We all talk about online being such an accountable medium, but are we accounting for the right things? Like the dark suit auditing in an office near you – some advertisers measure conversions and sales like pros, but many are still relying on click-thru data to derive the success or failure of a campaign.

The fundamental flaw with clicks is their inability to measure latent intent to take action; like visit a site, store or film as a result of seeing an ad. Clicks provide an immediate measure of some sort of call-to-action, but that’s where their value ends.

How many times have we seen a film preview within a banner and decided it was a must see? No clicks, no action, just a firm resolution to make that flick a priority at the cinema. We’ve all seen the Cadbury gorilla but did he make us immediately leap out of our chairs and produce a fist full of dollars at local 4Square? Probably not, but my personal love of the purple/brown goodness demonstrated itself tenfold the next time I was store-side.

So – please take a look at this article from AdvertisingAge and let’s wake up next week in a world where web metrics, good old fashioned audience targeting, environment and creativity are the words on everyone’s lips when discussing display advertising online:

Why the Click Is the Wrong Metric for Online Ads

Here’s an interesting article from MarketingVox.com…

Of the top five trends discussed – number 1 is focussed on research and innovation, number 2 involves customer retention, loyalty and segmentation and number 5 says the “Boomer generation” (50+ market) will hold the most promise for marketers this year. So all you smart people advertising online, making use of user feedback and targeting people who probably have more equity in their homes and bank accounts than most; give yourselves a pat on the back.

Read the full article

This is a little something we’ve been working on under the IAB NZ, along with many other industry players. If you have people in your teams whom you think would benefit – please register and support this great initiative. It’s the intention of the IAB NZ to run more courses like these at 1.0 (beginner), 2.0 (intermediate) and 3.0 (advanced) levels through-out the year. 

Developing skills and recognising expertise in our industry at all levels is enormously important, particularly as interactive advertising revenue continues to grow this year despite the economy. 

More about the course:

The IAB NZ Upskills series of practical two and a half day hands-on workshop sessions are designed to lift skills in Interactive Advertising no matter what your background.

This first session (1.0) is designed for those new to online advertising. It’s an Interactive Advertising 101 structured around a live brief from a Top tier advertiser that has never advertised online before. The attendees may be as new to interactive advertising as the client and the course is a fun way for everyone to add some real value to a campaign that will actually be implemented (out of the winning presentation at the end of the course) across IAB NZ member sites and platforms.

Read the rest of this article.