Passing the Measurement Buck

But and thereamp8217s always a but it does no harm to learn from past mistakesAnd hereamp8217s one waiting to happen amp8220Ultimately the room appeared to agree in principle on redefining the importance of measurementamp8221Whatamp8217s wrong with that Surely measurement is keyIndeed it is as I should know better than most Early on I worked in an ITV stationamp8217s research department Later I headed the media research function at an ad agency and sat on both technical subcommittees and management committees at various JICs And I was responsible with Dr Simon Broadbent in persuading the TGI to add what we called amp8216lifestyle questionsamp8217 developed as a proprietary Leo Burnett study to the industry survey where they sit to this dayIf there was a Media Mastermind actually there was such a thing once my specialist subject would be amp8216audience measurement initiatives I have knownamp8217So why am I saying the consensus that we need to amp8216redefine the importance of measurementamp8217 is wrongBecause itamp8217s passing the buck Itamp8217s easier and far more politically acceptable for those leading agencies to blame amp8216measurementamp8217 than it is to talk about failures in transparency in trading acceptance of fraud and the end result amp8211 a lack of trustInstead letamp8217s talk about measurement in the certainty that weamp8217re kicking the can down the roadAgencies have form when it comes to talking big on measurementYears ago some decided that the TGI was both essential and too expensive They decided to group together to produce their own superior version That went precisely nowhere with apologies to Jim Kite at UM who did actually do something about it for a few yearsThen the agencies decided to group together and start something through the IPA Luckily for them the IPA Head of Research back then was the brilliant Lynne Robinson who came up with TouchpointsThis it was agreed was a great idea and to keep it untouched by vendor biases it would be funded by the agencies That did happen for I think one cycle Touchpoints is still a great idea but itamp8217s no longer the agenciesamp8217 great ideaOn the vendor side what about the sterling efforts of the media marketing agencies amp8211 Thinkbox Radio Works Magnetic NewsworksTheyamp8217ve certainly done excellent work over the years amp8211 but how much of their output and findings have translated into how media is tradedObserve the reaction to ISBAamp8217s Origin amp8211 an initiative that moves the ball forward both in its scope and ambition and in how itamp8217s fundedAre the buyers and sellers behind it supporting their clients With a few notable and it must be said significant exceptions the reaction has been rather disappointing The broadcast vendors seem to want nothing to do with it and the agencies ironically moan on about how long itamp8217s takingAs if creating and delivering a new planning tool from nowhere is something that can be done in the odd lunchhourIn a couple of weeks Iamp8217ll be on stage chairing the advertising session at the annual asi audience measurement conference widely recognised as the best of its type The future of measurement will as always be very much front and centre How many agencies and advertisers will attend to contribute to the debate Very fewamp8216After Cannes we have no budget leftamp8217 is the typical agency response Which is more important Hobnobbing with clients or contributing to improving measurement The answer of course is both amp8211 yet one seems more important to the guys running agencies than the otherFinally what about effectiveness measures Nick Manning has argued convincingly that thatamp8217s where the future lies and I agree with him But whoamp8217s going to drive such initiatives Surely the agencies as unbiased professional advisors should take the leadBut as we all know the agencies arenamp8217t trusted nor are they seen as fit for future purpose If your holding company looks the other way whenever transparency or fraud is discussed why trust them with accessing and analysing your proprietary dataThere are certainly ways for agencies to lead their clients in commissioning and applying effectiveness measures They can also do a lot of pragmatic things to regain trust which really should be their number one taskIamp8217m afraid showing up to an event and throwing a hospital pass to underresourced research guys isnamp8217t the answerEspecially if the kernel at the heart of your ambitious plan for the future is to change the description from amp8216measurementamp8217 to amp8216impactamp8217Portions of this article was originally publishedamp160 in The Media Leaderamp160 on October 23amp160 2023Posted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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Passing the Measurement Buck

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Brian Jacobs

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