Trying not to complicate advertising and its analytics...

Got a great list of "breifs" from the ad aged blog

I like its simplicity.

I was looking at the list and wondering where analytics really fits into this process. I note that in some situations the best you can hope do is "Qualitative" research, which in many commercial situations really equates to saying "we're not sure what this all means but here's some numbers that might indirectly guide you a better understanding of your customer base".


Problem 1: Nobody knows who we are.
Brief: Create advertising that tells people who we are.
Analytics: Decide how to reach the most people. Measure "reach".

Problem 2: Nobody knows what we sell.
Brief: Create advertising that explains what we sell and how it helps.
Analytics: Survey target audience before and after (Qualitative)

Problem 3: We are being vastly outspent by much larger competitors.
Brief: Create advertising that gets at least as much attention as said much larger competitors.
Analytics: Identify and target audience with campaigns

Problem 4: We sell, essentially, a parity product. A product with no point of difference.
Brief: Create advertising that differentiates the company as superior.
Analytics: Target audience better than competitors

Problem 5: We are in a low-interest category.
Brief: Do something interesting.
Analytics: Nothing. Analytics wont tell you what's interesting. I'm sure you got try a survey or two (Qualitative)

Problem 6: Nobody knows how to use what we make or what it's for.
Brief: Create advertising that demonstrates the products.
Analytics: Survey (Qualitative)

Problem 7: My product is hard to get, so people don't try it.
Brief: Create advertising that makes the product easier to get.
Analytics: Survey (Qualitative)

With all of these I could have said "Analytics: measure if market share goes up" or "Analytics: measure if sales goes up". That's not analytics in my mind, that's just accounting and hoping that you can somehow connect any ups-and-downs with what you've been doing and not casually tying activity with success.

For me, this list suggests only half advertising can be directly influenced by good analytics. Often I find people sitting in one of the two camps, there's those that believe creativity & ideas drive everything and those that blindly believe only in the power of numbers.

I say its always ideas that drive things, numbers that optimise them and that we should use optimisation for inspiration, not for control.