ad:tech coincided with the presidential election this year – arguably the biggest, most successful marketing campaign of 2008.
Coming on the heels of adWeek’s announcement of Obama as “Marketer of the Year”, many of the sessions, as well as Ogilvy Mather’s Shelly Lazurus’ keynote, focused on Obama’s defining multipronged, multi-platform approach. From its effective use of its social networking site MyBarackObama to organize local fundraisers and mobilize undecided voters to weekly email donation requests from Michelle, Joe Biden or Barack himself, each tactic utilized an independent success metric that together contributed to the campaign’s ultimate victory. A lesson, that we as marketers can all take to heart, regardless of vertical… Make use of all the tools at your disposal and measure appropriately, but never lose sight of the ultimate objective and how those tactics contribute to getting to you there.
The interesting dichotomy at this year’s ad:tech show was an acknowledgment that the genie is out of the bottle – consumers demand a higher level of engagement with the brands they decide to spend hard earned dollars on. And yet at the same time, marketing spend especially in areas considered “experimental” is being reduced because of economic issues.
As a result of these competing forces, two camps emerged at ad:tech: 1) Reduce all experimental dollars and focus on the tried and true performers (such as paid search) 2) Invest in the new, still unproven models such as social media where consumers are highly engaged ..to gain market share while others reduce their spend.
What the two parties ultimately agreed on was the need to focus heavily on your target consumer’s purchase behavior and demographics, and map marketing efforts to the most effective stage of the purchase funnel — whether that’s an ad placement in a blog, a location-based mobile coupon offer or a facebook widget.
And what discussion of marketing best practices is complete without measurement? The Future of Measurement panel was a vibrant debate that did not disappoint. Key questions the panelists grappled with: Are panel based audience metrics accurate enough? How do cookies (or lack thereof) impact the numbers? And why does one online medium (paid search) receive full credit for an online conversion when other branding efforts, such as display advertising, were likely involved in making that sale? While the panelists agreed to disagree on most answers, the resounding conclusion from this panel was the need for continued use of the old metrics, however antiquated, for the time being. Or at least until technology catches up with the reality of today’s consumer web behavior.
In light of the economic constraints of the day…how will your marketing spend be impacted by Social Media in 2009? Will you invest in newer mediums where your consumers are flocking or will you choose to play it safe in the channels that have historically performed for you?