• by Bob DeSena , May 4, 2011

Six weeks ago, we talked about the resurgence of research in the MediaTech space, about the need to rethink what and how we measure in a world where everything is media. And the key to this new activity, of course, was how we bring it all together with standards and currency and actionability.

The reference to that daunting task of cross-platform measurement suggests we have a handle on it because we gave it a name. I think the better reference was made recently by a leading researcher when he declared that cross-platform measurement was the equivalent of putting a man on the moon.

He's right, but we did put a man on the moon -- and we've done many other hard things as any Navy SEAL will attest. And we'll do this. But I would like to suggest a way to perhaps shorten the horizon for getting it done, by rethinking and reinventing not just the research, but the researcher.

Good research is a brand manager's best friend, an account manager's required knowledge. It provides insight into the customer, and the prospects we look to make customers. It measures what we do and the results of what we do. Its mission is to provide a focused lens for the CMO's key priorities of effective communications, integration and, ultimately, ROI accountability. In short, it doesn't support marketing -- it is marketing. And the people who do it need to think of themselves as marketers.

Sometimes that starting frame of reference regarding who I am and what I do can make a big difference. Attitude is the first, key step to important change. If I think I'm a marketer, I'll get more involved, not just in measuring the effects of social media but in experiencing it and its relationship to my brand.

If I think I'm a marketer, my involvement with the data, with the actual notion of what a customer-driven platform is, with the connection between the brand advertising, the investment in promotion and in search, will have a different, more holistic meaning. In journalistic terms, it's the difference between reporting the news and becoming a participant in the story, with a shared responsibility for a successful result. While that may be controversial in some legacy, way of thinking about the discipline, I believe it is the correct and necessary way forward to tackle the challenges fundamental change presents to us.

It will require a new way of thinking about problem-solving and creativity, and the responsibility we have to alter the way we currently work if we want to achieve new goals. It will suggest new organizational designs and new incentive plans. It will also require a new view of where we recruit and how we train the modern market research professional.

But it's worth it if we want to get to the moon.