Oiling the Wheels of Commerce…

This is no less true of audience data and commercial media. The audience data is there, invisible, oiling the wheels. People trading media space don’t really want to look too hard at it. But even if it remains invisible, media trading depends on it to help them make good decisions and allow them to get on with what they want to do.

This fact has been brought into sharp relief by Marc Pritchard, Procter & Gamble’s Chief Brand Officer recently in a speech he made to the IAB Annual Leadership meeting on January 29th. In it, he made some strong points. For example:

The basis for competitive advantage is our brands, our advertising craft and the quality of our product and package experiences…

In other words, he doesn’t want to spend time worrying about whether this or that audience data is fit for purpose. Audience data should be a level playing field, with everybody using a common set of standards and methods to count the audience. This, in turn, frees advertisers up to focus on measuring and optimising brand and advertising performance. As he puts it:

…better advertising requires time and money, yet we’re wasting way too much time and money on a media supply chain with poor standards adoption, too many players grading their own homework, too many hidden touches and too many holes to allow criminals to rip us off.

He goes on to point out how technology has enabled both positive and negative developments. On the positive side, digital technology allows marketers to reach and engage consumers via Search, social media, video, chats, snaps, pins, cinemagraphs and more. Yet the other side of the coin has been “crappy advertising accompanied by an even crappier viewing experience.”

As a result of this analysis, Procter & Gamble has now committed to four key actions:

1. They will adopt the MRC’s Viewability Standard for digital audiences (whereby at least 50% of the pixels of an ad are viewable for at least one second on the screen of a user). Although there has been criticism that this is too broad a definition, the point is that it is the same for everybody. Equally, a TV ad may not actually be ‘seen’ by a viewer, nor might a newspaper ad be noticed by a ‘reader’ – but everybody agrees to trade on the common audience measurement standards that exist.
2. They will implement accredited third-party audience measurement verification. The fox, in other words, will no longer be in charge of the henhouse…or media sellers will not be able to ‘mark their own homework’ (as many major digital players have been doing to date).
3. They will ensure their agency contracts are completely transparent.
4. They will work to prevent ad fraud, by requiring all those they do business with to get certified by an organisation called the Trustworthy Accountability Group or TAG.

Procter & Gamble’s substantial advertising budgets will be put behind these actions, which should mean (assuming other major advertisers follow suit) that many of the challenges involved in bringing digital advertising into line with other media begin to be addressed.