60 Second Soapbox – Craig Johnson

?The product I’m excited about at the moment is…
Return Path Data (RPD), especially when combined with currency data to create robust sample sizes for smaller channels. The ability to use this data to make individual estimates will reduce the cost of providing large sample sizes due to not having to install additional equipment in the household. This will give us the ability to measure small channels and lesser viewed day parts with much greater precision.

A client I’d like to get my hands on is…
Any big brand owner – Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, Coke, McDonald’s. More brand owners ought to be involved in television audience measurement technically and financially; after all it’s their money and I feel that they are often out of reach. Brand owner involvement would help drive more consumer-centric demographic target groups thus providing better, more actionable results.

An idea I wish I’d had is…
SMS marketing data collection and validation. More research dollars from the telecommunications companies would be great. The growth in SMS marketing has been phenomenal yet without much science applied to the measurement. The ability to track the SMS from sender to purchase would greatly help with the targeting of the message.

A campaign that grabbed me recently is…
The 3G launch in Turkey. All three telcos launched on the same day and the breadth and depth of the creative campaign grabbed me – 16,000 TVCs over two months.
Every billboard and banner in Istanbul had a 3G advert on it. Consumers were in no doubt of 3G’s arrival.

A campaign that needed more research is…
Turkey’s 3G launch campaign in August. The amount of wastage must have been incredible. Telcos completely underestimated the subsequent demand for 3G and
were unable to deliver product. A month after launch more video is watched via 3G in two days in Turkey than the whole of last year in the UK. The question is, ‘What are they watching?’

In five years time we’ll all be talking about…
Why brand owners have still not shared their sales figures.

One thing this industry could use more of is…
Commercially minded technical people. Too often technical people get bogged down in the minutiae at the detriment of commercial aspects. Time spent chasing
that 0.1% could be used more effectively delivering better value and insights. All the research we do is helping someone sell a product. High-level theory sometimes gets in the way of this process. There should be science behind what we do but the overriding principle should be how we can provide data that will best help our customers sell products.

One thing this industry could use less of is…
Talk about single source and more action. There has not been a major conference in the last couple of years where single source data has not been discussed but we’re still looking for a viable solutions. The answer is out there if we could only all work together to find it.

And the one thing never to forget is…
Just because you built it, they do not always come. Get the clients on board before you are over-committed.