Collaboration in marketing: ARF and ANA seek new metrics

WARC, 21 March 2014

BEVERLY HILLS: The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) has joined up with the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and other marketing thought leaders to embark on "a new level of collaboration" to improve cross-media measurement.

Gayle Fuguitt, ARF president/ceo, and Bob Liodice, her ANA counterpart, talked about the urgency of cooperation among different disciplines during Transformation 2014 - an event organised by agency trade body the 4A's (the American Association of Advertising Agencies).

"Across the ANA and the ARF, [we concur] that cross-platform analytics are exactly what this industry needs, because we are doing so much integrated marketing," said Liodice.

Brands, Liodice suggested, must develop a "far more scientific" approach than has predominated thus far - a goal that, in turn, depends upon the major associations working closely together.

"We can only do that by [achieving] a level of collaboration across the industry," is how Liodice put it. (For more, including why digital is the "least measurable" medium, read Warc's exclusive report: Finding an eGRP: The ARF and ANA talk measurement at 4A's Transformation 2014.)

The ANA has previously allied with the Interactive Advertising Bureau, which represents the digital sector, and the 4A's on the Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) initiative in a bid to foster cross-platform metrics.

Now, the ARF is throwing its weight behind a renewed call for progress on measurement, having undertaken its own independent cross-platform analysis until a year ago.

"We're going to be challenging the research industry and the insights industry to find what we need to do in order to increase consumer engagement and measure consumer engagement better than it has ever been before," said Fuguitt.

With America's premier academic/practitioner research organisation bolstering an already powerful group of stakeholders in pursuit of this objective, the prospects for the future are bright.

"The ARF is back - back in a big way!" said John Montgomery, chief operating officer of GroupM Interaction and head of the 4A's Media Leadership Council.

"There's now a new level of collaboration between industry organisations on cross-media measurement."

The Advertising Research Foundation's annual Re:Think Conference begins on Sunday, March 23, at the Marriott Marquis in New York, and runs through Wednesday, March 26. For a complete conference agenda, click here. For registration information, click here or call + 1 212-751-5656.

Data sourced from Warc

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