Anyone with digital in their job title is part of ‘mad cult’ says Mark Ritson urging marketers to rethink metrics
Marketers are going to have to change their mindset around metrics from “output” to “input” measures and nobody will “trust anyone’s numbers” for the next five years, according to Professor Mark Ritson.
Ritson, who caused a storm in the industry with his presentation calling for an end to people overusing digital channels, which he claims are under-delivering, challenged the social media sector in particular to come up with a robust rebuttal to his claims.
In a presentation at Mumbrella360, Ritson pointed to the low engagement many huge brands get on their social media posts, quipping: “There are more people in the social media teams in these companies than there are responding to their messages.”
Talking about ‘The Dreary ‘D’ Word’ Ritson accused anyone who has digital in their job title as being “part of a cult, a mad cult”, adding: “Digital media and digital marketing doesn’t mean anything, it’s a silo. And in 10 years the idea of attending a digital marketing conference will sounds as fashionable as the world wide web.”
He also urged marketers to keep more of an open mind to all types of media, pointing to a News Corp sales boss in the audience and urging seminar guests to “treat him like total shit, but treat all the other media vendors in the same way and give them a chance to see what they can do”.
Asked what metrics marketers would need to move to in the future if reach was no longer the answer, Ritson told Mumbrella: “I don’t think anyone is going to believe anyone’s data for the next five years. Misrepresentation over expansion of fact and contradictory systems means most smart marketers won’t be able to work out how many eyeballs they’re going to get.
“I think we will see over the next five years a migration to what I call output measures rather than input measures. So rather than saying ‘I’ve reached X% of my target segment, I want to get X number of consumers to consider my brand, irrespective of what the media mix was, did I achieve that at the end of the year?'”
But, he added, that would “put the pressure back on clients to do their work properly” and “come up with proper objectives” to brief to their agencies.
“The only way we can assess the quality of anything in marketing is whether it achieves the objectives,” he said.
“Without an objective we can’t execute properly or measure the results. So I think what we’ll see is a bigger focus on output stuff. Clients saying these are my objectives and 12 months later did I reach them or not? I think that’s the only way we get out of this little hole we’re beginning to enter and I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
In his presentation, an updated version of the talk he delivered at an AANA event two weeks earlier, Ritson again accused people of failing to get out of their digital silos and embrace the wider reach of more traditional communications channels.
“I think the degree of variance between what’s being sold and what’s being reached is extraordinary,” he said. “The data I’m using isn’t proprietary, it’s publicly available, and I’m putting up data that shows more than 90% of search links being clicked on are by a robot and the average Australian follows on brand.
“I think that’s a pretty simple but demonstrative set of numbers to debate – and I’m open to the debate, but I’m missing it at the moment.”
While the presentation has spawned several rebuttal pieces, including one from IPG Mediabrands CEO Danny Bass, Ritson said he wanted to see proper debate around the issues he raised.
“I’m missing any kind of robust push-back so far that, frankly, I would look forward to,” he added.
“When I started talking about the limitations of social media I assumed people would set me right in the bits that were fluffy and were wrong, and that’s the nature of good disciplinary debate, but we haven’t seen that. What we’re seeing is people pushing back on me and my approach.”
I just love what Mark has done. If you say stuff everyone agrees with, why say it? Rather, have a point of view people either cheer or throw tomatoes at.Remember, the bolder the action, the stronger the reaction. He is prepared to shake it up and say it as he sees it. Boldness. He might not be right. But then again, he might be! I LOVE IT!!!! Well done Mark. Chris Savage
ReplyThis is fantastic! Makes us truly reflect on our raison d’etre as the so-called digital marketers of today. I see the battle for your numbers versus mine, your metrics versus mine already around us. Digital is as ubiquitous as television has been for the longest time. This helps us keep it real…and know our true north isn’t another vanity social engagement metric!
ReplyAwesome sauce! This is the type of thinking that keeps this Industry on its toes . Yes, information is cheap, employees are connected more than ever and computing power has evolved but digital disruption will require we rethink marketing as a whole. Good Job Mark!
ReplyIn the first place, I think a big part of the problem has to do with the creation of the title Digital Marketing.
It has somehow given these digital tech nerds the impression that they are full fledged marketing professionals, when all they are tasked with is to create, maintain and sustain a viable digital ecosystem for their brands marketing activities to take place in. I have even come across an article by an ambitious Digital Mktg Director stating that the CMO of every company should be the Digital Marketing Head (what a surprise).
Their idea of effective and accountable marketing is to generate leads with 10% off coupons and then relentlessly annoy the fuck out of them with promotional spam until they get added to a spam filter. Or start a facebook page written by an intern, where 99% of likes and shares are from company employees. Or engage in some totally indulgent piece of cheap content where the impact is measured by likes and shares rather than conversions. These pieces can be recognised easily on blogs by their comments sections, which are almost always empty.
Sadly, these self-appointed digital marketing experts are hopeless at creative strategy, messaging and execution…from their actions, they appear to be a bunch of buffoons who have access to a lot of data…and then make the most obvious use of it.
It would be more accurate to alter their titles to Mr/Ms. XXXXXX – Marketing (Digital Support).
ReplyThe situation is no different on the creative side of the agency.
ReplyCDs who have created nothing other than banners and digital content have assumed they are qualified to be chief creative officers of a full service agency.
Their quick promotion to these positions announced with arrogance that digital is the centre of all campaigns is often followed by client rejection, business loss and a quick exit from the agency. Often it’s too late as they had replaced all their experienced staff with their posse of digital dwarfs .
The head may have gone but the minions are still bumbling around, testing the last nerve of the long suffering clients.
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