Yes, that is what I mean. It can be measured in that way if the product being advertised is something that's meant to be bought right now, online. But many products don't really work like that.
For example, we did multiple campaigns for major sports teams. How are they supposed to measure the impact on sales of tickets and memorabilia? The idea isn't to generate sales of product X right now, it's to energize and grow your team's fan base, which will hopefully lead to more people buying more things over time.
Another example: we did many campaigns for food and beverage brands. People don't tend to order those things right now, online. You're just trying to grow your brand in hopes that more people will buy that snack or drink the next time they're at the store.
So I amend my previous statement to agree with you that semi-precise metrics are possible if you're trying to get someone to buy a specific product online right now. That description covers a lot of companies, and they probably have good metrics.
But a big consumer-goods company like P&G probably isn't doing that kind of marketing. They're trying to get you to think of brand X the next time you're getting groceries. That makes impact of ads devilishly hard to measure, regardless of whether the ads are online or on TV.
For example, we did multiple campaigns for major sports teams. How are they supposed to measure the impact on sales of tickets and memorabilia? The idea isn't to generate sales of product X right now, it's to energize and grow your team's fan base, which will hopefully lead to more people buying more things over time.
Another example: we did many campaigns for food and beverage brands. People don't tend to order those things right now, online. You're just trying to grow your brand in hopes that more people will buy that snack or drink the next time they're at the store.
So I amend my previous statement to agree with you that semi-precise metrics are possible if you're trying to get someone to buy a specific product online right now. That description covers a lot of companies, and they probably have good metrics.
But a big consumer-goods company like P&G probably isn't doing that kind of marketing. They're trying to get you to think of brand X the next time you're getting groceries. That makes impact of ads devilishly hard to measure, regardless of whether the ads are online or on TV.