Industry Unleashes Flood of Studies to Prove Its Worth
In AdAge – August 25, 2008
By Jack Neff
Harsh Times Demand (Even) More Concrete Evidence of Effectiveness
Yahoo recently set out to prove that search had a brand-building impact beyond the clicks, joining MediaVest in a study of 6,000 consumers showing that search ads generated an average 160% increase in unaided brand awareness.
Of course, media have always used data to prove impact. The difference now is that media are having to come up with new types of studies to prove they do more than just reach people, said Joel Rubinson, chief research officer of the Advertising Research Federation.
"Yahoo knows that just focusing on clicks and having an advertising model based on that may be shooting themselves in the foot," he said, "because there are these other kinds of [branding] benefits."