No single attribution model will win out, says Hyland founder
The founder of media agency Hyland has argued no single online attribution model will become the default choice for brands.
Virginia Hyland added businesses should instead put more emphasis on testing the effectiveness of different channels to get the best results from their campaigns.
She was speaking during the second episode of Mumbrella and Exponential’s Point of Connection podcast series, which goes live today and is hosted by Mumbrella regular and ex-Clemenger strategist Al Crawford. To listen, press play on the Soundcloud link above or subscribe via iTunes.
Other panellists include the ADMA’s Nima Yassini and Exponential’s global sales strategy director Tyler Greer.
Virginia said: “No one attribution model works or every client. Like mad scientists, we’ve now had to reinvent and reengineer our businesses to support different clients in different ways because they need different types of models.
“As the world gets more complicated, we have to look at businesses and decide which measurement model is going to support which business best.
“There’s just no one clear direction anymore – which makes us more valuable to clients than ever.
“I think test and learn is the only way forward for a lot of clients and that means carving up a little percentage of the budget.
“No one channel is the best for very long and you can see that in what’s happening with Facebook and Google right now and the challenges they’re having.”
Tyler Greer agreed that new forms of digital media require different approaches, and argued that the audience needs to be given more control to engage with the content.
“This will also compel brands to create more compelling, appetizing materials to draw people in the first place.
“If somebody is interested they will consume that information. Then we start to have attribution models that are based on the fact that somebody actively wanted to consume this information, take part of this brand story and experience it.
“Until we understand what digital really is and how to properly work with it, we’re still going to run into these problems because all we’re chasing is greater eyeballs and greater range.
“We’re losing focus on the customer at the expense of trying to find the right attribution models.”
The ADMA’s Nima Yassini, who is also the CEO of experience optimisation agency New Republique, added that companies are fearful of trying new things.
“There’s a lack of an experimentation culture within organisations,” he said. “Companies are fearful of testing and I don’t think they’re built for failure. The last thing they want to say is ‘I’ve tried 10 things but I failed on eight.’ They see that as bad thing, not a good thing.”