Clients Want More Media Accountability

Research carried out by the Association of Media and Communications Specialists shows that an increasing number of clients are dissatisfied with their understanding of how well the media element in the marketing mix is performing.

The research is part of an AMCO project examining accountability in media use. It was carried across six client categories with a total media value in excess of £750m. AMCO found that advertisers are increasingly concerned about the need to make the media budget more accountable to the bottom line. Criticism was greatest in relation to assessing the contribution media made to sales and profit. Over 40% of clients defined effectiveness in these terms, whilst over 33% claimed that they were not satisfied with their ability to accurately measure advertising effectiveness.

Only 9% saw effectiveness as being defined as knowing the number reached by a campaign. This casts doubts about just using traditional coverage and frequency figures from industry media surveys in an age of greater accountability.

Key client requirements to emerge from the research were:

• Linking sales effects to advertising activity
• Understanding and evaluating the contributions of different media within an overall campaign

The research showed that more clients are turning to direct analysis of sales data, brand tracking and econometrics to measure media effectiveness. Results varied by sector with financial companies being particularly dissatisfied.

Mike Goodman, of Abbott Mead Vickers, commented that the survey does not come as much of a surprise to the ad industry: he said it was the age-old question of clients trying to understand how advertising works when this is not really the issue. He believes the point is that advertising does work and one need only look at the advertising to sales ratio to prove this. He went on to say that the advertising sector does make a big difference: the effect of advertising on, for example, confectionary sales is more immediate and recognisable than it is for car sales. He said that the effect of advertising on the financial sector would be particularly difficult to gauge since the products or services it offers are less tangible than those of other sectors.

AMCO is using the research as part of the development of the accountability project, with the second and third stages being launched in the autumn.

AMCO: 01923 7171181