DMA opens databank to tackle campaign measurement

The DMA is aiming to combat one of the marketing industry’s biggest conundrums – and one that has vexed generations of professionals – by launching a new databank to lift the lid on the measurement of campaign effectiveness.

While it is widely recognised that data is key to planning, delivering and measuring campaigns, the exponential growth of data sources in recent years has only further complicated the quest for these answers.

The new databank is based on insights accrued through years of DMA Awards entries – and the wealth of knowledge contained within them – and aims to bring greater clarity to an area which has often been engulfed by smoke and mirrors.

The move coincides with the DMA’s new ‘Making Measurement Meaningful’ whitepaper, created by a panel of industry experts, including representatives from Channel 4, Dentsu Aegis, FT, Global, Kinetic Worldwide, Telegraph Media Group, The Ozone Project, and Data Stories Consulting.

DMA Media Council chair Hattie Whiting said that marketers are frequently measuring the performance of campaigns, but a key issue is that they are not evaluating their true value. Too often marketers are measuring what is easily accessible, not what really matters to the business.

She added: “As a community, we should focus on the metrics that drive business success. To make our campaigns more effective, we must start speaking the same language and being consistent with metrics and benchmarking across all media channels.”

The report outlines what those involved see as the six challenges inhibiting meaningful measurement:

The disconnect between brand and response measurement: Siloed thinking and a fragmented agency landscape mean there’s often little acknowledgement or systematic measurement of the combined effects of brand and direct response spend. This results in an inconsistent view of short- and long- term campaign impact.

Measuring the impact of quality: A focus on less meaningful effectiveness data points has led to quality media environments being undervalued on media plans. Advertisers suffer from poorer marketing return on investment (ROI) and media owners suffer financially.

A measurement framework for all: The use of measurement frameworks, which help businesses create a common understanding of how to measure campaign impact in a way that links to business objectives, is far from commonplace. Widespread adoption of measurement frameworks will help the industry overcome many of the communication challenges inherent in measurement.

Measurement across platforms: Establishing best practice in measuring ad effectiveness across channels, and between digital walled gardens and the rest of the media ecosystem, is vital to boost understanding of the true incremental effects of media investment.

Structural challenges in measurement: Advertiser in-housing and siloed measurement skills are hampering attempts to establish a consistent view of effectiveness across marketing spend. If data is the oil of the measurement world, people are required to refine that data and make it meaningful.

Optimising metrics that matter: With a huge volume of real-time digital campaign delivery metrics at their fingertips, marketers are often guilty of optimising what they can rather than what they should. Best practice use of first-party data and brand measurement for campaign optimisation are important industry aspirations.

DMA managing director Rachel Aldighieri said: Some of the challenges outlined in this whitepaper are arguably deep-rooted and structural. Yet many are simply due to a lack of industry consensus about how to measure effectiveness. The databank will help to inspire future solutions to many of the problems highlighted in this whitepaper.”