Why am I called a Contrarian?

I really can not understand why people who focus on R.O.I. or Sales when it comes to advertising are considered Contrarian? Advertising is supposed to be about sales. Yes its great when creatives can do fun things and make selling fun or make your product or brand fun. But the reality is the CFO makes the rules. If the CMO can't show ROI the CFO is going to reallocate resources where the ROI is superior. This could be anything from R&D to Direct Sales. Or there can be a reallocation within Marketing.

I see often more buzz about advertising within Advertising Circles than outside of Advertising. My Finance background breaks down things to numbers very quick. I have written about this before. Creatives and Marketers hate that. But Finance is about maximizing returns (for good and bad). Owners and Shareholders demand this. I myself do not have tunnel vision. I feel businesses should take care of employees, their clients, and their communities before the stakeholders. But it is rare to find a Company that does that.

Now to be fair when I do bring up Sales, I am not slamming Creatives. I am an artist myself. I have many art and music friends, more than that are in the corporate world. So I know how hard it is to create and make great stuff. And your hamstrung in Advertising by the Product, your Client, the Media Buy etc. You can create a great TV spot that get's shown 3 times. Not the Creative's fault if no sales are generated from that. Or the spots could be shown to the wrong demographic. Or as I have written say the product sucks?! Advertising get's people to try something and if the client doesn't help with a great product its not the Agency's fault.

But if the Advertising Industry thinks being about R.O.I. and Sales is Contrarian then they are smugly and vainly telling clients they are happy to waste their money. And shame on the clients for allowing this. And yes when I pitch clients I do tell them bluntly 'If I can save you $10 million by cutting your media buy without reducing sales, will you give me $1 million of that'.

What is success in Marketing?

I often come across as negative if I don't agree on something with the rest of the 'world'. Sometimes I belittle achievements incorrectly because I compare them to my own views, goals, experiences for myself, my company, or my clients.
Often we all get caught up in the Mega-Big, the Mega-Huge.

For example Avatar. Do you think going forward a movie must gross $500 million to be gauged a success now? That is ridiculous. On a more reality view if a business only reaches 100,000 people (0.033% of the US) and gets just 1,000 to pay $1,000 per year that is a Million Dollars. Do you make that kind of money?

The view of success is very subjective. I think before creating a Marketing Plan one must figure out the Goal of the plan first. And I truly do not think Impressions, Feel Good, Branding etc are Goals. Goals are Sales based on your Marketing Budget and resources (person hours). From there you can use the other ancillary activities to reach those goals. We often work forward instead of backwards. But backwards is easier. What does it take to meet the end goal?

And this who am I to judge if something is successful. In Mobile Marketing I often see PR articles about campaigns with results that seem awfully pitiful. But what if the end result is considered great by the business paying for the campaign? Shame on the Journalist for not contextualizing everything properly like a Sales Person would in a write up.

And while I might comment on a new technology or media channel as not having value, everything does have Value, it just has to be measured properly so the Brand can pay for that Value and not overpay.