A quiet, but rapidly advancing, revolution is going on in marketing, advertising, and media today. It is unstoppable, driven by people’s ability to engage with multiple points of media content now – right at their fingertips. Enabled and enhanced by new technologies and devices, this ‘constant content contact’ permeates all media and creates an increasing variety and abundance of behavioral and experiential data streams that marketers and advertisers are just starting to grapple with and understand.
Branded Engagement is the desired consequence or result that an advertiser or marketer is seeking. Simply put, it is a measureable construct based on a viewer/consumer’s interaction and experience with a brand in content, and their organic discussions about it.
The form of the content has expanded to include TV, film, on the web, or on the mobile phone – exactly where people are exposed to brands and advertising every day. Because its very nature encourages greater propensity to build brand bonds, relationships, and communications, Branded Engagement occupies a unique position as an indicator and driver of effectiveness that marketers need to harness now.
Branded Engagement is unique because it is precisely about the content and it is ‘naturally engaging’. In other words, Branded Engagement is generated by the content that people choose to attend to whenever and wherever they experience entertainment. We know from even cursory studies of psychology, sociology, or anthropology that myths, stories, and story forms communicate an extremely potent message. By authentically and organically associating brands in content–stories–that people seek, watch, and listen to, we can expect that Branded Engagement occurs.
The Branded Engagement Imperative has arrived due in part to the advent of Big Data – vast arrays of behavioral data now available from set-top boxes, the internet, retail scanners, large scale online consumer panels, and mobile devices. We possess, for the first time, the opportunity to use detailed data to derive insights, intelligence, and more scientifically based measurement. And, to go beyond the traditional media currency measures we deal with today. In fact, the marriage of both the ‘tried and true’ with the new approaches actually means that improvements will probably be stronger than we ever expected.
Much has been written about the need for CMO’s to be savvy about ‘analytics’. And in the not-too-distant future, marketing will be using and housing more data than IT. Today’s abundance of data helps companies understand each customer in multiple dimensions. This leads to insights which, when combined, build a clearer understanding of each customer. With that, marketers can make better decisions about the mix that will serve customers more completely.
A requirement for the Chief Analytics Officer (CAO) of today then becomes building a multifaceted team that includes business strategists and storytellers, advanced mathematical scientists, engineering, software and database professionals, and subject matter experts who are continually evolving their analytical skills. It is naïve to think this all resides in one person; however, the CAO must be at the very least conversant in all of the dimensions, and expert in at least one of them. In that way, the role has flexible parameters, and success can be garnered in multiple scenarios.
By Dr. Raymond Petit
Dr. Raymond Petit is the Chief Analytics Officer at Rentrak. Through new analytics and applications and the infusion of research, forensic intelligence and advanced analytics, Dr. Raymond Pettit has contributed to the strategic direction of Rentrak Inc. A leader in TV and film audience measurement, Pettit honed his expertise as SVP of research and standards at the Advertising Research Foundation and is known as an industry thought leader.
