You should, by now, have had an email from the IAB’s Guy Phillipson, or an industry newsletter shouting from the rooftops that online ad spend has finally taken over from TV.
You know graph we’ve all presented – the media mix – showing how in the last few years digital has cut a line right across all other channels. Well I think it was supposed to be 2010 when online came out top, but with the recession, scaling back of ad spend in general and the universal opinion that if you’re going to spend, spend where you can account for it, Guy can proudly say “This is an exciting time for us all, and possibly one of the biggest announcements I'll ever make for the Internet Advertising Bureau!”
Great stuff and very proud to be in this industry and all that but what do we do when ALL advertising is digital? The numbers are quite rightly broken out by display and search etc etc, but we have to keep an eye on a more micro-level if we’re to get better at marketing. Would it be beyond the realms of reality to understand how much of the TV, print and online lolly was spent on integrated campaigns? Was it all individually wrapped or did we marketers do a good job of understanding the user journey has multiple touch points and apply what thought leaders have been asking for a while now – are you thinking about digital in the mix?
Last week I was in New York for Advertising Week, and although I’ve never been before, I was struck as to how much of the content and discussion was around digital and creativity. Rather like Cannes as well this year, people who had been before said that never before had online had so much “face time” during the week.
These are exciting times! Mobile is poised to go mainstream from an advertising perspective. We hosted a Behavioural Targeting conference this week with Google, Yahoo! and AOL all taking the same stage, as Chris Maples put it “to get under the skin of BT and educate the industry!” The stage is set for some fabulous results.
Guy says in his email, “thanks to its accountability, measurability and exceptional engagement factor, online has weathered the recession...”, and he’s right but let’s not think in silos. This economic re-calibration is making us fiscally smarter and more results orientated, and not just at work, so let’s start putting money in to smart campaigns which understand the limitless opportunities our multi-screen world now provides us with.
