• by Joe Mandese , September 9, 2003

Following a regime that ironically displaced the word "advertising" from its name, the ARF (formerly the Advertising Research Foundation) is returning to its roots. The trade group, which was created in 1996 by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the American Association of Advertising Agencies to champion advertising effectiveness research, today is expected to announce a new president-CEO and a renewed focus on the ad business.

And the fact that the new hire, Bob Barocci, comes out of the ad agency business and has no direct experience as a researcher is all the more telling. Barocci, whose career spans some of the largest ad agencies, including Leo Burnett and Young & Rubicam - mostly in international management posts - may seem a surprise choice to succeed Jim Spaeth, the veteran marketing and media researcher who announced plans to step down as ARF chief in October 2003, but ARF insiders, say it reflects an intentional move to get the organization to focus on the basics of advertising.

"I think it makes all the sense in the world," said Bob Liodice, president- CEO of the ANA and a member of the ARF board. "The landscape of marketing has gotten very broad and very complex."

"We were looking for someone who could focus on positioning research within the C-level offices and increase the utilization of advertising research within the senior management of companies," added Paul Donato, chief research officer at Nielsen Media Research and the next chairman of the ARF.

At least one influential outsider, however, thought it was odd that the ARF would hire someone without a hands-on research background and someone so focused on advertising when the marketing mix model is moving more toward a broader array of marketing communications options, not a more focused view.

"It smells like an agency agenda," noted esteemed ad researcher Erwin Ephron. In fact, top ad agency executives including Interpublic chief David Bell and McCann-Erickson research czar Joe Plummer were influential in Barocci's selection.

"There's been a concern that the industry's research focus has been one of the factors contributing to a diminishing role for advertising," said one insider. Under Jim Spaeth's leadership, the ARF did broaden its mandate considerably and was a major champion of marketing mix modeling and ROI studies that occasionally have called the effectiveness of conventional advertising into question.

When contacted by MediaDailyNews, Barocci, who is working on a book titled, "Why Doesn't My Advertising Work As Well As It Used To," said he still is developing an agenda for the ARF, but alluded that at least part of it could give some traditional ad media forms some pause.

"The subject of saturation and media fragmentation has been talked about as a problem for too long. We need solutions. Nobody should lament the loss of network advertising, which was a figment of the network's imagination. Advertising has always worked and the more segmented the media gets the greater the opportunity for advertisers."