Marketers: Accountability Still Ranks As Job No. 1

As the heads of the nation's largest ad agencies convene this week in Scottsdale, Ariz., for the American Association of Advertising Agencies' annual management conference, the subject of advertising accountability is on their minds. And that's because the subject is still top-of-mind with their clients. Asked to rank their top concerns, senior marketing executives ranked accountability No. 1 for the third consecutive year that the Association of National Advertisers has been conducting the straw poll of its members, which include the biggest advertisers in the world.

"It's been that way for the last couple of years," says Barbara Bacci Mirque, executive vice president-communications and best practices at the ANA. She says the almost obsessive focus on accountability reflects a market shift in the priorities of American marketing organizations in the wake of the Wall Street debacles of the late 1990s, the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and increasing corporate governance and compliance. "Would we have seen this ten years ago? No," she says, adding: "Ten years ago I would guess that the No. 1 concern would have been media fragmentation."

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Interestingly, media fragmentation ranks only fifth among the top 11 concerns of senior marketing executives. That's interesting, because the media marketplace has grown more fragmented than ever before, and both advertisers and agencies are struggling to manage their media mix at a time when new media platforms--including broadband channels, blogs, social networks, etc.--are created literally every day.

But as the so-called C suite feels increasing pressure to be accountable to shareholders and regulators, Mirque says they have been putting more pressure on their marketing organizations to prove the returns they're getting for advertising and media investments.

After accountability, "aligning marketing organizations with innovation" is ranked as the second-greatest concern, followed by "building strong brands," and "integrated marketing communications."

Curiously, seemingly transformational trends such as the "impact of technology on marketing," the "growth of multicultural consumer segments" and "consumer control over how they view advertising" ranked near the bottom of the list (see below).


Top Marketing Concerns Ranked In Order Of Importance
1 - Accountability
2 - Aligning marketing organization with innovation
3 - Building strong brands
4 - Integrated marketing communications
5 - Media fragmentation
6 - Impact of technology on marketing
7 - Growth of multicultural consumer segments
8 - Attracting and retaining top talent
9 - Consumer control over how they view advertising
10 - Advertising creative that achieves business results
11 - Globalization of marketing efforts
Source: Association of National Advertisers member survey

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