Feedback Loop: Don’t Forget Do Not Track

Forrester’s Jim Nail weighs in on the changing role of agencies — and why they’re struggling to keep up with the pace of change. 

While I always appreciate the thoughtful arguments that Forrester analyst Jim Nail makes about the threats and opportunities agencies face, one major point missing from this conversation is Do Not Track. The potential negative impact of DNT on the advertising ecosystem is immense. Some interpretations of DNT threaten to destroy the thriving ad industry as we know it — taking the struggling publishing sector down with it, prompt millions of jobs losses, and create a digital divide that will disrupt any equality that the Internet has forged thus far. As an industry, we’ve sat quietly on the sidelines for far too long and it’s time that we collectively speak up about the impending risk we all face.  There are a few agency leaders engaged in this dialogue, which actually begs for unanimous attention.

Women Like Brands on Facebook
Women are not only on Facebook in droves, but they’re also very likely to engage with brands there. 

“The Socially Connected Woman” research and Digiday coverage underscore a key shift the CPG market is facing around social media and consumer consideration. It is critically important that brands, CPG marketers in particular, think and plan strategy beyond the like. Brands are moving in just this direction, particularly on Facebook: 71 percent are focused on engagement versus only 29 percent on likes acquisition. Hopefully, every CMO and brand manager is getting a look at studies like these and taking them to heart.

CEOs to CMOs: Enough with the Likes Already
A new survey of top corporate brass shows the struggle marketing departments continue to have in proving their worth. 

For some time now, the conversation has shifted from accruing likes to engagement, but the problem is, engagement is a bit trickier to measure. I fully agree with Brian’s assertion, “Marketing is clearly moving into the world of big data. The successful marketers will see data not so much as a crutch to justify campaigns, but as a driver and determiner of marketing plans.” Big data is incredibly powerful, but it’s what marketers do with it that matters. Today, all brands are social, and those that are more engaging will naturally drive greater ROI and — what CEOs care most about — sales. Interestingly, CMOs may understand this more than the article points out. Recent data from a brand/agency survey showed that over 96 percent are concerned or very concerned from “understanding and driving ROI from big data.” And over 90 percent state that “data access/use is very important to their ad spend in 2012.”

How Kia and Zappos Mine Social Data
Executives from both of the brands gave real-life examples of how they use data to inform marketing, which data is useful and which is not. 

Spot-on comment from Kia’s George Haynes: “If you look in the rearview mirror too long, you’re going to crash and everyone will pass you. We look at the data for the road ahead and glance in the rearview mirror.” There is so mu­ch hype around the power of big data, yet the promise lies in our ability to actually evolve from where we are. Brands should be looking beyond behavioral, look-a-like, and retargeting, and sharpening these existing strategies to encompass more refined methods of tapping into social data and expanding new audiences. This path is to true marketing nirvana, and it necessitates a far more complex interpretation and understanding of the copious amounts of data that already surrounds a brand everyday — even incrementally.

What the Valley Can Learn From NYC 
Say Media CEO Matt Sanchez has gone from running a tech company to now building a brand-focused media company. There’s still a lot about Madison Avenue that the tech world misses, he says. 

What really struck me about Matt Sanchez’s interview was his point about relationships. There is no more important foundation for an ad or tech company and, frankly, most businesses. Whether it’s a customer, employee, partner or vendor relationship, they matter. They always have. And I wholeheartedly agree that just because technology can make our processes, access and execution better and more valuable, none of them get off the ground without the close connection a relationship establishes.