:: adgruntie :: Research and ad agencies

+ Reasearch is ad agencies' new friend. An interesting bit:

For years, advertising research was perceived on Madison Avenue as a staid, even quaint, field with little practical relevance. Now, as clients increasingly hold agencies accountable for effective ads, the researchers are being eagerly sought out.

In response, the research industry is intensifying its efforts and looking at issues like trying to determine the return on investment for advertising spending, improving the measurement of audiences in media like television and the Internet, helping agencies identify the most efficient media outlets and increasing the role that market research plays in reaching consumers.

And another bit here:

That sentiment is endorsed by J. Walker Smith, president of Yankelovich Partners, a market research company.
"When marketers wrestle with their media budgets, trying to decide whether to use traditional media like TV or take some of those dollars and put them into new media like the Internet, the debate is pushing us in the wrong direction," Smith said in an interview last week.

"The real issue in re-engaging consumers is good marketing practices versus bad marketing practices. We have to change the way we practice, regardless of the media."

Very good point here. Rushing off to new media just because it seems the way that traditional models are breaking down isn't the best solution to the problem at hand. Especially when the problem has more fundamental and complex issues than media use.