• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 2, 2010

In an early morning keynote address at the 4A’s, “Transforming Media Integration for Greater Marketing Impact”, Nick Brien, president and CEO, Mediabrands, says, the ad industry continues to suffer in one major area.

“I don’t think as an industry we obsess enough about performance â€" internally and externally. Everyone is drowning in data. The issue is how do we measure it.” For media agencies in the future, he says, "it isn’t about being media neutral. It’s about being choice-ful. It’s about how powerful your creative is.”

Brien says that marketing becomes much more like a limited TV series. “Marketing becomes much more episodic â€" such as what is a marketer doing around Valentines’ Day.”

Of the big growth area, Brien says local will be a intense area for marketing: “I see hyper-local as an explosive area.”