Measurement, Measurement, Measurement

Wow, it's been awhile since I've been here. What a great break. Everyone needs to completely disconnect and enjoy life once and a while. I noticed even Richard Edelman took some time off over the 4th and left his blog for over a week. It gives one prospective and an opportunity to think.

On the topic of measurement, I have been thinking about the article in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week on Nielsen's plans to measure which commercials are actually watched and which ones are skipped over or channel changed. I would link to the article, but of course it's behind the user authentication where content providers still don't get the new world of media. Fortunately, Google News helped me find this article from the LA Times which describes their plans.

What I don't get about this plan is why TiVo or Comcast OnDemand don't provide this data directly since they have the device? Why do we need another device in a sampling of homes when the device that people use to fast forward or change channels is already smart enough to capture and report this data? Am I missing something?

In any case, it's obvious that Nielsen is trying to navigate the changing landscape of the digital world. They were smart buying BuzzMetrics so that Pete, Max and others can help them in the CGM space, but how well are they integrating it all together for marketers?

The challenge with marketing measurement today is that influencing your target market is a combination of activities that create awareness, preference, demand and eventually loyalty. Brand studies can give an indication of awareness and preference, CRM systems and online traffic can measure demand, and companies like Satmetrix can measure your Net Promoters. Companies such as MarketingNPV or MMA can bring all the metrics together for you in a scorecard that can help understand the effects of the marketing mix. But are we measuring the overall brand preference in the market?

I believe their is a great deal of work to do to pull all of these silo based measurement systems together and innovate on a brand preference measure. What creates brand preference, how does that translate to brand value, how does that translate to brand equity that translates to shareholder value. We can't measure marketing by the number of people that watch our commercials. We have to measure by the number of people that when given a choice, will select your brand.