Microsoft and Engagement Mapping

Regardless of the outcome of the Yahoo! takeover, it seems Microsoft is going on the offensive in online advertising

“The ‘last ad clicked’ is an outdated and flawed approach because it essentially ignores all prior interactions the consumer has with a marketer’s message,” said Brian McAndrews, senior vice president of the Advertiser & Publisher Solutions (APS) Division at Microsoft. “Our Engagement Mapping approach conveys how each ad exposure — whether display, rich media or search, seen multiple times on multiple sites and across many channels — influenced an eventual purchase. We believe it represents a quantum leap for advertisers and publishers who are seeking to maximize their online spends.”

This is a smart move. What is it all about?

Sales do not often happen as a consequence of the very last ad we see. As consumers we know it is a rare thing indeed. In fact a customer will often have had to be exposed to marketing repeatedly over a period of time before making up their mind.

Current advertising campaign and return on investment tracking tools give all the credit for a purchase to the last ad. This gives the last ad a false image of performance. We say this ad received X% conversion rate, without considering the marketing that lead up to the sale.

What Microsoft are aiming to do is provide a picture of the whole story, where and what the customer saw that lead them to buy. This could well shake up the advertising market.

Of course it will have an even more profound effect if they could add the Yahoo! market share to the mix.

Is this going to be a winner for Microsoft or are they forever doomed to be a niche player? Please share your thoughts in the comments …

Posted on February 26, 2008 by Chris Garrett 
Filed Under Microsoft

Comments

One Response to “Microsoft and Engagement Mapping”

  1. Benjamin on March 2nd, 2008 1:15 am

    It is a bold claim by the MS folks. I’d be interested in how many times people see any particular on-line ad. I can’t think of many that I’ve see more than once, which invalidates the approach a little. We still have traditional print ads in the mix, and now social media too.

    If someone can universally measure this lot, they’ll make a fortune. There again, they’ll deserve to!

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