Why Old Media Ain't Dead, Just Old Measurement Models Are

With all the hype around digital media, our industry is quick to call for the death of old media. But as history shows us this is far from the truth. Newspapers didn't dissolve because radio, radio didn't die because of tv, and tv didn't go away because of the internet.

What did change are media consumption patterns and business models. These are directly linked since media companies sell (and advertisers buy) media based upon consumption insights (e.g., reach / frequency) rather than value, but that's another coversation.

From the business model perspective, a key change has been the use of methods and tools to understand advertising success. We encapsulated our thoughts in a video that we share with clients during our thought leadership and planning process.

As you can see we believe the evolution in marketing measurement is directly related to the current media technologies employed. For example, when understanding the role of tv, print and radio media mix modeling was important. When CRM systems became the norm, consumer (customer) segmentation became an important analytical process.

Now, however, as media becomes digitized (not to be confused with the emergance of digital media) a new set of tools need to be employed for buyers and sellers alike. We refer to these tools as: Dynamic Ad Management & Planning Platforms. These new systems, will use data from media planning with consumer insights with consumer behavior (including sales) to drive real-time marketing optimization. It's CRM meets Media Mix Modeling on Steriods. And requires unique capabilities, not currently found in many organizations.