Looking Back on 50 Years of Advertising Research: ARF Interview with comScore's Gian Fulgoni

Media Biz Bloggers
Cover image for  article: Looking Back on 50 Years of Advertising Research: ARF Interview with comScore's Gian Fulgoni

March 2011 marks the publication of a 50th anniversary Special Edition of theJournal of Advertising Research. We took this occasion to catch up with one of advertising's greatest minds, comScoreExecutive Chairman and Co-FounderGian Fulgoni. We spoke with Fulgoni about the biggest moments in research history and the challenges ahead.

ARF: What do you see as the most important changes and breakthroughs the advertising industry has undergone in the last 50 years?

Gian Fulgoni: Technology has been the catalyst for many of the major breakthroughs we've seen in the advertising industry over the past 50 years. The introduction of new technologies has not only dramatically changed the way advertising messages can be communicated but also how marketers can measure the impact of their advertising campaigns.

In the 1980s, for example, the availability of point-of-sale scanner data provided a much-needed solution for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) and other industries. For the first time, marketers had the tools needed to quickly and accurately measure the impact of price, promotions and print / TV advertising on brand sales, develop sophisticated market mix models, and link sales lift to various promotional and advertising levers. Prior to scanner data, marketers relied on manual store audits and consumer purchase diaries that were considerably less accurate and timely. During this same period, the People Meter was introduced, providing a much-improved solution relative to viewing diaries for measuring people's TV viewing behavior. All of this undoubtedly had a significant impact on the advertising industry, helping marketers better understand TV audiences as well as the advertising effectiveness of the channel. Ironically, at least in the CPG industry, with the availability of more granular and timely measurement of short-term sales response, we also saw the emergence of a far greater reliance on price and promotion spending at the expense of investments in branding advertising.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the rise in popularity of the Internet throughout the most recent decade provides yet another example of a technologically-driven change agent in the advertising industry. From the development of sophisticated algorithms that paved the way for the massive search ad market to the ever-evolving display advertising eco-system and powerful targeting capabilities to the emergence of social media, the Internet has impacted all facets of the advertising industry.

More recently, we've seen disruptive technologies pave the way for Internet usage via an array of sophisticated mobile devices, providing yet another compelling new avenue for marketers to communicate with consumers

ARF: Which challenges have still not been resolved?

GF: A concern I have for the future of the advertising industry relates to the increasing focus on short-term sales via direct response tactics and messaging centered on price and promotion versus longer-term brand building advertising strategies. When it comes to digital advertising, for example, the Internet has certainly proven to be an efficient means of communicating with consumers, but it's clear that this has come at the expense of strong creative and branding advertising. Many times, display ads will communicate only price-oriented messages, and while this can certainly help to generate immediate sales, one has to wonder at what cost in terms of brand value. Do these short-term tactics simply train consumers to buy on the basis of price alone? This problem is compounded by the continued use of inappropriate metrics such as the click on an ad. While relevant for search advertising, the click on a display ad has been proven to be at best an incomplete, and at worst, a misleading metric. However, the click is fast, easy and inexpensive to compute and, unfortunately, its use persists.

Sadly, the rise of the Internet has also seriously damaged certain media channels -- such as print -- as consumers' media consumption shifted online. The future of print newspapers and magazines, both of which rely heavily on ad revenue that has seen catastrophic declines, is very uncertain.

ARF: What do you see as the most critical topics advertising research will be concerned with in the future?

GF: With the fragmentation of media channels, come increased challenges for measuring multi-media audiences and the effectiveness of advertising across channels. While it is true that the research community has done a good job of figuring out how to measure the separate impact of advertising on TV, on radio, on the Internet and in print, it has yet to fully understand how to measure the combined benefits of advertising across all of these channels. As the industry becomes ever more fragmented, the challenge of doing this accurately and cost-effectively only becomes greater. Undoubtedly of paramount importance is the need to measure TV, Internet, and mobile media consumption on a "single source" basis.

Want to hear more? Gian Fulgoni will be joiningLarry Chiagouris(Professor of Marketing,Pace University),Eileen Campbell(Global CEO,Millward Brown), andScott McDonald(Senior Vice President for Market Research,Condé Nast Publications) for a discussion of what we've learned in the past fifty years of advertising research at theARF's Re:think Conventionon March 23. Their session will celebrate the 50th Anniversary Special Edition of theJournal of Advertising Research.Registrationis now open.

Copyright ©2024 MediaVillage, Inc. All rights reserved. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.