From now on let's measure all outdoor and print display advertising by the number of QR (quick response) codes captured by consumers' cellphones. Then, let's set up a trading system called Cost Per Quick Response (CPQR) and try and convince every traditional marketer in the world of its value. The argument will be that technology says we can measure it and everything not measurable is useless and out of date with modern consumer behavior. Oh, and I also expect to gain a whopping 3 percent of print media share in 15 years.
Sound familiar?
For an industry that's considered progressive and labels itself "new media," it's certainly locked into an archaic catch-all metric, the click, which measures only a menial part of a consumer's senses -- a part so pigeonholed to action it dismisses all aspects related to influence (think, feel, sense, imagine and interact). Clicks have little to nothing to do with exposure to creative and actually ignore emotional connectivity to a brand. Simply put, clicks only measure one response -- which we generally often assume is a positive indication of intent versus accidental -- and generally are a long way from a suitable conversion point an advertiser actually seeks.
Advertising at its core is about reaching out to the senses to captivate an imagination, influence an action or change a perception by enhancing a consumer's desire. Enter multimodal perception, a notion based on the idea that humans use multiple senses to learn, sight being the strongest, followed by sound and touch. It's the combining of senses that helps us to build a bigger picture of the world around us. Ever notice how food doesn't taste the same when you have a cold and can't smell it? From a marketing perspective, that may mean that collaborative exposures across media are enhanced through a physical experience of play and exploration. It might also point to the fact that measurement is not always immediate or isolated and should be perceived as something that develops over time.
Marketers are beginning to measure this sensory engagement across channels by looking at specific touch points along the consumer's path to conversion and not just focusing on the immediate action of the user on any given single exposure. Digital has afforded marketers the means to stimulate multiple senses through interactivity in a variety of virtual scenarios, from TV screens in the back of cabs and digital billboards in Times Square to floating billboards along the Hangsu River in Shanghai. We've already seen users chatting with the actual developers at Intel inside online banners, talking to President Obama via Webcam and watching Chanel takeover entire computer screens across the globe. Given technology's ability to measure exposure in front of all media, "time" offers the most insight into consumer behavior and reach.
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