I can’t tell you what every advertiser thinks about the endless, circular TV currency debates. But I can tell you what one brand leader said.
At a recent high-profile industry conference, as the debate over measurement minutiae raged on, that executive turned to me and said “I’m fed up with this 20th century bullsh*t”.
Who can blame him? As Mike Shields recently wrote, “as incumbents battle over whether to use panels, ACR data, or some combination of both, and how to calculate reach using six different device graphs no one understands (…) I’m starting to wonder if this battle is something of a sideshow.”
This sideshow of never-ending currency debates is what Sigmund Freud called “the narcissism of small differences,” in which communities with adjoining territories and great similarities tend to feud endlessly over tiny details of differentiation.
Definitional debates are fine if they lead to clean taxonomies, which support clear thinking and decisions. And the technical details are important – the industry should do the work to get them right. But that can’t be all we talk about. Marketers want more than incremental progress. They want innovation. They want outcomes.
We shouldn’t indulge in the narcissism of small differences while ignoring the bigger and more fundamental questions marketers are asking.
How can I know if my TV campaign is really working if I can’t trust attribution?
Attribution matters, and I get that it matters a lot. But the illusion that we’re ever going to be able to trace the impact of every single impression to every single sale is just that: an illusion. And measuring sales is not the best – or even a fair – diagnostic metric for most brand campaigns anyway.
The fundamental job of TV advertising is to drive awareness and consideration, and effective TV advertising does that like no other medium can. But product, price, and availability have to close the deal. Marketers need at least one currency in their portfolio that measures galvanic response – that electric moment when the TV commercial changes hearts and minds and sparks a real-world action that signals consideration. Many in TV advertising – brands and networks – increasingly believe leading-indicator behaviors like search and web site visits represent that signal, and are a proven way to measure outcomes.
How can I get my CFO to understand my investment choices?
For many marketers, TV is their single biggest budget line item. Marketers must make multimillion dollar investments thoughtfully, using a combination of data and instinct. CMOs need a trusted seat at the table in the boardroom, and a common language that lets them discuss those investment decisions. CEOs and CFOs don’t care about differences between this device graph and that one, or how this panel is constituted vs some other one. They care about results. They understand that real actions — searching for the product, or visiting the brand’s website — signal real interest that leads to real sales. To bridge the gap, marketers need at least one TV measure that provides investment-grade data and proof of performance.
What can consumer behavior tell me about how TV advertising works and how to optimize my buys?
Our team spends pretty much all our time looking at behavioral data to better understand what works. Here’s what we’re seeing.
The notion that the role of TV is only for brand and not performance is out of date. The data clearly shows that it has an impact on both all the time — and when you think about it, why wouldn’t it?
While brands are built over time, CMOs don’t need to wait for a year’s worth of data to understand what’s working and what isn’t. Smart advertisers have learned they can take a more agile and iterative approach to their investments. When they have a hit creative on their hands, they can double-down on that bet. When a spot isn’t working they can gain more insight into why not, and re-tool it.
Do we have to wait for the TV currency wonks to finally agree?
When you’re expected to deliver results now, waiting doesn’t make much sense. If the pressing question you need to answer is “how my TV investments are working?” you shouldn’t need to wait for anybody. You can find out for yourself.
But, you might say, it’s not entirely clear which currencies we should use. That’s fair, and in the face of uncertainty it makes sense to test and learn.
So test two or three methodologies. Or five, or even ten. While that might seem costly at first, it’s actually a small price to pay to learn how to optimize a multimillion dollar yearly investment. Talk it over with your CFO: you might be surprised by how readily she may agree.
Just as importantly, don’t get hung up on the definitional debates around the “currency” label. If the metrics can help you determine value, then use them.
Pretty quickly, you can learn a lot about what moves the needle for your brands and what doesn’t. And isn’t that what really matters?
Want more ad industry insights delivered to your inbox? Sign up for EDO’s twice-monthly Know What Works newsletter.