• by Wayne Friedman , March 8, 2011

Austin, Texas-- Though the economy is still picking up steam -- and more marketers are involved in digital media -- legacy ways of thinking about media prevail. That was the consensus of some industry leading researchers during the opening session of the 4As conference here on Tuesday.

"Two thirds of the agencies are still using the click," Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore, said during a panel discussion exploring Madison Avenue's approach to measurement and metrics. "It's cheap and expensive. That's our biggest challenge."

Fulgoni said the industry still needs to figure out what effects advertising creative has on online campaign results.

Bill Harvey, vice chairman and chief research officer of media research company TRA, said in many cases he has observed that 65% of a campaign's sales performance come from creative execution, with 35% coming from the media placement.

Overall, Fulgoni, said that, on the Internet, "branding was far less effective" than price and promotion ads online.

"In essence,' he said, online, "is the new print."