{"id":308,"date":"2014-03-11T11:21:21","date_gmt":"2014-03-11T11:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/?p=308"},"modified":"2014-03-11T11:21:21","modified_gmt":"2014-03-11T11:21:21","slug":"media-metrics-and-swill-buckets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/media-metrics-and-swill-buckets\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Metrics and Swill Buckets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ping! The Cog Blog\u2019s proprietary programmatic search algorithms (fine-tuned to search for native opportunities) uncover yet another interesting article swilling around in what George Orwell would no doubt call the swill bucket of advertising and media-related content. This one is on the challenges facing the newspaper (sorry, newsbrand) business by MediaCom\u2019s Chief Strategy Officer Sue Unerman.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t think of anyone less likely to be rattling a stick around a swill bucket than the fragrant Sue, one of a fairly short list of media agency executives whose views are always worth reading. This time around she asks why the industry can\u2019t seem to agree on how best to measure total exposure to newsbrands\u2019 content regardless of on which device that exposure takes place. The piece is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sue has spoken to (in her words) \u2018advertisers of global importance recently, who are appalled at the stultification of the industry in this respect\u2019.<\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Setting aside the fact that most \u2018advertisers of global importance\u2019 wouldn\u2019t recognise a debate on media metrics if it came up and introduced itself to them, the point Sue makes is an important one \u2013 indeed it\u2019s one that fits neatly with a recent MediaPost blog<\/a> in the US by my old colleague Maarten Albarda.<\/p>\n

Whereas Sue is discussing print, Maarten\u2019s piece is focussed on TV and the GRP. He writes: \u2018If I am \u2026. any of the big marketing players, I would publicly state what I want, take a position and seek feedback from others. If I am WPP or IPG, I need to ensure that we end up with something that will work across all my clients and all my networks. I would want to be a player in defining the \u201cnew GRP.\u201d<\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Long-standing Cog Blog readers will remember Colin Gottlieb of OMG also criticising the industry\u2019s media metrics last year<\/a>. So Sue and Maarten are most certainly not alone; and of course all three have a point \u2013 industry-wide currency metrics are never going to fit every need, and the bodies responsible for them could certainly benefit from input from some of the industry\u2019s leaders.<\/p>\n

Defining and then managing the metrics that agencies and clients (and others) use to plan, buy and evaluate campaigns is frustrating, complicated, and time-consuming. It\u2019s also important. Yet (and I speak from personal experience) it\u2019s very hard to engage agencies (or at least those in agencies in a senior enough position to make their opinions stick) and clients in the conversation. The result of this inertia is that the debate is far too often managed and controlled by the relevant media owners \u2013 who of course have a certain vested interest. The bigger the better might be a fair summary of what they look for in the currency numbers.<\/p>\n

One media group head I worked with in the US had a framed quote on his office wall from his client McDonald\u2019s. It read: \u201cMedia is far too important to be left to the media people.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

The same is true of media metrics, and media researchers. There are masses of opportunities for those with a point of view to get involved in and influence the discussion, from serving on Committees to taking part in the debate at the right conferences. All are welcome \u2013 and the more senior and opinionated the better believe me. I would be very happy if someone wrote in to correct me on this but I don\u2019t think that Sue Unerman, or Colin Gottlieb do these things. Maarten\u2019s excused as these days he consults \u2013 and everyone knows no-one listens to consultants or bloggers.<\/p>\n

Of course, rather than do the hard yards you can of course always stand on the side of the pitch and shout. But if you decide to choose that option, don\u2019t complain too loudly if you\u2019re ignored as yet another noisy bystander.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ping! The Cog Blog\u2019s proprietary programmatic search algorithms (fine-tuned to search for native opportunities) uncover yet another interesting article swilling around in what George Orwell would no doubt call the swill bucket of advertising and media-related content. This one is on the challenges facing the newspaper (sorry, newsbrand) business by MediaCom\u2019s Chief Strategy Officer Sue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":310,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions\/310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}