Bridging the (Imaginary) Chasm Between Online And Branding

There seem to be daily additions to the growing call for online advertising (and for display, specifically) to address the gap between how it sells/measures itself and how brands want it to be sold and measured. Today’s call is from an AdExchanger.com update. In an interview, Digitas Executive Vice President, Norman de Greve, addresses some of the hurdles on both sides of the seeming chasm between digital advertising and brand marketers.

Clearly, from one side of the chasm, the digital/interactive online space must begin to wean itself from speaking only in terms of technology, math and metrics. These may be the terms that the industry is used to using in establishing its bone-fides. They are not necessarily the terms in the forefront of the mind of the brand marketer, reviewing the RFP responses, in hopes of finding the silver bullet that will get him/her carried around the room. In describing a campaign metric tracking philosophy that would truly resonate with that side of the divide, de Greve says,

It needs to start by connecting to the metrics marketers are already comfortable with – the general funnel metrics – awareness, favorability, consideration, sales, and loyalty.

But what is the responsibility of those on the brand side? What is the evolution that must come to pass if brand marketers are ever to be satisfied that this upstart medium has the chops to be the game changer it has been promising to be? De Greve describes the varying levels of sophistication between those that are likely to make the jump and those that will have a harder time with the transition.

Some marketers look at display as, “How do I get more impression volume for my ad?” While others are asking, “How do I use display to create deeper experiences and more value for the platform idea I’ve developed?” Those are different levels in the evolution of digital sophistication.

As I mentioned before, this conversation is not happening in a silo. It is simmering across the industry on both sides of the equation. And it is exactly the kind of self- analysis that needs to keep happening for us to get to the promised land where digital is seen as an equal part of the marketing mix and can be understood to magnify the brand goals…not detract from them.


For our part, CPX Interactive continues to start these conversations throughout our ongoing industry roadshow/panel/event/ that we call ‘Strategy is the New Creative’. For more info on the initiative and how you can become part of the conversation, VISIT US HERE.