The Australian Marketing Institute is offering marketing metrics on a plate with its new tool allowing the input of campaign details followed by the spitting out of the tracking measures marketers should use. But how useful can it be, and who will use it? Laine Lister finds out.
In the current economic climate marketing metrics have never been more important. This point is not lost on the Australian Marketing Institute (AMI) which later this month will make available a newly-compiled online-based metrics system that promises to help marketers more effectively track their advertising spend.
But given that most companies already use a number of measurement metrics, how useful is an additional tool for advertisers, and who will use it?
John Broome, head of marketing at Nestlé confectionary and snacks, says most large fast moving consumer goods companies already subscribe to tools such as this.
“But anything that works to improve the effectiveness of marketing activities is a great thing,” he says.
Jacqui Moore, general manager of brand communications at Foster’s, agrees: “It’s unlikely we would use the AMI tool – we think it is probably better suited to businesses which have fewer resources available to them. Once established, if it offered demonstrably better data it might be something we would consider”.
The same applies to advertising in the motoring industry, according to Ford marketing director Kevin Lilley. “I’d have a look at it and see how it compared with the measurement tools we’re already using. It would come down to does it do it in a cheaper manner or‘is it more effective,”Lilley says.
The metrics system will initially be available to AMI members through a website (Marketingvalue.com.au) that will include more than 160 different sets of measures – incuding sales figures, brand tracking benchmarks and customer data – to track ad activity. Companies will enter data into the site, which will then recommend a tailored set of up to 10 measures they should use.
If it gains traction, the system will be rolled out and promoted to the wider business community.
Collin Segelov, executive director of the Australian Association of National Advertisers, describes the tool as “one of the better ones” and adds: “It will start them down the road to comparative analysis – they will be able to see how they are tracking against another advertiser.”
There are a number of benefits associated with the tool, according to Tony Singleton, head of strategy planning at The Furnace.
“Anything that makes marketing more scientific and raises its standing in the board levels has got to be a good thing,” he says.
Most media agencies argue that measurement of advertising activity is a shared responsibility between agency and client.
Like Singleton, Rob Pyne, national strategy director at OMD, will consider using the tool, but both suspect it will be a client-driven uptake.
Pyne says: “Measurement is always a fantastic thing for clients to do and it only helps us to know when we’ve achieved our goals. If you’ve got a client like McDonald’s or Telstra who are very good at measuring things, they are less likely to use it. It will be more for your mid-sized clients that need a little more help in the area.”
As for the cost of the tool, the AMI charges membership fees of up to $300 a year, which will include access to the system. Mark Crowe, AMI chief executive, says there could be more costs as it is used as “there does need to be some investment in the system you’re going to employ”.
Costs aside, there are key considerations that need to be made before installing the tool.
OMD’s Pyne says users need to know what they want to achieve before they decide what to measure. “An area we do a lot of work on with clients is fine tuning their objectives. It’s almost as important as measuring the stuff – what you set out to do in the first place,” he says.
Nestlé’s Broome adds: “Clearly this is measurement after the event. I would definitely say having foresight is more valuable than being able to track activity.”
As for the tool’s value for advertisers, only time will tell. If all goes well, the AMI is in discussions with its British and American counterparts to roll out the system internationally.
As Crowe says, marketing metrics “is not an issue that’s unique to Australia; this is an issue for marketing across the globe”.
