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Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Why The Online Ad Community Needs To Redefine Reach
by Jaffer Ali
When bank robber Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed
banks, he reportedly replied, "because that's where the
money is." As online marketers we adopt a variation of
Mr. Sutton's theme each time we assume that ad dollars
will follow the flocks to the Internet. Alas, only half
that assumption has proved true. The flocks continue to
show up -- but the ad dollars don't. That's like showing
up to rob the bank only to discover that the bank has no
cash.
But digital marketers need to ask the inconvenient
question: Why haven't online ad dollars kept pace with
audience growth? We know that we can reach a lot of
people online, and theoretically, ad dollars should
accompany that reach. So, maybe we need to revisit our
definition of reach.
Reach doesn't just equal exposure
In August 2009, Microsoft, via the Atlas institute, issued
an online advertising research report that defined reach
as "...the number of people exposed to a particular ad."
Microsoft's definition of reach describes a media universe
that simply no longer exists. It describes a world where
exposure alone equals reach, and where consumers are
compelled to tolerate advertising because they aren't
equipped yet to avoid it.
Adding insult to injury, the same Microsoft media experts
then describe reach as "...a critical metric to advertisers
for planning and measuring the success of campaigns." In
short, they start with a ridiculously outdated premise and
then bet the farm on it. But they're not the only ones --
we as an online advertising community seem to be doing the
same.
We all know that branding is a function of reach. But if
what we call online reach (for lack of a better term)
isn't really reaching anyone, how and where is the brand-
ing supposed to happen, and why are we using the term at
all? We need to redefine reach if we expect to brand in
scale online, because the current advertising-as-inter-
mediary model doesn't really reach anyone and isn't
scalable. What actually is scaling is "non-reach" because
our banner ads are so readily ignored.
A stab at a new definition
What if we redefine effective reach as "the number of
authentic visitors delivered to a branded website?" What
if we then use our new definition of effective reach to
replace the current CTR entirely (and all but eliminate
the potential for massive click fraud in the process)?
But is the above definition of reach scalable? Not under
the current advertising-as-intermediary model -- a bless-
ing in disguise, since the wherewithal to scale a model
that delivers a product no one wants and everyone is
equipped to avoid is a sure road to ruin. Contrary to
current industry myopia, the answer isn't to provide more
relevant reach prospects with more archived content. I'll
be a little self-serving here. The more consumers get
access to broadband, the more they want more video.
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The next question is how do you target them? The answer
is simple: you don't. All commercial media are now and
always have been on-demand. Your prospects will target
you for the same reasons and in the same ways that they've
flocked to their favorite radio and TV programs for the
past eight decades: good content. Good content not only
aggregates eyeballs, it attracts specific audience demos
as well ? all of them self-selecting. Apparently, not only
do we need to redefine reach, but we need to redefine who
does the reaching as well, because it sure as hell isn't
the advertisers and marketers, and never was. We don't
reach the audience. They reach us.
Better content creates better "reach"
We don't need to target and hunt down an online audience
that's already more than happy to target us. We just need
better bait to capture their attention. We need quality
unbranded bait that doesn't put prospects off right away
and doesn't put the brand at risk in rented third-party
environments full of competing brands and stealth tracking
technologies.
By contrast, a single unbranded video thumbnail culled
from a great classic movie clip on a website is far more
compelling than any ad and far more scalable for the same
reason. Besides, we can't scale something no one wants,
and we'd have to forgive those who would call us idiots
for trying.
All along we've tried in vain to insert the ad in the
content environment when it makes far more sense for all
players -- advertisers, publishers and content producers
alike -- to insert the content directly in the ad environ-
ment on the advertiser's branded website instead, and use
unbranded video thumbnails across the networks to deliver
self-selecting audiences to the branded destination sites.
Don't reach out to them, let them "reach" you
In other words, don't post your ads on publisher sites;
consumers clearly don't want them. Find a way instead to
bring self-qualified consumers to your own brand message
on your own website where you control the brand environ-
ment. The best place for brands to assert and maintain
true relevance is on their own sites in their own
environments.
This means a simple, yet radical departure for media and
advertising brands. It means having Sports Illustrated
articles read on Adidas or Nike sites. It means having
The New York Times' Paul Krugman read on Chase.com. It
means having viewers of Walter Payton video clips delivered
to a Just For Men microsite.
"Reach" re-defined as the audience delivered to consume
chosen content on an advertiser's website portends a more
meaningful metric whereby brand advertisers own the eye-
balls instead of just renting them ? exactly as it was
back in the golden years of radio and TV. It's all about
engaging the audience on its own terms, and history has
shown that once you capture their hearts and minds, their
wallets will follow.
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