New IAB Research Confirms Digital?s Place in Optimal Marketing Mix

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--To help marketers make better decisions on investing advertising dollars, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today released the ?Interactive Advertising and the Optimal Marketing Mix? study developed by MarketShare Partners, the leading cross-marketing optimization company. The ground-breaking study analyzed three brand scenarios in three different verticals?consumer packaged goods, financial services and automotive. Each example illustrates a distinct opportunity for optimizing marketing spend, specifically in the area of interactive media. Key findings include:

?In today's economic environment, CMOs want a better measure of the return on their marketing investment and that requires more accountability than ever before?

• Because of the reach and power of interactive advertising?as well as its synergies with offline media?in the three scenarios examined in this paper, the optimal allocation of interactive media spend should be between 1.6x and 2.2x the percentage of the budget originally allocated to interactive
• A relatively small reallocation of media spend can have a significant impact on marketers? revenue. For example, one media optimization scenario examined in this study demonstrated a 6% increase in revenue?even after a 13% decrease in total marketing spend?when dollars were shifted to interactive.

?Optimizing marketing and media budget allocation is an increasingly difficult challenge for marketers as the media landscape evolves and the consumption of interactive media continues to grow,? said Joe Laszlo, Research Director, IAB. ?Marketers who simply trust their instincts or follow the same media plan?campaign after campaign?risk missing opportunities to measurably improve their results. This paper clearly demonstrates the value of adding more science to the art of marketing.?

?In today's economic environment, CMOs want a better measure of the return on their marketing investment and that requires more accountability than ever before," said Iván Markman, Chief Operating and Financial Officer, MarketShare Partners. "Our analytics platform provides predictive insight into how to best incorporate interactive into the marketing mix. This paper demonstrates how marketers can best optimize their total marketing investment for superior results."

The study uses an application marketers themselves can leverage to make more informed marketing mix decisions.

To download ?Interactive Advertising and the Optimal Marketing Mix? please go to http://www.iab.net/MarketingMix

The IAB will hold a webinar with MarketShare Partners to discuss the findings of this report on Thursday, August 5 at Noon ET. Registration information is available at: http://www.iab.net/interactive_insights_webinars

About the IAB?s Research Council

The Research Council provides a forum for interactive research practitioners to share findings that support the growth of the industry; it encourages strong methodologies and best practices for research and measurement, and it works with the IAB to design and field important industry research projects and share these findings with key stakeholders.

A complete list of Research Council member companies can be found at http://www.iab.net/member_center/councils_committees_working_groups/councils/research_council

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 460 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive?s share of total marketing spend, and of its members? share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

About MarketShare Partners

MarketShare Partners (MSP) is the industry?s leading cross-marketing optimization firm that is transforming the world of resource allocation and marketing measurement. Founded in 2005, MSP has helped companies of all sizes enhance their advertising and sales programs, including many of the world?s most recognizable brands. The company has developed a suite of proprietary software solutions that enables companies to determine how best to target the 21st Century consumer who, in this era of fragmentation, social media, search and DVRs, is harder to reach. By evaluating key drivers of a company?s business, such as macro-economic factors, product innovation, industry and client-specific data as well as brand buzz, MSP helps marketers and agencies make smarter decisions regarding where to most effectively spend their marketing, sales and promotional dollars as well as media owners make more consultative, higher value add integrated sales. For more information, go to www.marketsharepartners.com.