The Art/Science of Tracking

Ad Age is reporting that the average lifespan of a CMO is 26 months, reading on, Ad Age attributes the shortening lifespan to reporting metrics. They begin to insinnuate that the art of advertising is being replaced by the numbers hungry capitalists.

Just take a minute and think about this…I hire an ad agency to be creative and get my message to my most profitable customers and prospects. Ad Age is claiming that Advertisements should be held to any level of accountability and that great art will find its way automatically to your customers.

“High CMO turnover may be due, in part, to the fact that over the past few years, the balance between the art and science of marketing has tilted much too heavily toward quantitative metrics and away from its historical position as a qualitative, creative practice. “

By Lloyd Trufelman

The point that I am belaboring Great creative could have even greater effect if it lands in front of the target audience a higher percentage of the time.

More information about marketing success is readily available than ever has been and Executive Teams are holding Agencies feet to the fire. Agencies like Crispin Porter + Bogusky are excelling (they hedge their income by taking equity positions in some companies) just read a case study on some of the tactics they have taken with Volkswagen or Burger King.

What is the value of the CPM?

Today I read an article about CPM on the mobile phone industry at Ad Age. If you don’t know what CPM (Cost Per Thousand) is you get more information at Wikipedia. That I found very interesting.

The short and simple of the report is that online advertising turned the ad world on it’s head because Clients could track actual results of online ad campaigns. Whereas traditional media is much more difficult to even get a vague idea of how many eyes see media content. This is our goal we want CMO’s to be able to take accurate reports to the executive staff. Reports that create a more accountability by creating a more accurate measuring stick that won’t be filled with the loopholes and low confidence ratings of A/C Nielsen’s. Oh yeah, and these reports will be easier to interpret as well as digital (no more paper).Traditional media should be held to the same level of accountability as online, mobile, and the rest of the digital marketing realm, we’ll see to it that it is!

If you are really interested in mobile marketing you should click on the video link at Ad Age.

On another note, Beanstalk Talk reported on an article that commented on online marketing of ‘junk food’ to younger demographics. First, I think marketers should give themselves a great big pat on the back that they have become so proficient at hocking their clients wares that advertising now faces government regulation because the advertising removes all inhibitions and self-control that the general public should have. That takes me to my second point, what the hell is going on when people don’t know that McDonald’s is not healthy and are unable to instill/control their children to the point that we (a nation) require government intervention to help curb the media that our children are exposed to (because parents will cave to a child’s every demand).

Disclaimer: I am a sucker for the McD’s breakfast menu, I don’t have a disease I just enjoy some deep fried eggs and potatoes every now and then.