Research Critical for Digital Marketers

Convention co-chair and comScore CEO Gian Fulgoni stressed the need for media and consumer research to understand advertising effectiveness in an interview with ARF.

The digital era’s rapid pace poses overwhelming challenges to agencies and advertisers. Current ways of measuring the effectiveness of ad campaigns can’t always track with new ways to reach consumers.

No one knows that better than industry veteran Gian Fulgoni, chairman of the global Internet information provider comScore, Inc. in Chicago. “We are in unprecedented times, in terms of changes in the media landscape,” he says. “There are seismic shifts in media behavior patterns, consumption and availability. We’ve never seen anything like this before. It makes the advent of the TV look like kindergarten technology.”

How can ad agencies cope? The ARF asked Fulgoni for advice. He spoke on this subject on day one of our convention, “Re:think Digital Strategies” on March 31 at the Marriott Marquis in New York City.

ARF: Gian, what issues are vexing agencies the most today?

Fulgoni: They are very worried about how you reach the elusive consumer. There are so many touch points today. It’s just not the simple world of one-way communication that it used to be. This makes it a lot more challenging to assemble a media plan to reach the target audience.

ARF: What are the challenges in digital advertsing?

Fulgoni: What I think the Internet has done is change the way that people live and the way consumers behave and consume media. You see these incredibly complicated behaviors emerging: Are people multitasking? Are they on the Internet while watching TV? Are they watching TV shows on the Internet? Databases that are going to be available to measure TV viewing are about to explode, but their impact hasn’t hit yet.

ARF: What can agencies do to make sure they get the most out of newer advertising venues?

Fulgoni: Agencies need to use the correct metrics. Click rates on ads have dropped to a fraction of a percent. That doesn’t mean the ads don’t work. It may mean that the click may not be the right metric. If you are advertising online, you shouldn’t be expecting the consumer to take action then and there, when they see the ad. You don’t think of direct response with a print ad.

The question is ultimately: Did you get the consumer to take action? You’ve got to make sure you’re measuring sales or action over time, offline as well as online. Smart retailers are using online advertising as part of a multimedia strategy. Advertising online should drive traffic to a retail store. I’d encourage agencies to use ads for brand building.

My company is a provider of a lot of intelligence regarding online marketing and ad effectiveness. The services are there to help agencies. But you can’t look at online advertising in the narrow view a lot of people have. It seems to me that a lot of the metrics have been driven by the tech folks, rather than the knowledgeable people on the business side and in market research and advertising. I’m going to be provocative here, but maybe it’s time to take control back from the tech people. Let’s measure what matters. If all you’re measuring is online sales, you will be grossly understating the ROI you get from an online ad.

ARF: Why is research so important in this climate?

Fulgoni: Chief marketing officers are really under pressure to prove the return from their expenditures. You can’t sell a media plan or a budget within your organization any longer unless you’ve got research and facts. Consumers are spending around 30% of their media time with the Internet. Yet only 8% of all advertising dollars have moved online.

ARF: Consumers are online but advertising dollars lag. What needs to change in order for more dollars to move online?

Fulgoni: Before you’re going to move the dollars from traditional venues, you’d better have some evidence that you’re not going to lose your shirt. Big, public corporations are conservative. They’ve got an awful lot at stake if someone is wrong. If you’re going to alter the status quo for most of these companies, they’re going to want the proof. The only way you’re going to get it is through research. In the digital marketing age, research has the opportunity to regain the high ground that maybe it had 40 years ago. It’s a zoo out there. People need answers right now – as well as learning and experience.