Commentary

Great Expectations - Are They Realistic?

by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, August 27, 2003

A few weeks ago I brought up the issue of expectations as one of my pet peeves and I feel that this week we need to focus on it a little bit more.

The expectations for our industry capabilities are far out of line with all other forms of media and I think that it is reliant on us to fix this problem and fix it soon. Everyone knows that our accountability is our Achilles heel as it is what encourages advertisers to spend money with us, but it is also the reason for many of our downfalls.

In order for us to truly grow, mature, and do great work, we need to set the correct expectations for the various stages of development and implementation of campaigns, and this is on all sides. Here are some of the standards that I see we need to address:

The Planning Process is not a 1 week turnaround. Strong campaign recommendations, with solid rationale and negotiated placements should require a minimum of 3-4 weeks for delivery. This allows for sites to have time to work on their proposals and for agencies to truly digest them. For more integrated efforts, the turnaround from RFP to final recommendation should be closer to 6 weeks.

Trafficking of ad units from receipt of creative to delivery to the sites for campaign implementation should be 5 business days, with sites taking 3 business days to implement. This translates into an 8 business day trafficking period from campaign approval to campaign launch. If ad serving is not required, this is shortened substantially, but as most campaigns utilize third-party ad serving, these are realistic turnarounds. Of course, the caveat here is related to the detail of the campaign (for example, 1000's of individual keywords or 100's of individual creative executions require longer lead times, to be worked out between the agency and their clients.

Creative development for standard ad units should require about 4-5 weeks, longer if they are more complex, larger sized ad units. The creative process requires feedback, and rushing feedback does not provide an advertiser with the best possible product. In order to receive the best product for your campaigns, you should allow for the time to have a dialogue. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither were your print ads, so why expect your online ads to be done that quickly?

The expectations that rest on our shoulders every day are heavy. Heavy expectations can result in burnout or sub-par performance, and they certainly do not result in the growth and maturation of a medium such as ours.

To this end, what do you think about the Upfront process? Are Upfronts a way to force us to think on an annual basis for initial planning and lessen our reliance on spot buying on a promotional basis? Many advertisers are focused on their efforts throughout the year and it's possible that an upfront season might make sense as a means of locking in key inventory. For Branding campaigns, this makes a lot of sense, and allows for DR to still continue to run in the fashion that it currently runs.

An Upfront may not be the correct solution, but Agencies and Publishers do need to work together to set the expectations for clients, both in our industry and for those who have not yet dipped their toes into the proverbial waters. Maybe, just maybe, if we start issuing the party line now, we can have effect.

Thoughts?

Next story loading

About the Author

CORY TREFFILETTI, marketer, scientist, thought leader, change agent