• by Manning Field , March 1, 2007

One of the industry trends that really bothers me is the way the term "ROI" gets thrown around. Networks and agencies are talking about "delivering ROI" to their customers. I frankly think this conversation is really silly, and just a deftly political, side-stepped answer to a desire for more accountability. It's an answer that is understandable, but we are asking the wrong question.

I'm going to take a position on this that is probably controversial, but I do not see the "ROI" conversation really evolving, so why not?

I -- and solely I -- as a client am responsible for delivering and calculating my ROI for my communications investments. Frankly, to shift the ask/blame to agencies and networks is a deflection of responsibilities. Do they owe us information on who and how many consumers watch? Absolutely. Is the current Nielsen model inadequate? Absolutely. Do I want ABC telling me the ROI of my commercial? No thanks.

Why not? The most important reason is, I will never be willing to provide the data or results to truly make that calculation. Why would you ever outsource your performance measurement?

This doesn't give a pass to agencies and networks. They need to continue to help us make information- and insight-based decisions. But I am as likely to ask a network to measure my cholesterol as I am to tell me my ROI.

Just my opinion.