The adtech renaissance is undeniable - the levels of efficiency enabled by programmatic marketing, machine learning and other technologies are helping adtech flourish, just as art and culture re-emerged again in the European renaissance. However, there are many layers of complexity beneath the issues we face in digital marketing today that mean a technological revolution will not be enough on its own. As we enjoy the renaissance of adtech, we must also embrace an “Enlightenment” of digital marketing at the same moment.
The Enlightenment in Europe was also known as the “Age of Reason,” a period when thinkers questioned authority and embraced the idea that humanity could be improved through rational change. The period produced some of the most powerful books, philosophies, laws and revolutions in history, driven by ideals like Immanuel Kant’s mottos, “Dare to know!”
For too long, marketers have relied on faith-based digital marketing. Through a series of rituals and smokescreens, they released their budgets into a murky black hole, with little understanding of how their data was being manipulated along the way. In exchange for promises of efficiency, they were entrusting their marketing pipeline to a limited number of technologists who understood how to access data. Like priests in the pre-enlightenment era, these technology experts met little to no pushback from marketers who paid little attention to the process.
Just recently we’ve arrived at a tipping point where marketers aren’t blindly trusting measurement reports and methods and are increasingly pushing back . Marketers today are no longer willing to just accept what they are told - hard-line stances on transparency this year from companies like Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and more are indicators that good marketing leaders won’t take view powerpoint decks as proof enough for successful campaigns - they want to "dare to know" and analyze data for themselves.
This curiosity and dedication to accurately understanding data is the most critical role marketing executives will take in the years ahead. As brand CMOs and others start seeing the light, they are bringing more rational questions and discussions to root out superstitious habits of the marketing industry. They are questioning whether impression counts have a meaningful impact on campaigns, they are understanding the prevalence of fraud and constantly seeking to minimize it, and they are regularly re-assessing whether metrics they turn to most like viewability are the right cure for their challenges. Those who ask these questions and challenge assumptions will be shedding light on a complicated system and their demands will bring democratized access to knowledge and information.
The rightful heirs of the marketing industry will be those who complete this enlightened transition from manipulatable measurement to meaningful measurement. By questioning their existing beliefs and regularly re-evaluating their data, they won’t need to be dependent on forces beyond their control.
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