Accuracy

“Global ad spends on digital media will double by 2010. In the days to come, the spend on digital media would take over spends on TV ads. There will be a shift of economic power from traditional media to new media.”

– Mark Read, Director - Strategy, WPP, and CEO, WPP Digital UK, as quoted in a recent Exchange4Media article on the India Digital Summit 2008

The growth and potential of digital advertising cannot be denied. More and more marketers are moving away from traditional advertising and towards digital. In fact, it’s not just digital advertising which is of consequence to marketers today, but the whole gamut of digital marketing which is changing the way marketers look at advertising and communication – and marketing of their brands.

Today’s digital advertising agencies are capitalising on this change since they understand how to interact with the target customer, tailor messages to suit audience preferences, generate responses, track responses in various ways, and deliver an accurate return on the marketer’s investment. Using state-of-the-art technology, digital advertising agencies are optimising on campaign delivery through real-time targeted online advertising.

The name of the game is accuracy. Accuracy in terms of customer segmentation, customer profiling, creation and delivery of tailored messages, responses elicited and collected from different vantage points, and spends controlled to offer higher returns on investment. This, in turn, helps improve accuracy of marketing and communication strategies. Though, I must say, without the right technology, none of this would be possible.

At the centre of this digital marketing is the customer, not the brand. Thus, traditional brand-centric advertising agencies which have been slow to welcome this change, have fallen prey to newer and smarter digital advertising agencies. Hence, the recent collaboration between Publicis Groupe and Google Inc is a landmark event in the world of advertising and marketing.