Social Studies – Mid-Term Report Card on Interactive Adveritising

The morning’s keynote is Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB.

2009 Themes

Interactive share shift continues, despite strong economic headwinds
Medium girded by breadth of options from above the line to below the line
Consumers increasingly embracing digital media in all forms
Share shift by marketers from offline to online to tap into the variety, reach, targetability, effectiveness of interactive media

Key stats:

Interactive ad revenues: $23.4 billion in 2008, up 10.6% over previous year
US broadband households will total 86.3 million in 2012, out of 97.0 million online households. (Jupiter)
Average weekly hours online by consumers jumped from 9.4 in 2001 to 15.3 in 2007

Challenges

Measurement standardization/simplification
Cross-media measurement
Antiquated media mix modeling
Overuse/misapplication of DR standards and methodologies (eg applying click-throughs to everything)
Federal, state, European Union regulation could get worse
Creative shabbiness
Transformation pains

5 Transformative areas for marketing:

Marketing as Conversation – 2-way marketing channels like digital, mobile, PR, events are growing faster than one-way channels like TV, radio
Insight into Foresight – #1 greatest need from marketers is Consumer Insights (82% of respondents to survey). Before, used to be strategy, which now comes in below Insights and Behavioral Targeting.
Media: The New “Creative” – Twice as many marketers say their relationships with publishers are more important than their relationships with traditional agencies
Marketing + Math - Savvy marketers can develop formal programs, institutionalize them to measure success of investment, rather than spaghetti on the wall approach. Still marketing needs more of the experimental, innovative approach. Also more agencies, publishers will develop consultative practices around analytics – will be “fairly promiscuous capability.”
The Network Effect – managing ecosystem complexity a growing challenge. Most marketers don’t have embedded capability for managing multiple vendors for common goal in time.

Social Studies

Advertising has always been “pushy.”

Old thinking: keep same ads running for years, staffed well by people who were there to keep the status quo.

Social media can ignite a revolutionary change – not push, not pull, but engage. Not about immediate effects, but after-effects – insights.

Engineers are nincompoops

Engineers think advertising/marketing is about conscious transactions. Cites ANA #s for 2007: Considered-purchase product adveritising (generously tallied) – $62 billion. Low-consideration: $81 billion. Has also heard 2/3s of ad spend for low consideration products.

Challenge: soft drinks, toothpaste… most people don’t care. People won’t do a ton of search-based research on which product to buy.

This is why advertising, marketing, creativity SO important.

Requires creativity: Analogy, narrative, folklore, movement, imagery… STORYTELLING.

Creativity’s a requirement, a missing link.

We have to remember what motivates people.

Do not lose sight of importance of creativity because that will motivate people to go the extra mile.

Interactive advertising has ignored creativity. Agency business model has focused on technological wizardry more than creative greatness. Media industry values, habits malign, depreciate our own products. Think of “remnant” inventory.

Creativity + Data + Analytics + Digital Media = Interactive Marketing Revolution