ORLANDO – While there’s been no shortage of issues—from transparency to artificial intelligence to brand purpose—at the Masters of Marketing gathering, there’s also a galvanizing effect. “Today I think was a renewed call to action for the community,” says Art Zambianchi, Managing Director of WPP’s MediaCom agency in Chicago.
“One of the refreshing parts of the conference today is seeing the marketing community galvanize as trying to be a single voice and just renewing the importance of the investment and what marketing can do.”
In this interview with Beet.TV, Zambianchi reflects on the importance of measuring campaign results and how quickly the digital media ecosystem has advanced when compared to the traditional television business.
“Measurement is everything,” says Zambianchi. “I don’t think anyone’s comfortable anymore with just having communications out there but really tying it back to how we can affect the business.”
Agencies can be “very powerful” by collaborating and setting up frameworks to measure their efforts to determine “what we’re doing is moving product off shelf, is bringing foot traffic into stores.”
Asked about the growing potential of reaching consumers with premium video, Zambianchi references the evolution of TV “let’s say from how prevalent it was in the 1950’s, when it was in fact in every household.”
It took roughly 30 to 40 years to get beyond three TV networks, and 40 to 50 to get into cable and satellite offerings. Comparatively, digital consumption and the accompanying ecosystem has changed dramatically in just 20 years and shows no signs of slowing down.
“It’s so difficult to even project where it’s going to go, it’s moving so rapidly,” says Zambianchi.
He believes advertisers and agencies have just started to tap what premium video can do.
“Consumers have proven that they’re willing to trade their time to spend with brands with interesting content.”
MediaCom counsels its clients to “be true to their own brand values, bring interesting, engaging stories, be more creative. Media can be a force for that. It’s just beginning to blossom.”
This video is part of a Beet.TV leadership series produced at the ANA Masters of Marketing Conference, 2017. The series is presented by FreeWheel. Please find more videos from Orlando, visit this page.
