Sometimes it seems like we tie ourselves up in knots worrying about the exactness of the number and lose sight of the reason why we care. Is online the right channel to reach people, what is the right place to put our message and do the people who will see it even care. Perhaps the question we should ask ourselves is whether or not we can measure that.

Increasingly, marketing activities demand accountability. Did it work? In order to assess this, we need some sort of yardstick. Statistics and measurement are our only tools for assessing this but just as it is difficult to compare two lengths when one is measured in imperial standards and the other in metric, the current inconsistencies in measurement make any true comparative assessment of reach or effectiveness pretty hard to do.

Our industry, as it has matured, has turned more and more focus on developing a unilateral standard around this topic. I spoke to Monique Perry from Nielson who promises that a consistent measurement currency is very close to launching in Australia so perhaps we are starting to see some light at the end of this tunnel.

The challenge however still remains that whether or not we can decide on a consistent way to measure the audience on one site, or even the web universe as a whole, how can we measure the cross platform effectiveness.

Measuring the interactions between platforms remains a problem. Although we have agreed currency around TV and radio audiences and by integrating these with a standardised online measurement tool we will get half way there, it does not solve the entire problem. When we start to consider other online channels such as social media, mobile, email and outdoor, the measurement task becomes even more complex. When we decide we want to look at how the interactions between platforms may have a multiplier effect on a consumers propensity to respond, measurement of this becomes almost impossible.

It is always an interesting area of debate and one which is a constantly evolving. The ad:tech panel have certainly got their work cut out getting to the bottom of this and I’m looking forward to hearing what they’ve got to say. Here are the panel details:

Wednesday 17th March The Evolution Of Audience Measurement

• How do we get a fixed method of measuring and reporting online audiences?
• What are the steps towards cross platform audience measurement: can we get a true view of the consumers’ activity
• Beyond reach and frequency: how do we move to measuring advertising effectiveness, not audience numbers

Session Leader: Megan Brownlow, Editor, Entertainment & Media Outlook, PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Gai Le Roy, Programmes Manager, IAB Australia
Stuart Pike, Asia Pacific Research Director, Nielsen
Gordon Towell, CEO, Audit Bureau of Circulations
Lisa Walsh, Head of Audience Research, ABC

Registration closes Friday 12th march 5.30pm. Register now.

There are a multitude of streaming ad formats around. It can be all too tempting to just throw your 30-sec TVC up into a banner and get double the reach for the same production cost, however I do question if this is the most beneficial approach for the brand. Forcing someone to watch your ad before they can see the content they really want is basically the same model as the commercial TV stations have been using for decades and while this model still has some strength from a publisher perspective, it does not really take into consideration the fact that most people who watch online video, are operating in a pull mentality, not push.

There are a lot of more innovative ways that companies can use video which seem to me to offer both more creative options and more opportunities for engagement. Long form video content has increased dramatically in recent years with Nielson estimating an increase of 129% last year alone. Some even predict that this will be the driving factor in the growth of digital video advertising over the next five years.

Online video is very close to the television experience and gives brands an opportunity to add real value to viewers. Whether it be through entertainment, ‘how to’ instructional information or experiential content that really gives a consumer a deeper sense of a brand, the really exciting thing about this is that you are no longer limited by the time frames that restricted commercial TV spots.
The challenge however, is cost. Quality video production can be expensive. How brands can justify the ROI comes down to how efficiently they can measure the quality of the interaction and the conversions that they receive.

There are a plethora of metrics that one can observe, but how many advertisers are approaching this medium in an analytical way? Where you embed your videos, how you channel consumers through a conversion path and how you monitor and optimise your content based on observed viewer behavior needs to become part and parcel of the equation.

I might not have all the answers here but the issues will be discussed in this panel discussion at ad:tech: Reviewing The Real Marketing And Advertising Opportunities That Video Presents
How do you commercialise video? (Tuesday 16th March, 4.05pm). The panellists are:
Kerry Field, Mindshare
Matt Hunt, RedLever
Karen Stocks, YouTube Australia & New Zealand
Ian Gardiner, Viocorp

And they’ll be talking specifically about:
What formats of video are most beneficial for your brand
Where can you not live without video?
How can video help merge the on and off line brand experience?
What is the publishers’ vision for video?

Since the beginning of advertising, creatives have been focused on generating a ”big idea” that will capture the hearts and minds of consumers and inspire them to want and buy products.  With the advent of digital, we added the need to “interact” or “engage” with that advertising online and we measure this interaction as a gauge of how good the idea actually is.

To achieve this, we have to employ a much broader range of skills and considerations and this is at the heart of what makes “digital” different. 

It drives me nuts that so many clients still want to see creative in a pitch long before the agency has had time to really figure out what they need to build. 

Driving the right kind of engagement is as much about the technology and how you use it, the interface and how you arrange it (UI), the content and how you structure it (IA) and the way that your interface actually works to deliver against the needs and wants of a consumer (UX).  These aspects require us to gain insights into not only how the hearts and minds of consumers work but how their devices and their brains work too.

Sometimes technology creates barriers to the experience.  It might be that databases need to talk to each other to deliver personalised information, and they just don’t. It might be that the audience is living in a part of Australia that still can’t watch youtube because their connections are too slow.  It might be that you want to deliver the experience on a mobile phone and half the users will be looking at it on a screen that is tiny.

So how do you then balance the technological capabilities with the emotional requirements of the marketing campaign?

To do this in a vacuum is impossible.  Just as ads get tested on focus groups, digital executions should always be tested through usability analysis.  And even once you go live, the data on usage patterns will tell you a lot, not only about what content people are interested in but also, whether the site you have built is easy and intuitive or confusing and not worth the trouble.

2 or 3 years ago, many digital agencies gave strategy away with a pitch in order to win the production business. Now, the field is varied.  Some companies still consider their web presence a channel and relegate it to a project manager to … well, manage.  At the other end of the spectrum however, we are seeing more and more companies pitching strategy out separately and involving many people in their organisation who previously had no insight into marketing activities or their rational.

The question for this panel is, does a company need an overarching digital strategy or is the strategy digital?  Here are a few things to consider:
• Digital is like a retail location.  Even if customers are not wanting to buy right now, if they’re looking at your web presence, they are an opportunity.
• Customers’ expectations are to be able to transact online but delivering this often requires new products and services to be developed.
• Digital initiatives often interface and depend on large scale CRM systems and data warehouses.  Responsibility for these areas crosses many different departments and might require complex political negotiations to get working together.
• When companies start investing big budgets, they also expect ROI. 

Since this is what I do for a living, I have to say that yes, companies do need a digital strategy, but how far should we go? 

Some initiatives in digital marketing are no more complex that promoting something or gathering email addresses … over thinking a simple campaign microsite makes what used to be a cheap and effective use of the internet, prohibitively expensive.  It is interesting to debate just how necessary a digital strategy is.

Strategy also implies something fixed.  However, the ‘always live’, instantaneous digital experience affects how strategies need to evolve, like a living, breathing thing based on feedback and results. How many companies budget for and organise themselves around this kind of effort and how many are still revamping their website every few years and then leaving it alone?

So what makes a good strategy today?  One that the board can understand and ‘buy in’ to, or one that constantly evolves?  Can these be the same thing?  My view is that it is more dependent on organisational culture and less on the PowerPoint but there are times when I have wondered. 

This panel should be really interesting (Tuesday 16th March, 9.45am, Track 3).  Anthony Goldman, Citrus; Ben Dux, theirspace digital; Yvette Mayer, SMV Group Australia; and Mac Walker, Hyro would love to hear what you guys think and any other burning questions you think are worth debate on this topic.
What is the role of a strategist today?
    * What’s the right skill set for a strategist today?
    * Does digital have a role in strategic planning in 2010?

That is continuing into 2010. People want to know how to plan their product and marketing campaigns even better, particularly how to weave them more succintly into the wider buisness objectives. In order to capture new business and spark passion (even influence!) with your market, innovation is a critical requirement. Innovation in terms of products, campaigns but also business structure and relationship management. And of course measurement - the need to account for each dollar, report bottom line impact and understand return beyond black & white figures - is thoroughly in the limelight.

How important are these areas in your business right now? And what’s changing?

We’ll be addressing these issues in detail at ad:tech and finding out what the leading minds in digital media & marketing are doing and what you can learn from them.

You can register for the FREE ad:tech EXHIBITION and full ad:tech CONFERENCE here.

These relaxed, small scale events will allow you to gain quality education and extend your industry network, all before you get to the office. The first breakfast briefing is taking place in July and we hope you’ll be able to join us for an inspiring and through provoking session.

Google and Millward Brown

Analysis, Achievements & Anecdotes From The #1 Valued Brand In The World

24 July 2009

Hilton Sydney

8-9am

Free of charge **Blue note charity donation on the door

The breakfast briefings are free to attend but only available for club ad:tech members. Click here for further details.

ad:tech Sydney’s marketing “love-in”

I read someone on Twitter describe this week’s ad:tech Sydney conference as a “love-in for marketers and ad agencies.” (Read ad:tech twitterings here.) It’s an interesting description that betrays an obvious slant towards the “other camp” which I heard one ad agency exec describe with a hint of derision as “all these social media consultants.”

As an aside, we’ve also got the “tech” part of this whole “ad:tech” meme. But that’s been conveniently sidelined in the battle of marketing ideologies. Maybe we just take technology (ie. the one giant computer called the internet) for granted now, since it’s use-case scenarios that matter.

So all this got me thinking. What is it about the mindset of agency-types, and the mindset of social media consultant-types (I tend to fall into the latter), that causes mild friction at events like ad:tech?

If I can be permitted to grossly simplify, agencies are commissioned by clients to conduct campaigns. Defined periods of time in which various media tools are exercised to generate sales on behalf of said client. No shock there, since advertising still keeps most of the media industry running.

Then we’ve got social media consultants, whose stock in trade is the intellectual property and experience they sell to clients for the purpose of engaging target stakeholder communities in conversations about brand, ideas, ideologies, and so on. The marketing angle can be less clear, or stated positively, more broadly defined.

It’s the classic conundrum where the disciplines of marketing, advertising, communications, PR and good-old editorial collide and get mashed up. The answers are not simple or easily quantified — unless of course you’re an agency charged with delivering quantifiable results to justify a very large invoice. Quantified results are where you make, or lose money. And by the way, that’s what this whole internet thing has promised the marketing community since the mid-1990s and we’re still trying to figure it out!

Anyway, while listening to keynotes and panel discussions yesterday, I got the impression agency types are very clearly focussed on the profit motive (surprise!). They might not be getting it right all the time, but their drive to find measurable results is clear. And you know what, I don’t think that’s bad.

However it does raise a challenge for content-focussed social media consultants (communities are giant content machines, after all). They must come up with some clearly agreed metrics and models that communicate to c-level executives just why the social media revolution matters to the bottom line. I’m the first to admit this is not an easy problem to solve.

But let’s face the harsh recession reality: if more of the social media consultants out there want to make more (or any) money from client engagements then it’s time we developed more solid, industry-wide accepted answers when companies demand reasonable levels of quantitative measurement.

Am I right?

Mark Jones is an enterprise technology strategist, speaker and journalist. mark@filteredmedia.com.au

The brain works like this:

There are two sections on the Brain: The first section is The voice of ad:tech where Jenny Williams, the ad:tech Chair, will post about stuff that she is hearing through the network, on Twitter (#ATBRAIN), LinkedIn, and our facebook group as well as consolidating comments you make here.
As these posts go up, tell us what you think, expand on the ideas, recommend experts, discuss potential angles or tell us that this topic is so last year and you’d rather not waste the time.

The second section is the Voice of the industry where we want you to post your opinion on what matters. Post an idea, a topic or just start a conversation. If you want to post a full opinion piece, you’re welcome to email: beth@ad-tech.com and we’ll review and post your piece for industry thoughts and comments. Again, we really want you, the community, to contribute to the ad:tech brain to help us identify the real issues to be discussed at ad:tech 2009.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a conference has handed over the programming to the audience. This will only work with your participation so get in there and tell us what you think!

We only have a few weeks to draft the initial program structure so time is of the essence. After that, we will be looking for your help, to put meat on the bones of this structure and identify the best speakers for the programme.

Help us make this your event. Roll on ad:tech 2009!