Ad views: does prioritising quantity over quality cloud the big picture?
As media and its measurement tools and techniques have improved, the industry, driven by sound desires for more accountability, has aimed to add more support behind the price paid for media, and in particular 'premium' media. Everything from views and clicks to taps and plays, are all metrics that are pulled out to justify the price.
What's the cover and frequency of the outdoor advertising? How many Television Viewer Ratings (TVRs) are we buying? What's the click-through rate? What's the value of a video view? These are all questions we're programmed to answer and report on, in the false hope that we have all the indicators of success at hand to guarantee it.
The problem is, as we know in life perhaps more than we do in work, the best things can't easily be quantified. Take a familiar example of deciding how many glasses of wine to have on a night out, we know from experience that it should always be less than we want but yet we always make the decision to go for more, and sometimes it's a terrible decision, and at others, it's a great one. So, what's the number? The answer as always is to have enough to make you do something silly, but not too much to regret it in the morning.
Why, then, when it comes to the planning of media and communications do we hold up such regard and respect to the quantity measure, rather than the bigger picture quality measure?
Quite simply, we are equally as clueless as the sommelier who tries to value a wine 'blind', as to the real price of quality. Yes we know the media equivalents of your Lambrini's to your Chapel Downs, but when we come across less familiar unknowns, such as Sky Adsmart, or new digital posters, we have no idea about just how much the quality is worth. While this may be putting it bluntly, what can't be debated is that those that pursue to justify the 'premium' on quality, are always more informed than those who sadly give up and stick to the old rules of measurement – where quantity tends to win. Too many media planners and buyers settle for this position.
What's clear is that from an advertiser's point of view, what matters is not just the numbers, or the advertising that the wrong people see, but more importantly, staying relevant in the evolving lives of the right consumers.
The digitisation of media has enabled smarter buying methods to find and deliver more quality, whether that be contextual, mood based, precise timing or reactionary. Media has always been about making comparative quality exchanges to maximise your quantity. The problem that many struggle with is that the things of the highest quality, are never comparative (see the Red Bull Stratos jump or Nivea's Bluetooth bracelet), they are distinctive, unique, unquantifiable and probably require that extra glass of wine to appreciate.
Dino Myers-Lamptey is head of strategy at the7stars.
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