Dude, Where’s my dashboard?
First things first, I promise this is a not tribute post to one of the greatest pieces of cinema in our lifetime, “Dude, Where’s my car?” It is however a story about something near and dear to all of our media hearts: data and attribution. To take it a step further, it’s the tale of how traditional media went from the driver seat to the backseat and a few steps smart media companies have taken to get back behind the wheel.
The story line of the media industry and the movie do run parallel to each other in some ways. If you remember the movie, it is the tale of two friends who had the best night of their lives, but couldn’t remember much of it, including where the car was.
Well, the media industry was a lot like that prior to digital marketing. I’m thinking back to the time when marketers really only had to make a few media choices: TV, Print, Radio, Outdoor and Direct Mail. And because these forms of media delivered such massive audiences, you didn’t need to prove that they work, they just did…plain and simple. Back then, you didn’t need to dice up intenders vs. broad reach, you simply needed to get in front of the people and tell your story. It was the golden era of advertising and everyone was having a blast.
“And along came digital…”
Digital came like the morning after for the two main characters in the movie. Digital marketing came with something that traditional media had never truly leveraged: User Data. Digital marketing also allowed for a fundamental shift from Broad Reach and Frequency to ROI and intenders. And because digital marketing comes packed with user data, marketers now understood when someone is just beginning their buying journey vs. when they were ready to buy. More importantly, marketers were empowered to target them accordingly.
Today, consumers can be tracked from the laptop to the storefront and ultimately through a purchase. This was the promise of digital, and marketers loved it. No more wasting money on advertising that didn’t resonate with the target audience. With data, came knowledge and digital marketing was getting all the credit.
But here’s the problem… traditional media works. Like really well. Because Traditional media offers something digital media hasn’t fully mastered: Influence through Engagement. For example, the engagement for television is insane (4-5 hours per day). Sure people check their newsfeed or timeline everyday, but it’s transactional at best. Some digital platforms like search engine marketing thrive in being transactional, but for others like display, engagement is still a major factor in its effectiveness which is why it has taken hits in recent years.
I know what you’re thinking “Ghee, I get it. Traditional media can be a really powerful influencing tool… but I like data” “Dude, where’s my dashboard because I need to prove my advertising dollars are working. How can I attribute sales to platforms with little or no data?”
Understanding Attribution
Close your eyes and think of someone winning a prestigious award like an Oscar. It usually starts with something like “...first I want to thank my mother and father for their sacrifice...” Now Mom and Dad didn’t take acting classes or stay up late memorizing scripts or spend 9 weeks emerging themselves in the role but... they did plant the seed, they did influence the actor to take up acting, even paid a few bills when the actor was starving which is why is when everything comes together, mom and dad get recognized. Success is attributed to the source of inspiration. That conceptually, is attribution.
At its most basic level, Attribution in the media space is giving credit to ad exposures for driving sales or other outcomes. The promise of attribution to advertisers is not only measuring ROI, but managing it. I don’t think it can be overstated that data is the new digital. Just a few years ago, platforms and tactics dominated the media conversation where as now it’s about the analytics and you guessed it… the data.
Attribution is not new. There’s first touch and last touch attribution, multi-touch and cross platform attribution and they have been around for a while. What is new is traditional media’s entrance into the user data space, which allows for attribution to work for traditional media.
Think about this, at one point Media Buyers and Marketers were making multi-million dollar media investments based on 1-2% of the homes in certain geographies using a rating system. Now with access to user data from things like OTT devices and set-top cable boxes, these same folks now know if their target customer was exposed to an ad, did that message drive web traffic and eventually cause the target customer to make purchases.
Have you ever wondered why Google purchased YouTube? Sure there are product synergies but I think one of the most important aspects of the YouTube purchase is data integrations. To be able to follow an engaged viewer from a search results page to YouTube while serving ads is huge for advertisers. It matches intent to influence and vice versa. Working together, these platforms capture awareness and engagement data as well as conversion data to be a full funnel solution.
There are tons of tactics now being leveraged by media companies to prove their effectiveness. Some tactics include leveraging location data from mobile devices to prove ad exposure drives storefront traffic, while TV providers can compare campaign ad exposure to website traffic lifts. Today, smart media companies are not only selling their product, they are selling their product’s data story and how it delivers against advertiser’s objectives. They can clearly define and prove their place in the consumer buying journey which ultimately solidifies their value to the advertiser.
Questions to consider:
If you work at a traditional media company, what is your product’s data story? Can you prove it?
Can your media sellers clearly articulate the product’s data story in a way that proves value for solving customer’s business challenges? If not, what 3 things can you do right away to close the gap?
How has your data story changed in the last 10 years? What can be done to bolster that story?
Are there new platforms that have synergies to your traditional product which captures new data about your existing audience?
Are there new customers that benefit from how your data story has changed? Is there a new audience you deliver? Little known facts about your current audience?
What tactics can you employ to attribute sales to your product?
If you’re a traditional media buyer for an agency or holding company, how are media sellers arming you with a data story for your advertisers?
As advertiser, does your media partner have an answer if you asked “Dude, where’s my dashboard?”
-TG