This is from Jon Mendez' blog optimizeandprophesize.com:

A few weeks ago I heard the president of a digital agency conglomerate talk about how to plan a campaign: Think about what you want the consumer to do, and then plan the campaign accordingly, he said.

In today's world of web 2.0 - and consumers who take a large part in creating their own media - I think his comment needs rephrasing.

I would say: Think about what the consumer wants to do, and then plan the campaign accordingly.

Subtle difference in language. Huge difference in thinking.

With the massive and continued growth of technology and the coming ubiquity of search, a new-breed of digital marketers is emerging. We work on delivering relevance based on what the user wants to do. We are innovative and strategic both in creative design and our use of technology. We cut our teeth in analytics, measurement, optimization, APIs and algorithms, while keeping the best qualitative methodologies at our disposal. We execute on ads, pages, content or links and through every digital channel. We track, monitor, and optimize both the spend side and the sell side of the equation, in real-time. We are always laser-focused on brand, both on what it means to the consumer and how it can be leveraged to drive results.

And at the end of the campaign we are always looking for learnings we can take from the test, to implement them and then test again in order to improve performance, because our success is measured by results.

This turning point was further defined for me by recent comments from Tor Myhren, EVP and executive creative director, Leo Burnett Detroit (via Marshall Sponder). While on a panel at Virtual Worlds 2007, Tor talked about the future of digital media. He assessed the value of Pontiac’s recent Second Life initiative, saying, “We've sold 7,000 Pontiac's in Second Life but how many have we sold in real life? I have no fucking idea.”

It's well and good that the good folks at Leo Burnett are measuring how many Pontiacs have been sold in Second Life. But are they measuring how many Second Lifers are going to Pontiac.com? If not, they should be.

They should also know what models those visitors are looking at once they get there, and whether or not they come back. They could be tracking whether or not they filled out a lead form. They could even find out the DMA’s the Second Lifers are coming from and provide data to their dealer networks (if there are meaningful clusters).

The technology exists for all of this.

But none of this should be measurement for measurement's sake. Let me be clear: I'm talking about measurement so marketers can see what is working and what is not. I'm talking about tracking where people are coming from and what they're doing when they arrive, so they can be more closely targeted. I'm talking about watching a consumer as he interacts with a brand in order to tap into any learnings that might be available.

Anything short of this, in this day and with the technology available, is short-sighted - and maybe even irresponsible.

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