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I was on vacation last week so I’m just now reviewing last week’s Advertising Age. Four articles caught my eye and they all carry a common thread–ad dollars shifting to digital due in part to measured improvements in effectiveness. There’s also a robust section on mobile marketing, but I’m still skeptical of the time lines being given for mobile marketing to gain traction. I still think mobile marketing won’t become mainstream in the U.S. for quite awhile.
Emily Bryson York reports that Kellogg Says ROI on Digital Trounces TV by ‘Factor of 2′. As a result they are planning on cutting television filming by 10-20% next year.
It seems to me that brands are just now beginning to get real data to compare their digital campaigns with their traditional marketing channels. Not only is digital more measurable, but it’s also more effective. I have a feeling that as marketing budgets get tighter there will be more accountability for marketing expenditures. And if digital campaigns continually demonstrate better performance this may accelerate the shift toward digital.
Michael Bush adds that the ability to target more effectively in digital is pushing advertising budgets toward Internet marketing in his article, CMOs Up Digital, Cut Traditional.
In the article Marketers, Get Serious About Accountability Bob Liodice discusses the current level of measurement metrics being used and examined by agencies. He exhorts more focus and examination. His article touches on the industry’s slow movement toward measurement of digital campaigns.
In some sense though it’s just now that brands are getting substantive information about digital’s effectiveness and the early results are very positive–enough for significant reallocation if budgets. There is a potential for a fast updraft–as more money moves to digital, and better metrics combined with more experienced analysis continue to refine and improve results the trends will only accelerate.
Jean Halliday talks about GM and Google working together to consolidate and maximize their considerable search marketing efforts in the Digital section piece, GM Shifts Gears With Consolidated Global Search Plan. Again we see big brands pushing marketing dollars toward search marketing–which is the most effective form of online advertising by far.
Every week advertising agency publications like Advertising Age include articles highlighting challenges to marketing in the digital age. This is the first post in an ongoing series. I’ll review Advertising Age and point out articles that address issues related to web strategy and digital marketing.
The August 25, 2008 issue has a few notable articles.
When big brands like GM decrease their marketing budgets it’s big news to the entire industry. Jean Halliday’s article “Spending slows 6.1% among automakers” tracks this downturn. A common theme I’m seeing, in articles that discuss spending cut backs (all too many of them), is how companies are looking much more closely at effectiveness. With tighter budgets, performance is being more thoroughly examined. And with digital media being so measurable it’s not surprising to see increases in these areas while other media channels are cut back.
The article “More Marketers Want to Get to Know You” by Michael Bush and Rupal Parekh also hits this theme. In addition to digita media being inherent more measurable, the use of CRM (customer relationship management) systems enable companies to engage their customers in far more direct and ongoing ways than was ever possible in mass media marketing.
Nat Ives has a piece about the resizing of some popular Magazine formats. While each magazine discussed showed an increase in overall circulation they all showed a down turn in newsstand sales–and perhaps more importantly, a significant decrease in ad pages. Clearly a reflection of the overall trends in media spending.
There were two articles about Facebook in the digital section. One concerning a new ad platform and the other a case study in how college recruiting is using Facebook. Advertising in social media is still an iffy proposition (as the first article points out), but the article about college recruiting is very helpful for any agencies that have university clients or that specialize in educational marketing. For the education industry navigating the social media landscape is not an option. Social media is way too important and influential among today’s students to ignore.
Finally, Steve Rubel has a column on cloud computing. I’m a fellow fan of web based applications. I have a goal of being completely platform and computer independent. He give a good overview of the trends in cloud computing. And yesterday’s announcement of Google’s new browser “Chrome” will have a huge impact in the practicalities of cloud computing.
