Millward Brown announces the Best Liked Ads from Q4 2013

I get the whole ROI thing for clients, I get that... But my gripe is with companies like Millward Brown who are trying to turn advertising into a science... Is it a science? Advertising for me is like betting on the horses. Make sure you have done your homework on your creative agency and the market you are talking to and you will get results. MB for me, exist purely because of lazy advertisers who need some sort of fact to back their internal arguments. i.e. "MB says that you need to put the logo in the first 3 seconds of the commercial to get maximum impact, blah! blah! blah! I can honestly say that if asked clients to bring their favourite TVC to an "I love advertising night" not one of them would bring one of these TVC's. MB, there is a place for you, but you are killing this industry, because you are playing to ever client's fears... ROI. Shame on you.

The average consumer would disagree with you – these are the ads that they would bring to an ‘I love advertising night’, but you are right – advertising is not a science, and here at Millward Brown, we don’t proclaim it to be. We do, however, know what makes great cut through advertising, and in an ever-changing and complex media environment you need to ensure that your advertising has the best potential to cut through. We also agree with you about branding – sticking it in somewhere and hoping that is enough, never works. Branding (not just a logo) only works when it is creatively integrated into the most meaningful part of the ad (which is very rarely in the first 3 seconds). We have thousands of case studies that prove the success of this, and many of the adverts we have tested and helped optimise have gone on to win creative awards – we are in fact big advocates of great creative copy. You also mention that spending clients valuable marketing budgets is like betting on the horses… The studies we run at Millward Brown ensure that clients don’t have to feel like they are gambling with their marketing budgets, and we do believe that the whole point of advertising is to create ROI – why else advertise and market your product if it doesn’t lead to bottom line growth (be that in the short or long term)? Very few companies can say with confidence that they can accurately measure advertising ROI (perhaps that’s what’s killing the creative industry). We think we can – give us a call to find out how.

Mark Stoner

Hmm, it would appear that I touched a nerve. I get what you are saying, but what you are attempting to do is offer a promise of almost a certain guarantee on investment, which is not true. Like I said, your facts cannot replace human relevance. Case in point, Stars Wars according to research and focus groups was going to be a flop, but we all know what happened there? Also, when you put a piece of communication down in front of an analytical viewer, because you have asked him to will deliver a different result to when you ask them to just view. Like I said, you have a purpose, but you are basically gross generalising based on what your research shows. There are no certainties, because we are all so different and this is what the new digital landscape is teaching us. Quote from Einstein, "if understanding the human mind was simple, you would be easy to understand". And no one, not even you MB can do that and your clients are suckers to believe you if you promise that. Please could you research fat people and marriage? Let me know what your research tells you? :-)