When measuring the effectiveness of media channels, one size does not fit all

Discusses why brands should tease apart media efficiency from media effectiveness, taking into account that different channels can have vastly different capabilities.

This article is part of the March 2023 Spotlight US series, " It's time to talk about marketing effectiveness” Read more

“Half my advertising spend is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.” This quote is regularly attributed to US retail magnate John Wanamaker when the topic of media effectiveness is discussed. What’s even more interesting is, according to historians, Wanamaker, who opened his first department store in 1876, guaranteed the quality of his merchandise in print, allowed his customers to return purchases for a cash refund and invented the price tag. He...

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands