Years ago while doing my MBA, our marketing lecturer (the term Galloping Midget sticks in my mind but yields nothing on Google) related the saying – “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half” in the context that, if someone could come up with a way to identify which half was wasted, they would make millions.
Well, Heather Hopkins has an interesting post on motor insurance searching and advertising spend. That must be getting close to pointing to a target if not hitting it yet.
Me, I just dumbly read some news and blogs and occasionally try to find a product I want – that is the serene swan of the Internet for me. But underneath, Heather and others are paddling furiously to make sense out the massive commercial impact and potential of the web.
Or maybe it’s really a crocodile wearing a stuffed swan on it’s head to lure unsuspecting prey like me – time to lie down in a darkened room for a moment.
Forward, positively.. 
True, there are days when I feel that I am paddling furiously. However, I do hope I look like the ducks I remember from the lake – calm above the surface, paddling furiously beneath.
We are pretty excited about this new method we are pioneering for measuring the impact of ad spend using online usage data. It makes ad spend and branding efforts much more measurable.
Thanks for picking up on the post.
Cheeers, Heather
Comment by Heather Hopkins — October 6, 2006 @ 8:55 am
I’m with you in that serene swan dumbly reading blogs business. For me, the most convincing advertising campaign is positive word of mouth.
Comment by Bonnie — October 7, 2006 @ 5:12 pm