ad spend

• Research & Data Quality
• Article

2023 Attribution & Analytics Accelerator

The Attribution & Analytics Accelerator returned for its eighth year as the only event focused exclusively on attribution, marketing mix models, in-market testing and the science of marketing performance measurement. The boldest and brightest minds took the stage to share their latest innovations and case studies. Modelers, marketers, researchers and data scientists gathered in NYC to quicken the pace of innovation, fortify the science and galvanize the industry toward best practices and improved solutions. Content is available to event attendees and ARF members.

• Creative & Branded Content
• Article

How Best to Advertise During a Recession

• ARF Knowledge at Hand, CMO Brief

Even though the U.S. economy has some bright spots, economists warn a recession is still possible due to stubborn inflation. Advertisers want to be prepared as a result. While there is no failsafe advertising playbook to follow, as individual brands and businesses have nuanced needs and branding, there are some best practices and guidelines, which the following ARF Knowledge at Hand report gleans from some of the best research on the topic. The report covers the impact of “going dark,” the often-overlooked opportunities a recession can bring, how to maximize media spend effectiveness and how to frame appeals that are most attractive to customers during tough economic times.

• Analytics & Data Science
• Article

Data Pooling could Reinvigorate Online Display Ads

• MSI

Buying online display ads in bulk through online exchanges makes it difficult to ascertain the effectiveness of such ads, a situation that’s less than ideal. This is especially true for new websites. One proposed solution is to pool data across advertisers and publishers. Doing so while running matching simulations can substantially improve the welfare of such ads for advertisers, publishers and networks, too.

Marketing Performance Measurement – Where are We Now?

• Posted: July 26, 2023

On July 12, 2023, the ARF Cross-Platform Measurement Council’s Attribution Working Group brought together a panel of performance marketing experts to discuss where we are now in marketing performance measurement. Panelists from both the service provider and the user side of performance measurement shared their thoughts on the new and remaining challenges and the tools we have today to address them. Alice Sylvester (Partner, Sequent Partners) and John Young (SVP, Audience Analytics Solutions, MediaHub) moderated 3 insightful discussions with a group of industry experts Allyson Dietz (Senior Director, Marketing Solutions, Neustar), Vijoy Gopalakrishnan (Chief Research Officer, iSpotTV), Stephen Williams (CEO, Marketing Evolution), Karen Chisholm (Director, Analytics Transformation, Pernod Ricard), Sophie McIntyre (Ads Research Lead, Meta), Sunil Soman (VP, Campaign Effectiveness, Warner Brothers Discovery, Chair of the Attribution Working Group), and Emily Weishaupt (Communications Insights manager, Nestle Purina NA).  

• Research & Data Quality
• Article

Marketing Performance Measurement – Where are We Now?

• by Meredith Zhang, TikTok (Young Pros Officer)

On July 12, 2023, the ARF Cross-Platform Measurement Council’s Attribution Working Group brought together a panel of performance marketing experts to discuss where we are now in marketing performance measurement. Panelists from both the service provider and the user side of performance measurement shared their thoughts on the new and remaining challenges and the tools we have today to address them. Alice Sylvester (Partner, Sequent Partners) and John Young (SVP, Audience Analytics Solutions, MediaHub) moderated 3 insightful discussions with a group of industry experts Allyson Dietz (Senior Director, Marketing Solutions, Neustar), Vijoy Gopalakrishnan (Chief Research Officer, iSpotTV), Stephen Williams (CEO, Marketing Evolution), Karen Chisholm (Director, Analytics Transformation, Pernod Ricard), Sophie McIntyre (Ads Research Lead, Meta), Sunil Soman (VP, Campaign Effectiveness, Warner Brothers Discovery, Chair of the Attribution Working Group), and Emily Weishaupt (Communications Insights manager, Nestle Purina NA).  

Ad-Spend Cues, Deepfakes/A.I., Badass Endorsers and Influencer KPIs

• Posted: July 11, 2023

At this Insights Studio, authors from three different continents showcase their recently published work—including the JAR Best Paper 2022 on how advertising expenditures drive consumers’ perceptions of ad and brand quality. Also featured are studies on deepfakes and AI reshaping the advertising industry, the success of using product endorsers who are actors known for roles portraying despicable characters, and KPI patterns of social media influencers across several platforms. Talking points in the concluding Q&A span the future of AI in advertising and influencer marketing, machine-driven decisions for choosing endorsers, and factors (product- and economic-related) affecting consumer perceptions of quality in TV ads and engagement in user-generated content.

A Holistic Measurement Journey

• Posted: July 6, 2023

Change has been the only constant of the past 18 months, but for brands that know how to adapt, this change represents opportunity. Holistic measurement – from understanding incremental impact across channels to building in considerations for macro factors like consumer behavior shifts and the pandemic – is key to sustained growth.

Collaborating on Research and Solutions for Private Measurement

• Posted: July 6, 2023

Dennis Buchheim has a unique perspective from “two sides” of the ad industry. He leads Facebook’s Ads Ecosystem team after serving as CEO of IAB Tech Lab. Dennis shared a view on how the industry is grappling with the shifting regulatory, platform, and technology landscape. Only together can the industry understand these changes and create paths forward. As opportunities are evaluated to evolve how data is used, research will be critical in refining the industry’s foundational knowledge and providing tactical guidance.

An Economic Analysis of TV Advertising Profitability

• Posted: July 6, 2023

Professor Anna Tuchman of Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management presented an economic analysis of the effectiveness of a major portion of the U.S. linear television advertising spend, worth $66B in 2019. The study, conducted with Bradley Shapiro and Günter Hitsch of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, investigated the elasticity of actual sales for 288 distinct CPG brands on the basis of brand-specific ad spend as captured by Nielsen store and household panels along with Nielsen Ad Intel data. They used log-log regression and flexible machine learning algorithms. Their goal is to help firms evaluate ad campaign effectiveness with the hope their measurement will help make better ad spend decisions.

Cookieless Audience Targeting and Attribution: A Pharma Case Study

• Posted: July 6, 2023

While attribution has been around two decades, a great breakthrough for digital, the deprecation of third party cookies is likely to have a significant impact. Options to MTA include: walled gardens, focused on one channel only, and data clean rooms such as those operated by the identity companies. Cleanrooms are data intensive but much better than single channel walled gardens.