Accountability

IT CAN’T BE THAT SIMPLE
Or Have We Over-Complicated Our Measurement Systems?

Recently a group of leading marketers was given a list of simple statements about marketing. The marketers’ assignment was to identify all of the statements listed that were actually true. They did poorly, correctly identifying only about one-third.

RECOUNTING RADIO
What Do the New PPM Numbers Mean?

CPMs are the value measure of media. But it’s trickier than apples, three for a dollar.

For example, when buyers say “NBC CPMs are too high,” it’s clear they’re saying NBC wants more than buyers are willing to pay. But when buyers say “Outdoor CPMs are too low,” they don’t mean Outdoor doesn’t charge enough. They’re saying its measurement overstates its audience.

THE BRITTLE BONES OF MEDIA
Why Reach isn't Reach any more

My kid's favorites are Dinosaurs. They run right past the sea anemones, which barely leave a smudge, straight to those big white bones.

There's a lesson in media planning buried with the fossils: Media has a skeleton too. It's called Reach and Frequency. Those bones hold the softer stuff, Receptivity, Attentiveness and Engagement. And like the time-bleached Dinosaur, media's bones are getting old.

PREVENTING DIS-ENGAGEMENT
Isn’t the Obvious Problem Too Many Commercials?

Desperate times bring desperate measures. Royal Philips Electronics recently patented a device that would force viewers to watch commercials by locking the channel when ads run. That got me thinking. Does it have an eye lock also? And will they sell it as “engagement TV?”

WANT ENGAGEMENT?
Make a More Engaging Ad

It’s sloppy to talk about using engagement in planning without being specific. Media engagement and advertising engagement are very different things.

ENGAGEMENT EXPLAINED
The Confusion is Engagement is Many Different Things.

“Engagement” is more than a search for accountability. It is a cry for help. Advertising has become more fragmented, more costly, and less effective. Many advertisers hope engagement will be the tool for making things better. A system for improving consumer response.

IT’S THE OTHER GUY’S COMMERCIAL
Only the Media Can Reduce Clutter. So Why Not Help Them When They Try?

“A wise man said “If you can measure a thing, you can begin to manage it.” That’s probably why the 4A’s stopped its clutter-watch report. Agencies can’t manage it, so why try to measure it? Clutter is always the other guy’s commercial.

THE LAW IS AN ASS, BUT FLOWERS MIGHT HELP

“If the law supposes that,” said beadle Bumble in Oliver Twist, “the law is an ass.”
I don’t recall the reason for Bumble’s rage, but I recall the feeling. Close to one hundred of us shared it at a Special Meeting of the ARF. The subject was “The Accountability of Audience Measurement.” The subtext was “that monopoly called Nielsen.”

FINDING THE OTHER HALF
The Idea That Advertising Doesn’t Pay May Be More About Packaged-Goods Than It Is About Advertising.

A cliché is a Truth grown too familiar. The most damaging cliché to advertising is “I know half my dollars are wasted, but I don’t know which half.”

TRUST IS A FIVE-LETTER WORD
In Spite of Relationship Management, Marketers haven’t Earned Trust.

I’ve just read that Microsoft is delaying the introduction of its new Customer Relationship Management software (CRM). Lord knows we could all use a little, loving CRM. I think they should call it Hal.

THE AGE OF THE ANXIETY?
Media audits focus on diligence, more than deceit. But either way, more advertisers want the reassurance.

First Enron, then World Com. Ogilvy then Omnicom. “Irregularities” breed an oversight mentality and in our little corner, Media Auditing, long held at bay by the agency giants, is about to break down their doors.

DID ADVERTISING JUST SNEEZE?
Agencies Need Better Arguments To Weather A Recession

Do recessions loom like a rock or spread like a virus? By most accounts they're a virus. Behavioral economists tell us the fear of economic insecurity infects the minds of consumers before it breaks-out as red splotches in the quarterly numbers.

CHICKENS WALTZING OUT THE DOOR
Distracted by the future, agencies can lose focus on the present.

There’s a Chinese proverb that warns "Those who live for a great tomorrow may not have a good today." With fewer than 100 thousand installed Tivo and Replay machines (pre-Christmas) one wonders

GOTTERDAMMERUNG, BABY.
Media Need To Be More Concerned About Advertising.

Sunny, funny advertising has a dark side. Our slogan isn’t "Ads work wonders" it’s "Half the money’s wasted." Only an afterthought, "But I don’t know which half" saves the day and lets us smile.

YOU’LL EAT PIE IN THE SKY BYE ‘N BYE
If Advertising Doesn’t Pay, Why Do Smart Managers Advertise?

"You’ll eat pie in the sky bye ‘n bye." An appealing promise to the large percent of us who are overweight by government standards.

WANT TO BUG AN AGENCY PRESIDENT?
Just Get the Client to Ask a Naive Question.

Want to stop a meeting, dead? Just ask, "How does advertising work?" It's like asking a platoon of Green Berets to stop shooting and discuss the meaning of Life. No one in the room is focused on "How". They're all thinking "How much."