While missed KPIs are never a goal, they should be far from a nightmare. It's surprising that so many marketers throw the baby out with the bathwater when talking about why a campaign failed, mislabeling misses as "bad data." Good, bad, or ugly, data received from a campaign is always a source of fuel that helps power optimizations for live campaigns and valuable knowledge for future initiatives.

The digital advertising industry has been slow to adopt suitable measurement for viewability, as old-school metrics like impressions and clicks hold onto their seat at the table. For brands to make the most of their audiences and publishers to make the most of their inventory, we must adopt metrics that go beyond whether the ad reached its desired target and loaded on the "right" part of the page -- and develop metrics for actual "time spent" engagement. To do that, we must rethink what "viewability" means, why it matters, and how to both deliver and measure it.

To improve planning, enhance performance and optimize spend, the most effective marketing organizations inject data and analytics into every phase of their marketing process. Here are six essential practices that best-in-class marketing organizations employ to become more data-driven -- and, in turn, make better, more profitable decisions.

The increasing complexity in marketing today, driven by shifts in media consumption and the explosion of marketing data, has profoundly impacted the marketing mix and the challenges faced by marketers. As advanced analytics capabilities have emerged as an enabler of success, we are now seeing new paradigms in how marketing campaigns are measured and investment decisions are made. So how is marketing measurement going to shift in the upcoming year in terms of technology adoption, usage and data, and what do these changes mean for marketers? Let's take a closer look.

It is a paradox that measurement, a discipline so predicated on objectivity, can sometimes be so subjective. Measurement has long been a subject of debate, not so much for how it should be conducted, but because of what it truly means.The basic debate surrounding "the measurement problem" -- a term that arose among the great physicists of the early 20th century -- is the question of whether measurement is a "mirror" reflecting an independent existing external reality. Or is it a "veil of perception," shaped by the prejudices of the viewer?

I recently returned from my first Disney Cruise with my family, and, just as advertised, it truly was a "magical" experience. One of the things that made it so was the "Key to the World" card I received upon checking in. That ubiquitous card served as both my room key and charge card during the cruise. But not only did it work for charges on the ship -- from offshore excursions to beverage, spa and laundry services -- but it also enabled everyone in my party to be identified by the cruise ship's staff. Imagine my nephew's surprise and delight …

In all the talk of managing big data, one rarely hears about the skills needed to determine the quality of data necessary for the decision-making at hand, necessary to interpret what the data really mean and integrate findings into the larger business strategy and purpose. Integrating findings refers to using media and marketing research and data to enrich strategy. It also means using the tools wisely enough to find the new business possibilities that emerge from the findings. I ask that you consider the art of the science: a higher level of thinking.

There are a couple old sayings used by carpenters: 1) "A carpenter is only as good as his tools." 2)"Measure twice, cut once." And just as these two concepts result in trouble-free and higher quality carpentry, the same can be said for taking the appropriate steps before starting a marketing attribution initiative within your company. The following is an inventory of the proper "tools" to assemble, and "measurements" to double-check.

As readers of this blog know, at the end of this year the industry will begin transitioning from a served to a viewable impression standard. This may not happen tomorrow, or in October -- but it will happen sooner than you think. Advertisers will finally stop paying for ads that have no chance of being seen by the consumers -- that is, those ads that are below the fold or that are skipped too quickly. This is a true paradigm shift for an industry that since its early days has relied on direct marketing metrics for optimization, trading impressions as …

If your day job involves creating, defending or presenting a media plan featuring seven or eight digits in the bottom right cell, chances are you truly believe in branding. And you live in a strange, strange world. Direct-response campaigns bring in new customers, move the inventory and are held accountable to hard business KPIs. Branding is about creating awareness, perceptions and attitudes. Direct response results are evident from campaign data itself. However, figuring out the impact of a multimillion-dollar branding campaign can require custom research done by a bunch of Ph.Ds. If this was YOUR money, where would you rather …