It was great to read Gian Fulgoni’s (chairman of Comscore) quote in a recent eMarketer article, “There is compelling evidence that an ad impression on the Internet works just like an ad impression in traditional media.”
He makes the point that just because clicks can be measured on the web doesn’t mean CTR (Click Through Rate)/direct response is the right (or only) measurement of digital media effectiveness. We’ve seen traditional media, like broadcast TV and print, work as successful brand building mediums and there’s no reason why the web can’t also act in a similar and effective capacity.
This Pringles display ad which recently won a Cannes Cyber Lion award is less about direct response than it is about brand building through engagement. (You can be the judge on whether or not it’s effective in doing so):
I’m often fascinated at the lengths we, in the interactive marketing field, have to go through to build the case for digital programs that cost a fraction of a broadcast media buy and production. “We don’t hold traditional media to the same standard of accountability”, Fulgoni says.
Yet I expect that to change as our media channels continue to converge and become as measureable (and direct response-enabled) as the web is today and then some. If anything, the justification and proof behind marketing programs, regardless of their medium, will only increase in demand. What Fulgoni’s interview underscored for me is that we must push complacent boundaries about what constitutes success in the first place.
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