• by Paul Gough , April 15, 2003

It's still all about the numbers when it comes to advertising.

David Rooney, director of media operations at DaimlerChrysler, told the Television Bureau of Advertising's annual marketing conference Tuesday in New York, there's a renewed focus on ROI and a tremendous pressure for competitive advantage. "There's a growing understanding of what we say and when we say and to the point of where we say it has an enormous effect on overall profits," Rooney said. That's led to a revamping of its TV spots to include a call to action, realizing that the average six-month decision process before purchasing a car makes television advertising a step in the process and not an end in itself. The call to action includes driving potential customers to the Web or the dealer.

"In our environment, we have to find ways for our advertising to work harder," Rooney said.

Rooney's comments came during TVB's panel on advertising, which included an address by Deutsch CEO Donny Deutsch and comments from analyst Erwin Ephron, Carat North America CEO David Verklin and Nielsen Media Research President/CEO Susan Whiting. The panel was moderated by Michael Lotito, president of Media IQ.

Verklin pointed out that 57 of the nation's 100 largest advertisers have reviewed their media service providers within the last 36 months. "The implication? I think media has never been more important to clients," Verklin said.

He said that tremendous strides had been made in the past several years, particularly in research. Verklin said sophisticated analysis using tools like regression help answer the question about what returns advertisers are getting on their investment.

Ephron said that television benefits from the fact that many advertisers don't really know where to go other than television. He reiterated the old saw about advertising - that half of the dollars spent on advertising works and the half is wasted - and said a study to be published in June tends to bear that out in some areas, particularly for small, mature brands in the packaged goods arena. But for other advertisers, the payoff is much greater and faster, he said.

Verklin said that today, there are more avenues for research that can drill down to the local level. He said the targeting information is important in the TV business. "The more local stations know about their audience, the more valuable that is to us as clients and the agency," he said.

Whiting discussed the new combinations of technology that enable agencies and clients to know more about the target audience, and said Nielsen has its existing and emerging technology plus others it's testing.