It’s been a while since I’ve been at an industry presentation where someone invoked the old chestnut -- usually attributed to Philadelphia retailer John Wanamaker -- that “half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” And if a new initiative backed by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) works out, it’s possible nobody will ever repeat it again.
The initiative, which is already underway and backed by at least two big media-buying organizations -- Horizon Media and Dentsu Aegis Network’s Merkle -- seeks to operationalize a more scientific method of proving which ads and media exposures are not wasted.
The method, known as “randomized control testing” -- or what will likely become the acronym du jour on Madison Avenue for the next several years, RCT -- goes beyond classic marketing and/or media mix modeling and so-called attribution systems, to scientifically correlate and measure the effect of actual advertising.
“This really gets to the heart of the business of advertising and the job of the marketer,” Rick Bruner explained to me during a “pre-brief” of the project, which is being unveiled today.