An Impression is Worth a Thousand Clicks

When was the last time you clicked on a Coca-Cola TV commercial? Yes, that’s a trick question, because you can’t click on a TV commercial. So why is it that CPC (Cost-Per-Click) advertising is getting all the respect online?

For years we at Pixelcarve have been fighting the perception that click-based advertising online is the only worthwhile investment, as that whole concept flies in the face of years and years of proven marketing methodologies. The argument goes that CPC gives you solid metrics and therefore you can track every dollar spent for every dollar made. Well, putting aside the fact that metrics are by their very nature flawed, and often provide grotesquely inaccurate information, this argument ignores the fact that TV, radio and print advertisement has been very successful without any form of direct audience interaction. Consumers are affected by the messages that they see and read, not just by the ones they seek out.

Finally, the obsession with clicks is starting to evaporate, as heavyweights in the ad industry like Gian Fulgoni of comScore Inc. begin to address the major flaws in this system, and are able to demonstrate how important display-based ads actually are.