This post was written by Chris Copeland, CEO, GroupM Search – The Americas, and published in MediaPost’s Search Insider, Friday, December 18, 2009

One of the unique opportunities of my role is that I spend a fair amount of time reflecting on how we have gotten to where we are at this point in time — and even more important, attempting to answer the question “What’s next?”

As I revisit this year and think ahead to 2010, I find myself fixated on the advertising catchphases of 2009. These phases give me clues on how to avoid slow, small steps in 2010, making it the year to be aggressive, take the reins and deliver on our terms as an industry — a year to release the hounds and wage war against what went wrong in 2009. I’ll start 2010 with a column looking at how we regain control; but for now, I want to delve into the abyss to make sure we don’t repeat this year’s shortcomings.

From the early disbelief of and dismissive attitude toward the depth of the economic situation at hand, to the drastic (and at times inexplicable) behavior to withdraw from the battlefield, 2009 was not a year to be proud of in marketing. As always, there were great ideas and campaigns put forward, but the overall tone was defined by discussions of the shape of the recovery and the immortal phrase “flat is the new up.” When break-even becomes an acceptable reality, you get what you deserve.

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The last year has seen enormous pressure on the advertising business as we know it. Beyond all the well-documented ills that have troubled the sector, an additional staple of the way media has been planned and bought is seeing its popularity come to a crashing halt. And that hallmark is the use of ‘perceptions’ and ‘panels’ to drive decisions.

In a digital age, guessing what people think about your business and validating it in test settings is an outdated concept. There was a time when the speed by which media was produced and disseminated would allow for the assurances that come with the model of targeting large swaths of the public through small segment tests. Unfortunately for some, and opportunistically for others, that time is ending.

In no better way does this show itself than the emergence in the past 10 years of Google, and in the past 12 months the emergence of Twitter. In today’s social and search marketplace, there is a unique opportunity to use intent for insights instead of perceptions and panels for planning. Allow me to demonstrate how any business can use these insights from search and social to redefine its approach to broader media application.

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This post was written by Chris Copeland, CEO, GroupM Search – The Americas, and published in MediaPost’s Search Insider, Friday, November 20, 2009

If you have a child in the 18 to 36-month-old range, you may recognize the catch phrase of the Wonder Pets in the title above. I happen to have a two year old who enjoys the adventures of Tuck, Ming-Ming and Linny. For those who have never seen the Wonder Pets, they are three animals – a hamster, turtle and chick – who enjoy celery, and each episode set out to save a poor, innocent animal using their can-do attitudes and, yep, teamwork.

So what do these Nickelodeon creations have to do with search? Well, since I never attended kindergarten and therefore missed all those things you need to know, I prefer to use my kids’ TV viewing as a means for learning the lessons of life. The Wonder Pets, in their “team together” philosophy, exemplify the greatest area of growth still needed in the search space.

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A newly released study reports that 84% of social marketers are not measuring ROI from the channel. In reading this, my first reaction is what’s wrong with the other 16% of marketers? Social media is a truly up-the-funnel engagement. Social platforms have been constructed to facilitate engagement between people, not advertisers and consumers. Just as the obsession over attribution models threatens to bog down the overall effectiveness of media channels, so too does this thinking in the social space. Most marketers are still struggling simply to get into the space in a non-intrusive and relevant manner that fits the medium and the audience. And those already a part of the social conversation need to focus on measuring the channel’s impact for what it is.

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Imagine you are the marketing director of a large, respectable corporation. You’ve approved advertising on a few prominent billboards around the city. Then, while taking a restroom break at a shoddy gas station along the highway, you notice the ad you approved for billboards is now gracing the top of a urinal cake. Seems ridiculous, right? Unfortunately (and unbeknownst to many), a similar situation is playing out millions of times each day in search marketing.

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