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Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Does Your Advertising Have "Soul"?
Posted by Kris Carter
We've recently been hearing industry folks tout the need
to shift the focus from science to art. Is it time to put
measurement and algorithms in the backseat and once again,
make creative excellence the driver? We recently caught up
with an industry stalwart, Jaffer Ali the CEO of Vidsense,
who is very passionate about this topic. I wanted to share
some of his thoughts on the "soul" in advertising.
Centro: In your article, "The Center Cannot Hold" last
fall, you discuss the decline in the effectiveness of
online advertising and that we're moving to a "failed
model." Can you explain what you mean by that? Do you
really believe online advertising is all failure and no
success?
JA: Online advertising has so much potential, but that
potential is going largely unrealized because the keys to
the kingdom were handed over to zealous "quants." During
this time, we have seen the overall banner click thru
rates decline from an average of 5% in 1998 to .35% in
2009. When banners were innovative and new, people respond-
ed. It was innovation or novelty that drove response, not
mathematical erudition. I am online several hours every
day and I honestly cannot recall one memorable banner ad
in months. If we are going to succeed, we must become more
creative.
Centro: You discuss how the industry is looking to "science
and math to cure its ills" and, as a result, "quality,
beauty and soul [in advertising] become endangered and
eventually extinct." These appear to be incongruous
comments coming from a direct marketing quant. Isn't the
success of direct marketing predicated on science, math
and quantitative analysis?
JA: Well, I actually say I am a "recovering quant." If you
follow the math to its asymptotic limits, you actually see
where beauty and soul rear their heads once again. But
more practically, every good direct marketer needs to
acknowledge that each campaign is comprised of four
elements: 1) creative 2) offer 3) media and 4) soul to
hold it together. These four are the proteins that comprise
the DNA of ALL marketing. What the "quant marketers" (who
really should be called "quant monitors") do is try to
crush all processes into media and algorithmic precision.
Of course the precision is an illusion. The Sanskrit words
for "measurement" and "illusion" share the same root. The
underlying fallacy of those with "physics envy" is that
human behavior can be reduced to rationality. The same
math that underlies the stock market and that of behavioral
targeting both presuppose rational human behavior. Thus
the "quants" do not cater to human emotion, which is much
more powerful than rational thought.
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Centro: There are many companies (and billions of dollars)
betting the online industry can be reduced to algorithms
and quantitative analysis. In five to ten years, do you
believe this investment will have proven justified? Will
we be living in a quant-ruled world?
JA: This may be the easiest question ever asked of me. The
answer is NO! The reliance on algorithmic precision is a
fool's errand because it involves more and more effort and
resources to be put into smaller and smaller segments. The
result is smaller and smaller effects. One study has
Behavioral Targeting lifting response rates 17%. That is
like going from a .35% to .41% click thru rate. This is
not the type of increase that any marketer should be proud
to call successful. A better creative and a better offer
should lift responses significantly higher than this. But
if you are only concentrating on your algorithms, you
rarely have enough time for what really counts.
Centro: In your life, and forgive us for over-simplifying
your businesses, but you've made a lot of money selling a
lot of things to a lot of people. If you're not interested
in advertising algorithms, what are you doing to ensure
your advertising is effective and works? What do you
believe the keys to success are in the future?
JA: There is a world of difference between measuring which
creative or offer performed and giving in to the snake oil
of predictive modeling of BT. The former looks in the rear
view mirror and BT promises the future and does so based
upon a flawed view of human nature. The reason we created
the Vidsense network was to offer marketers a way out. The
key to success is to return to what has always worked and
will always work, a road "back to the future," if you will.
To reiterate more precisely, it involves unlocking the door
with the following keys:
1) creative 2) offer 3) media and 4) soul to hold it
together.
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Questions? Comments? Email me at: quote (at) Quotes2u.com
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