• by Dana Blankenhorn , March 9, 2003

New York Times pundit William Safire opened the AAAA media conference this year with a dinner speech, painting a rosy scenario in which George W. Bush becomes as popular as George Washington, and even Hillary Clinton is forced to commit political suicide on the altar of victory, prosperity, and Iraqi democracy.

There was some mumbled disagreement, but no one challenged him. It was optimistic, a happy ending was promised. That’s the advertising business. So it went, with speakers easily slaying, with their words, studies and PowerPoints, every villain or perceived threat on the horizon.

TiVo? Think strategically. New media? Get inside their video games. The collapse of Internet advertising? It’s “the bargain of the century,” said Jim Spaeth, president of the ARF, who hosted a break-out session on Return On Investment (ROI), another fear advertisers stood ready to face, and conquer.

Studies were a good weapon in this case. In addition to the IAB and Nielsen//NetRatings studies of online’s effectiveness, first shown at the recent DoubleClick conference, the Spaeth panel had an American Business Media study to fire at the problem.

“The Internet is where you get ROI,” concluded Gordon Hughes, president of American Business Media, New York, the trade group called American Business Publishers before they embraced the Internet. “Business to business web advertising was up 16% last year, and we’re projecting it will go up 20%. We know it’s working.”

The unspoken theme of the whole conference was that advertising is a consumer service, offering information buyers want, and the whole aim of the industry is to simply deliver this when and where the consumer wants it.

If the consumers change, advertising follows. “When your business model is predicated on the consumer not being able to do what they want you have a problem,” said Fox of Gatorade. “We have to adapt to it.”

That adaptation takes many forms. Paul Woolmington, head chef for The Media Kitchen, New York, noted that McDonald’s is putting product placements into the Sims games. Karen Milke-Perry, media director for AT&T consumer services, Morristown, NJ, noted how she taught consumers text messaging by integrating it into the voting on “American Idol.”

Adaptation exists on the client side as well as the consumer side.

Jacqueline Noel, director of sales and marketing with Arbitron Outdoor in New York, said her company is prepared to offer “ratings” on billboards so they can be compared side-by-side with other media.

Hughes of ABM noted that Forbes.Com offers an “ROI Guarantee” for budgets of $100,000 spent over 60 days. Some eight marketers have taken the challenge, five have completed their campaigns, and Forbes has yet to return any money. “Participating advertisers have had 10-30% greater return than average,” he crowed.

It’s a remarkable industry. Every problem is a challenge to be worked, and overcome. No matter what happens, let the good times roll. New Orleans’ motto is also that of this industry.