Advertising's Digital Divide

A majority of marketers run cross-channel campaigns, but most fail to integrate performance data, according to a study conducted by TNS Media Intelligence and sponsored by Eyeblaster.

In a survey of 400 senior marketing executives, 67 percent said they have run cross-channel campaigns, but only 12 percent integrate information about how those campaigns perform across two or more channels.

Research suggests marketers encounter frustration when carrying out campaigns, particularly digital. Limitations to cross-channel include:

• 44 percent of marketers who blame a lack of suitable metrics to measure impact.
• 37 percent of marketers who say there’s lack of case studies showing cross channel effectiveness.
• 34 percent of marketers say they lack of technology.

“It seems like it’s an early market, but people understand the benefits,” said Don Ryan, VP of technology and media at TNS. “The industry has done a relatively good job educating people learning what the benefits are, people want to take this to the next level, but it’s not quite there yet.”

While nearly seven in 10 marketers marketers are running cross-channel campaigns, Eyeblaster’s digital experience strategist Dean Donaldson points out silos continue to be a problem. “We’re not making it easier, we’re making it more complicated. There’s a whole percentage of people that say this can change, within those people who are doing it, there’s a whole nervousness there in the industry to get those campaigns out the door.”

The nervousness points to a percentage of marketers who are still anxious for data. “These may tend to be solutions that have been coming onto the market in the last one or two years, they might not be as fully integrated as they need to be,” said Ryan. “The difficulty is in having to piece these things together themselves, or lack of knowledge of what’s available, or [marketers] know part of the solution or don’t know the whole picture.”

Beyond metrics, when actually running campaigns marketers are starting to think about cross-channel in their advertising plans.

• 22 percent of respondents already run cross-channel campaigns.
• 45 percent run an increasing number of cross-channel campaigns.
• 18 percent don’t currently run ad campaigns cross-channel, but see the benefit.
• 7 percent run campaigns on each channel independently from each other.
• 8 percent aren’t sure what sort of campaigns they run.

Ryan said there are early adopters already doing cross-channel, and a large number of marketers who want to, and a similar trend in rich media adoption. “Display capability is equally important whether you use it in online or offline media at this point,” he said.

The data were compiled by a survey of 400 senior marketers with agencies, brands, and publishers in March 2009 across the three geographic regions of North America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA); and Asia Pacific (APAC).