Advertising Results Should Matter

Most readers of this Blog will agree that measurable marketing is growing and that measurement is critical in the client-ad agency relationship. But it’s hard to get advertising and marketing firms to change their ways. This was brought to my attention by a recent Adweek article on the lack of incentives for performance based marketing.

The web, microsites, email, direct mail, SEO, banners/links/placements, mobile, word-of-mouth, social media, even traditional media and PR can be measured, albeit not perfectly. Marketing today is and should be about accountability and relevancy to the customer/prospect. The problem, I think, is that most traditional shops still try and sell their killer creative and treat the web and other emerging channels separately and want to cling to the past. They fail to understand that marketing is changing.

Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts was interviewed in Business Week and he still sells and believes in the killer creative that does not work nearly as effectively as in the past. While I admire his conviction, the article goes on to talk about the shift in marketing to those who understand and practice measurable marketing. Both articles are worth the read.

Grant A. Johnson

Johnson Direct LLC

1-800-710-2750