I recently sat through a presentation by IAB and, shortly thereafter, another presentation from an online video player. During both presentations they were lamenting that ‘brand’ dollars (as opposed to DR $$$) were not moving quickly enough online.
I agree. They’re not moving quick enough, and sadly to the detriment of those brands.
The folks from the IAB were saying how they heard from marketers that the online advertising industry needed more standards and measurement before brand $$$ migrated. They went so far as to say we needed reach and frequency metrics to be able to compare media channels.
I think these are the wrong conversations.
I do not think there is a difference between brand advertising and response advertising. I think that all response advertising helps build brands and any ad that doesn’t ask consumers to take an action is a waste of money.
I also think that the industry is too young to force it to adapt to legacy media metrics like reach and frequency. Reach and frequency models are exposure-based metrics and developed because that was the best we could find at the time. Now that I can measure actual individuals as well as those individuals performance, why wouldn’t I?
Instead of forcing a medium that’s not optimized for reach and frequency, why not force a medium that’s exposure based to deliver better performance data.
I believe money should flow to the media that’s most measureable and most effective. Smart brands are migrating quickly to online. Good for them.
