CHAPTER 10
Integration across Online and Offline Channels
“We have proven that digital media can work harder when it’s used with other media. [That’s why] we sit together at the table to ensure that we are integrated from the very start of the media plan.”
—Doug Chavez, senior manager, digital and integrated marketing, Del Monte Foods, in an interview with eMarketer, August 28, 2009
Most marketers know intuitively that digital channels work best when they’re integrated with other, traditional media. Just think of the consumer—the person you’re trying to engage and establish a relationship with. Today’s consumer moves seamlessly between offline and online media channels, often dividing their attention between two or more at the same time. But unless you, as a marketer, can keep up, following and measuring the activity and points of impact along the consumer’s engagement path, you will not be able to spend your media dollars wisely. But we don’t need to tell you that.
Optimizing spending across multiple media and measuring the resultant effects were hard enough when there were only three television networks and the Internet did not exist. But now with hundreds of television channel choices and millions of websites to choose from, integration and measurement across media is mind-bogglingly complicated.
In this chapter, we will address the multimedia integration and measurement questions facing companies of all sizes and across industries:
1. What channels should I select to reach ...
