As a result there is a desire to measure what actually happened rather than what was predicted and in as near to real time as is possible. The Internet is leading the way in this regard, but one must be conscious about the process and the tools that are applied. This means that we must all get smarter about processes like sale funnel analyses and back end brand rather than just DR tracking.

The difference that stewardship plays in the Interactive buy is significant. Through watching the buy via a third party ad server and making appropriate changes, optimization can result in up ticks that are hundreds of percentage points in difference for a DR client. The effect of optimization produces greater leverage than online planning and buying together. From a branding perspective, research from companies like Dynamic Logic and Millward Brown Intelliquest can make a large difference too. What percentage can you put on fine tuning your strategy or even determining if it is on target?

The process of tracking was outlined in a previous article in this series. The most efficient way today to do this is through use of a third party ad server (3PAS) like DoubleClick, Atlas, BlueStreak, Poindexter or others. These services generally provide you with an ability to traffic your Web ads through their interface, follow the serving of your advertising from an impression, click/post click or adview/post impression visit to your site and actions on the site itself.

From a DR standpoint, it is important to understand what you want to measure before launching the campaign. Just remember this, if you can dedicate a page to it on a Web site, (like a purchase confirmation, registration confirmation, download, visit to a specific area of the site, etc.) it can be tracked. You can do this tracking through the 3PAS of your choice in real time or near real time.

And, no matter what your goal; you have the ability to change out creative fairly rapidly, depending on the complexity and standards of the rich media involved. But, in order to have true optimization, you need to be able to not only change out creative, but to modify inventory with the cooperation of the sites, not unlike the manner in which DR television is handled. More on creative aspects in the next article, number 6.

Be prepared to optimize the campaign regularly. If the campaign is DR, use the third party ad server to optimize against the campaign's CPW (cost-per-whatever the client is trying to measure). As stated above, this optimization should include both creative and site optimization. There are a number of 3PAS and other tools available today for recommendations on creative optimizations. (We do not recommend automating this process, but do recommend that it be done with a "human in the loop". We're interested in comments from others on this.) There is a need for site optimization activity too. This might be more correctly called customer optimization, as products in release from by Poindexter and in test from other companies involves evaluating the visitor based on known data points and electing whether to serve the ad or to send the request back to the site for another ad to be served.

If you are running a branding effort, be prepared to use whatever tools are available to track the delivery of your campaign from a reach and frequency standpoint and optimize on that basis. I recognize that there is no complete bundle of reach and frequency tracking optimization tools on the market today. But one can certainly track the relative delivery of reach vs. frequency for the campaign overall and by site through use of third party ad servers. This cannot yet be done in real time, but we reiterate that it should be an industry goal. More about this topic in our next article on reach and frequency in the next month or so on these pages.

Document your learnings so that both planners and buyers can benefit from what you've learned for a future campaign. This should be in the form of a formal post analysis. The post should include an extremely detailed spreadsheet about delivery, final costs, placements, creative elements and CPW. There should also be a write up of the findings and learnings from the post, as well as an outline of next steps to resolve any significant underdeliveries or other vagaries in the plan, if only as to how to prevent them in the future.

It is becoming more and more prevalent for major advertisers to monitor or audit the efforts of their media buyers for major media. Just as with traditional media, Interactive media will need to be audited. In this frame of reference, we are using the word monitoring for the internal agency work that goes on while a campaign is running, while audit refers to a third party check on behalf of the client to verify that the client got what they paid for (proof of performance). This means that documentation of the plan and buy at all levels will become increasingly important. Again, DR and branding campaigns will by necessity be dealt with differently due to their goals.

These comments remind us that one of the biggest stumbling blocks to making this process easier is the lack of an adequate housekeeping system (like Donavan) and associated EDI aspects with the sites that can accommodate changes to the data because of optimization and inventory management. If this business were the size of the spot TV industry, enough monies could readily be allocated to resolving these issues of data management efficiency.

For both DR and branding, key areas in an audit will include reviewing efficiencies from a post analysis standpoint across vendors, adherence of sites to guarantees, agency practices in properly crediting back monies for underspending, underdeliveries or credits that they negotiate, whether the right creative ran in rotation, etc.

One of the reasons that knowing agencies charge a higher percentage for Interactive and that knowing clients are willing to pay a higher percentage vs. other media like TV and print is the workload involved with stewardship and optimization. Monitoring is the overview process within the agency that verifies that proper stewardship processes are being followed. The attention to this area can pay out for all involved. The client can achieve higher awareness and sales. The agency can increase billing if they can show the efficacy of their efforts. It is a win-win situation and represents an arena that should be fully funded by all.

		David L. Smith is President and CEO of Mediasmith, Inc. David L. Smith is a nationally known expert in the areas of new media application, media strategy and media planning. A thirty-nine year veteran in the advertising media management arena, Smith has a major involvement in national committee work to establish and refine standards in metrics, business practices and financial issues for Interactive advertising with organizations such as the AAAAs, IAB, OPA and the ARF. He currently chairs the Online Media Council for the ARF. A University of Washington graduate, Smith is married with a twelve-year-old son; plays guitar; and is a gourmet Chinese cook. He is an active member of the Board of Directors for the San Francisco Boys Chorus. You'll find him at the office early most mornings unless he is traveling with his family.
	Karen T. McFee is Executive Vice President of Mediasmith, Inc. Karen T. McFee has twenty-five years of experience in advertising media management with Foote, Cone and Belding, Ketchum Advertising and Hawk Media. As Executive Vice President of Mediasmtih, Inc. Karen has become a recognized expert in optimizing the execution of media to secure the best of what's available for the client. Her account experience includes retail, food, business-to-business, apparel, travel, entertainment, media and technology with broad expertise across all media categories. Karen is a graduate of Northern Illinois University, is married with one child, and enjoys travel and photography in her free time.