ORLANDO, FL: Verizon, the telecoms giant, is seeking enhanced measurement solutions and third-party verification to help improve its understanding of marketing performance.
John Nitti, Chief Media Officer at Verizon, discussed this topic at the Association of National Advertisers' (ANA) 2017 Media Conference.
And he suggested that the need for greater "consistency" in the marketing ecosystem requires the advent of truly comparable metrics for brand custodians to use.
"I need to drive towards just having one ruler to measure [performance] across my campaigns and across my total communications program," he said. (For more details, read WARC's exclusive report: How Verizon's Chief Media Officer is driving change.)
Beyond this, he argued that marketing partners ought to be held accountable using more thoroughgoing mechanisms than is often the case at present.
"We need to drive towards no-more-special-snowflakes," he said. "A lot of the supply chain basically wants to self-report. But they don't get to write their own report – nobody does."
Elaborating on this theme, Nitti indicated that the work of Verizon's partners should ultimately be assessed by an expert, independent arbiter.
"We need to drive for third-party visibility on 100% of what we're spending," he said. "As the industry continues to see thousands and thousands of new partners, we need to focus on, and get more consistent with, what we're doing."
Alongside encouraging change in the wider marketing industry, Nitti asserted that brands must change their own practices, too, to obtain the desired outcomes.
"As marketers, we also need to put real skin in the game. You can't just say the words. You need to not just keep repeating what you're doing," he said.
In supporting this claim, he referenced a quote attributed to scientist Albert Einstein, who reportedly defined "insanity" as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".
That notion is especially pertinent for marketers hoping to achieve scientific precision in measurement. "You need to actually affect change yourself – and that includes how you're spending and who you're partnering with," Nitti said.
John Nitti, Chief Media Officer at Verizon, discussed this topic at the Association of National Advertisers' (ANA) 2017 Media Conference.
And he suggested that the need for greater "consistency" in the marketing ecosystem requires the advent of truly comparable metrics for brand custodians to use.
"I need to drive towards just having one ruler to measure [performance] across my campaigns and across my total communications program," he said. (For more details, read WARC's exclusive report: How Verizon's Chief Media Officer is driving change.)
Beyond this, he argued that marketing partners ought to be held accountable using more thoroughgoing mechanisms than is often the case at present.
"We need to drive towards no-more-special-snowflakes," he said. "A lot of the supply chain basically wants to self-report. But they don't get to write their own report – nobody does."
Elaborating on this theme, Nitti indicated that the work of Verizon's partners should ultimately be assessed by an expert, independent arbiter.
"We need to drive for third-party visibility on 100% of what we're spending," he said. "As the industry continues to see thousands and thousands of new partners, we need to focus on, and get more consistent with, what we're doing."
Alongside encouraging change in the wider marketing industry, Nitti asserted that brands must change their own practices, too, to obtain the desired outcomes.
"As marketers, we also need to put real skin in the game. You can't just say the words. You need to not just keep repeating what you're doing," he said.
In supporting this claim, he referenced a quote attributed to scientist Albert Einstein, who reportedly defined "insanity" as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".
That notion is especially pertinent for marketers hoping to achieve scientific precision in measurement. "You need to actually affect change yourself – and that includes how you're spending and who you're partnering with," Nitti said.
Data sourced from WARC
