Year1-Year3
CAGR
Adding a CAGR column allows you to show growth by product line, channel, or industry vertical. The
column is automatically aligned with the appropriate data series. Mekko Graphics includes a formula
for CAGR calculation.

6. Focus on Year Over Year Changes
6
0
50
100
150
Year1
40
20
10
70
Year2
50
60
15
125
Year3
80
50
15
145
+16%
+79%
+16%
+79%
Bar comparison lines focus attention on changes between any two time periods. They can be shown
as an absolute vale or a percentage.

7. Add Related Data to the Chart
7
0
50
100
150
Year1
40
20
10
70
Year2
50
60
15
125
Year3
80
50
15
145
22% 24% 25%
Overall Market
Share
Add a data row to show a measure that relates to your chart, but doesn’t fit in your chart. The row will
automatically align with your bars.

8. Manage Outlier Data
8
0
1,000
1,010
1,020
1,030
1,040
1,050
1,060
Last Year's
Revenue
1,000
Incremental
Advertising
30
Incremental
Promotions
20
Line Extensions
10
This Year's
Revenue
1,060
An axis break helps you focus on the data most relevant to your analysis. In this example, the revenue
changes are highlighted by reducing the size of the overall revenue bars.

9. 0
20
40
60
80
100%
Region1
My Company $184M
Co4 $67M
Co5 $92M
Co6 $51M
Co8 $58M
Co9 $56M
Co10 $76M
Others $43M
$627M
Region2
My Company $142M
Co2 $30M
Co3 $50M
Co5 $69M
Co6 $63M
Co7 $35M
Co8 $41M
Co10 $73M
Others $28M
$531M
Region3
My Company
$62M
Co2 $36M
Co3 $35M
Co4 $33M
Co5 $50M
Co6 $39M
Co7 $45M
Co8 $41M
Others $24M
$365M
Region4
My Company
$37M
Co4 $43M
Co6 $49M
Co8 $52M
Others
$103M
$284M Total = $1,960M
Map Your Market
9
Map a market along by region and competitor or along any two dimensions with a Marimekko chart.
The bar (column) widths are proportional to the region size and the segment areas are proportional to
the sales by competitor and region. Find the biggest competitors in each region and identify ‘white
space’ opportunities.

10. Learn More
To learn more about creating persuasive charts, download the free
Mastering Chart Selection Guide, which includes a 30-day trial of the Mekko
Graphics software.
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