Marketing Musings
Media Transformation
Posted: Apr 4, 2013 12:00am ET
In the video below, ANA President and CEO Bob Liodice discusses how creativity and innovation are transforming the media world.
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Marketing Accountability
Posted: Apr 2, 2013 12:00am ET
In this video, ANA President and CEO Bob Liodice explains why marketing accountability remains a top concern for marketers, and why the science of measurement hasn't caught up with the various needs of those in the marketing ecosystem.
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Big Data/Insights
Posted: Mar 26, 2013 12:00am ET
In this video, ANA President and CEO Bob Liodice shares what steps the marketing industry needs to take to use big data more effectively.
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Let the Consumer Choose
Posted: Mar 14, 2013 12:00am ET
In a dangerous and highly disturbing development, Mozilla recently threatened to block all third party cookies in its next version of Firefox by default. This is a near 180-degree turn for Mozilla, which criticized Microsoft only last June for turning on Do-Not-Track (DNT) by default in Internet Explorer 10. At that time, representatives from Mozilla stated, “If DNT is on by default, it’s not a conversation. For DNT to be effective, it must actually represent the user’s voice.”
What Mozilla misleadingly claims is a tool for greater consumer protection is really little more than one company imposing its will in order to control its consumers’ online experience. The Internet has brought an unprecedented wealth of free and valuable content to consumers, which is directly supported by the revenue generated by advertising. Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA) uses anonymized data to serve those advertisements most relevant to a particular consumer’s areas of interest. Consumers also have enormous control over the OBA process and can turn it off or on at their own discretion. This action by Mozilla directly undermines that ability. Consumers will not see fewer ads, only fewer ads relevant to their particular interests. As advertising revenues inevitably drop, the vast array of content that consumers have come to know and expect will quickly follow suit.
Mozilla’s initiative is extraordinarily counterproductive for consumers and business. If the company moves forward, consumers will be herded into a new browsing environment where Mozilla will make choices for them. Blocking third party cookies by default sends the false message to consumers that OBA is inherently bad without providing any meaningful background knowledge describing the innumerable benefits of being served relevant ads.
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| OBA Icon |
The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) has built a strong self-regulatory system with real teeth. Under its system, consumers see an icon alerting them to the fact that they are seeing a targeted ad. From that icon, they can access an educational system about OBA and are able to exercise the choice to opt out of further targeted ads. In 2012 alone, more than 5.2 million consumers visited aboutads.info (the DAA opt-out site) to learn more. Enforcement is handled by the Council of Better Business Bureaus and the Direct Marketing Association.
If Mozilla was right that consumers want to avoid OBA, then clearly opt out rates would be much higher than we have witnessed to date. Mozilla is apparently unconcerned with any real world consumer experience or behavior in attempting to impose its will on the Internet.
The DAA allows consumers to make an informed decision. Mozilla proposes to bypass that process and will inevitably undermine the functionality of the Internet. The DAA takes consumers’ privacy concerns seriously and provides them with the maximum ability to make a meaningful choice without presuming that it knows better than consumers themselves.
Measurement Brand-Specific Commercial Ratings
Posted: Mar 12, 2013 12:00am ET
In the video below, ANA President and CEO Bob Liodice calls on Nielsen to develop brand-specific commercial ratings for TV. Without such specific ratings, he opines, marketers may be overpaying for the delivery of commercials to their perspective target audiences.
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State Advertising Taxes
Posted: Mar 8, 2013 12:00am ET
In the video below, ANA President and CEO Bob Liodice discusses the threat of state advertising taxes, and how the passing of this legislation could cost the advertising industry billions of dollars as well as jobs and income in every state.
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The Industry Is Facing Serious Headwinds
Posted: Feb 11, 2013 12:00am ET
For the marketing industry, 2012 was pretty much like any other year — lots of highs, lots of lows, lots of news, and lots of changes. When you bundle these up, we moved the proverbial ball forward. That’s good, in total, but it leaves a lot of questions unanswered, like:
- Are we ever going to solve the measurement equation?
- Are we ever going to figure out if mobile is really the next great marketing platform?
- Are we ever going to advance the client/agency relationship, procurement issues, and compensation?
- Are we ever going to come to agreement on privacy and tracking?
- Do we really think we’re going to solve patent trolling issues, ICANN, and the wacky world of Washington, D.C.?
We’ll get more of the “great reveal” on these and other ongoing challenges in the 2013 chapter of this great novel, but I’m not sure how much more. We’re facing serious headwinds that we need to truly recognize, acknowledge, and challenge.
Headwind 1: The Economy
We’re going into the fifth consecutive year of subpar growth. Without economic growth, there will be no robust growth in marketing spending budgets. What is quite frightening is that there are few forecasts that suggest healthy growth levels for several years, largely due to U.S. budget deficit management, European stagnation, and concerns over economic leadership in China and India.
Headwind 2: The Government
The regulatory and legislative arenas are chock-full of land mines — and they threaten to blow up whatever semblance of opportunity we have in our industry. For example, despite extraordinary industry responses that provide self-regulatory vehicles to address children’s advertising and privacy/data collection issues, the government continues to battle us. Why? They don’t know what they really want and ignore the accomplishments we bring to the table.
Headwind 3: The Industry
We are not aligned. Does anyone think that marketers, agencies, and media/publishers are on the same page? Of course not. Consider the fact that we have more than 30 trade associations in our industry — and we fail to act collaboratively across the entire spectrum of issues. While progress has been made, we have only scratched the surface. Our lack of alignment truncates our ability to develop a common agenda, organize to pursue that agenda, and then resource it adequately.
So what’s next? Well, if you liked 2012, you’ll be pleased because we’re getting a heavy dose of the same for 2013.
Increasing Marketing Investment to Build Stronger Brands
Posted: Jan 30, 2013 12:00am ET
In this video, ANA President and CEO Bob Liodice explains why increasing marketing investment in more sophisticated, impactful ways improves the economic value of a brand.
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Integrating Media Across Platforms
Posted: Jan 28, 2013 12:00am ET
In the video below, ANA President and CEO Bob Liodice discusses the key challenges of bringing an integrated campaign to life across multiple media platforms. Liodice will deliver the keynote address at the inaugural Media Leadership Conference, presented by YouTube, February 24-26, in Miami, Fla.
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The Advertising Industry Outlook for 2013
Posted: Dec 12, 2012 12:00am ET
Bob Liodice, president and CEO of the ANA, provides his take where the advertising industry is heading in 2013. Will the economic uncertainties staring us in the face cause marketers to rethink some of their marketing and advertising strategies next year?
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