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The transformation of the advertising industry. Shifting to digital: difﬁculties,

challenges and opportunities. A qualitative interview study of practitioners'
experiences in the...
Article in Advertising & Society Review · January 2014
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Browse > Social Sciences > Business and Society > Advertising & Society Review > Volume 15, Issue 3, 2014
Shifting to Digital: Advertising &

Society
Difficulties, Challenges, and Opportunities—A Qualitative
Review
Interview Study of Practitioners’ Experiences in the U.S. Volume 15, Issue 3,
2014
Meritxell Roca (bio)
Research Areas
ABSTRACT
Social Sciences >
Consumers’ attention is more divided than ever, and the value of that attention has reached unprecedented Business and Society
levels. The Internet has changed the way we communicate, the way we amuse, and the way we live. And, as a
consequence, both the entertainment industry and the advertising industry are being forced to redefine their
Recommend
relationship and their bonds with audiences. This has put severe pressure on how they operate as they try to
adapt to a new scenario mainly characterized by unpredictability. Using data from 13 semi-structured in-depth Email a link to this page
Send
interviews, this paper explores the transformation of the advertising industry in the “digital age” by means of
examining practitioners’ narratives related to business models, relationship with consumers, metrics and
analytics, organizational structure, and the integration of digital and traditional strategies.
INTRODUCTION
Frequently
Despite the global economic crisis, worldwide ad spending rose by 3.3 percent in 2012. Downloaded
Television’s hegemony persists, and it still represents the biggest portion of the
advertising pie, but digital advertising is experiencing a sustained growth. In the U.S., View Citation
online advertising spending was expected to grow 23 percent in 2012i as a clear response Save Citation
to the increasing amount of time that Internet users spend surfing and the fact that new
tools are being developed to make the Internet a more measurable medium. Related Content
The purpose of this paper is to examine, from a practitioner’s point of view, the key
factors that are at the core of a deep transformation in the advertising industry.
Technology has transformed the global media environment from one organized around
passive media consumption to a far more complex environment in which consumers
have control over where, when, and how they interact with media. Mobile, multitasking,
and on-demand are three concepts that well characterize the profile of today’s consumer.
Just one piece of evidence to illustrate this change: in September 2010, only 4 percent of
American adults owned tablets; in August 2012, approximately 25 percent had at least
one at home.ii Tablets enable the three features mentioned above in just one device:
mobile, multitasking, and on-demand content consumption. So the fact that in just two
years, the number of tablet users has increased by 525 percent is indicative not only of a
sociological trend but also of a growing concern for many entrepreneurs and businesses. Roundtable on Values
In 2012, an estimated 41 percent of tablet owners and 38 percent of smartphone owners in Advertising
used their device daily while watching television.iii
Not long ago, Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) rushed into our lives. They were the
first step towards gaining more control over entertainment options. Whether consumers
have become immune to online advertising or they just don’t realize that big brands are
the ones that pay for content, fast forwarding, skipping and avoiding pop-ups and
pre-roll commercials are one of consumers’ main preoccupations when it comes to
entertaining. Despite that scenario, Internet advertising continues to grow worldwide and
particularly in the U.S. In 2011, it hit $84.8 billion, representing a 16 percent increase
over the previous year and accounting for more than 17 percent of all global measured
advertising expenditures.iv North America led the pack in terms of overall digital ad
spending with an estimated $34.5 billion (U.S.), followed by Asia-Pacific ($24.8 billion
U.S.) and Western Europe ($21 billion U.S.). While audiences are shifting from Interview with Michael
traditional media, such as TV and newspapers, to the Internet, advertising revenues are Wilke
Jump forced to split into different segments of a media industry that is increasingly diversified
1 of 13 6/19/17, 4:10 PM
in its platforms for content distribution. But advertising is still the main and most
prominent financial basis of the media industry, so, inevitably, the restructuring of the
advertising industry will also have a major impact on the media landscape.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This paper adopts a qualitative approach based on interviews. We understand advertising

as a form of cultural communication, so we gathered insights from a group of 13 New
York-based advertising practitioners in order to provide an academic understanding of
the transformation of the advertising industry in the digital age (see acknowledgements
section for a detailed list of interviewees and their positions). One interviewee lives in
Chicago. “A Female in a Man’s
World”: New-Media
Using a standard interview guide (Figure 1), we conducted semi-structured, in-depth
Discourse around the
interviews, ranging from 45 minutes to one hour each. This guide served as a
First Female NFL
“conversation starter” to make sure that certain broad topic areas were addressed. All
Referee
interviews were conducted in the participants’ offices except for one that took place by
phone. In addition, one person preferred to be interviewed by email due to the
impossibility of finding a suitable date for a face-to-face meeting. Interviews were
conducted between October 24 and December 19, 2012, and all of them were You have access to
this content
tape-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed with atlas.ti software. In order to make this
paper more comprehensive and easy to read, the excerpts from the interviews are Free sample
presented in five different boxes; proper mention is included throughout the paper.
Open Access
Research Limitations Restricted Access
This study has several important limitations. It is neither a probabilistic sample, nor a
representative one. We are aware that 13 interviews give just a glance of the current
industry practices, but in qualitative terms, the sample allowed for an in-depth approach
to the particularities linked to the diversity of the practitioners’ experiences. Broader
qualitative and quantitative research is needed, but this paper might provide, in our
opinion, valuable insight on which are the trending topics that currently are shaping the
advertising industry in its endeavor to shift to digital.
Click for larger view

View full resolution
Figure 1.
Interview guide
FINDINGS
We wanted to include some sort of visual representation of the key findings as a starting
point for this section. Thus, we created a word cloudv representing interviews’ most
commented topics. The transformation of the business model appears to be one of the
main concerns, followed by the viability and role of the 30-second TV commercial,
clients who are “digitally educated,” and technology’s influence on the creation of new
campaigns and the dialog with users. According to our research, the need to create
integrated campaigns and traceability tools, to ensure consumer “empowerment,” and
user generated content are, among other issues, a huge worry for both advertising
executives and their clients.
Jump Click for larger view

2 of 13 6/19/17, 4:10 PM
Figure 2.
Word cloud representation of interviewees’ most commented topics
In this section, the reader will find the results of the interviews analysis. We have
organized the main findings in five subsections: business model transformation, building
relationships with consumers, metrics and analytics, organizational structure and size (of
the client base), and integration of digital and traditional methods. Throughout, we
attempt to let the voices of the respondents emerge, while interpreting those voices only
modestly, remaining aware that others might interpret them differently.
Business Model Transformation
Several examples illustrating the necessary transformation of the business model

emerged from the interviews. Translation of digital campaigns into sales, the need to
conceive engaging campaigns, the creation of new professional roles, and the formation
of big advertising holdings were the most recurrent concerns. Some participants also
referred to two separate budgets for digital vs. traditional campaigns) and clearly
expressed a wish that this division come to an end soon.
From impressions (air time) to performances
It is still difficult to measure the contribution of a given impression toward business

goals; at least two issues should be taken into consideration in the discussion of the
performance of online ads. First, although companies such as Nielsen have already
started measuring how online ad impressions reach intended audiences, it still remains
unclear how digital campaigns translate into sales. According to our interviewees,
sometimes it is hard to provide clients with a reasonable and clear explanation of how
digital campaigns are monetized and this absence of framework can translate into a lack
of confidence. This may explain why some clients still do not trust digital agencies and
invest little money on digital campaigns (Figure 4, quotes 1 and 2). Secondly, some
studiesvi show that among preferred places to look at an advertisement, applications are
the least preferred option in comparison with other traditional supports, such as print
magazines (45 percent) or television (23 percent).
If we take a look at US Digital Ad Spending Share by format (Figure 3), it can be

seen that display ads and banners still have a huge penetration, although recent studies
offer data proving that rich media ads are much more successful when compared to
standard or in-page flash ads.vii According to our research, one of the possible
explanations for this phenomenon is the fact that big clients, which invest tons of money
in advertising, tend to be very conservative and do not assume risks trying new forms of
advertising.

Figure 3.
U.S. Digital Ad Spending Share by Format (2010–2016). Source: eMarketer.
From telling to engaging
Another area that prompted wide debate was the current transition from “telling stories”
Jump approaches to “engaging consumers” attitudes (Figure 4, quote 3). All of the
3 of 13 6/19/17, 4:10 PM
interviewees agreed that the communication paradigm has radically changed, as

nowadays consumers also have a voice and the possibility of having that voice heard
easily and at very low cost. This new scenario represents a challenge for both marketers
and brands, and the advertising agencies are well aware of that. In fact, various examples
were given where campaigns put the consumer in the center of the communication
strategy (Figure 4, quote 4). Engagement of consumers (but avoiding splitting that
engagement in different media) and the need to use the same voice and message were
other key aspects noted by all of the participants.
New professional profiles
New professional profiles have been created in response to new needs created by digital
advertising. In nine cases, participants ended up mentioning that in their agency some
sort of “specialists” focusing on digital media had been either hired or “recycled”
(Figure 4, quotes 5 and 6), meaning that a current employee assumed that role.
Mergers and acquisitions
In order to provide a wide range of digital and social-media solutions for their clients,
many traditional agencies are investing in small digital agencies to be majority owners.
What can also be seen as an effort to acquire talent is a movement that has not remained
unnoticed (Figure 4, quote 7). Mergers and acquisitions happen to be a recurrent topic of
conversation among advertising professionals, especially since the top three holdings
(WPP, Publicis-Omnicom) have moved so far ahead of the others in size.viii
Two separate budgets
In the course of the interviews, we asked the participants if they had noticed if some
clients kept two separate budgets, one for digital campaigns and another one for
traditional media. In five cases, interviewees acknowledged this tendency and expressed
their disapproval, especially as some of them had heard that the digital budget is
sometimes referred to as the “non-working budget” (Figure 4, quote 8). In most cases,
participants noted that a reasonable cause for that can be the lack of a clear path from
dollars invested in digital campaigns to sales (Figure 4, quote 9). However, it might be
not only that there is certain lack of confidence, but also that the proportion of the
investment is smaller if compared to the investment in traditional media (Figure 4, quote
10) and, therefore, the expected results cannot be equivalent.

Figure 4.
Building Relationships with Consumers
Engaging today’s empowered consumers has become a top priority for both advertisers
and advertising agencies. Above all, consumers have gained power by being able to
interact with media, including advertising. Thus, brands of their choosing are allowed to
communicate with them when and where they want and on the channels they choose.
Refusing to interact with brands is also an option. In that context, ad avoidance can be
motivated by many causes, but skepticism seems to be one of the most prominent; either
Jump skepticism in terms of disbelieving the informationix claimed by the advertiser, or
skepticism in terms of credibility loss [NOT SURE WHAT YOU MEAN BY
4 of 13 6/19/17, 4:10 PM
“CREDIBILITY LOSS” it refers to both brands themselves and the advertising

industry].
Many studies have analyzed to what extent e-advertising is perceived as annoying by

consumers. While one in every three social media users agrees that ads on social
networking sites are more annoying than other online ads, 15 percent say they’ve shared
a social ad after seeing it, 26 percent have liked such ads, and 14 percent claim to have
made a purchase as a result of one.x Despite such concerns, social media and in
particular social networks, provide benefits to both consumers and marketers. For
consumers, they are a platform in which knowledge and opinions can be freely shared;
for marketers, their “virality” and their openness represent the opportunity to reach a vast
number of consumers at relatively low cost (Figure 5, quote 1). Consumers are no longer
just consumers; they are also prescribers and advocates. Two-thirds of online adults are
now Facebook users;xi social networks have become an indispensable source of
information, and the advertising industry is trying to monetize them.
Empowered consumers are also more educated consumers, and they often believe they
know how the advertising industry works. They may not be marketing professionals, but
they are mostly digital natives and clearly aware of how to use the Internet and its
potential. In that sense, nearly all participants noted that their clients are a little bit
intimidated by the power of consumers and how they can easily start a negative
campaign that can damage deeply the brand’s image (Figure 5, quote 2). A sense of
awareness of consumer empowerment pervaded in all of the interviews. Advertising
agencies are not only aware of consumers’ empowerment as prescribers but also alert
and vigilant (Figure 5, quote 3). With reference to the kind of relationship plausible
between advertising agencies, advertisers, and consumers, participants in our study
showed two main approaches. While some of the interviewees considered empowered
consumers tools, others referred to them as partners (Figure 5, quotes 4 and 5).
Regardless of the approach given by respondents, what remains clear is that all of them
noted the need to create “interesting” and “meaningful” content in order to have a
positive impact (Figure 5, quote 6).
Advertisements created by professional marketers are considered by 36 percent of

consumers the most effective form of advertising, but User Generated Content (UGC)
appears to be an effective medium as wellxii at 28 percent. Knowing that, we asked our
interviewees what role did they think UGC should play in campaigns. We were not
surprised to hear that almost every client dreams about having a campaign as successful
as “the Old Spice guy” (Old Spice, the man your man could smell likexiii) (See Video 1).
All of them agreed that the role of UGC in their campaigns depended on the clients and
that it was a bad idea to force consumers’ contributions, which should be spontaneous.
The value of UGC relies, according to our participants, in the fact that it is somehow
unpredictable but also inspiring (Figure 5, quotes 7 and 8).
Video 1
Old Spice commercial
Click to view video
Jump
5 of 13 6/19/17, 4:10 PM
Figure 5.

Metrics and Analytics
Internet and related information-processing technologies have enabled marketers to tailor

messages to an unprecedented extent. Even though the traditional 30-second TV spot is
still alive and proven to work extremely well,xiv targeted advertising has become
increasingly prominent over the last few years and is considered by our interviewees not
only an incentive to online advertising, but also a challenge (Figure 6, quote 1).
However, there is also certain concern about how much advertisers expect from targed
advertising, as there appears to be a lack of a framework to interpret measurements, and
this results in confusion, particularly for advertisers (Figure 6, quotes 2 and 3).
Personalization in advertising is nothing new. Marketers have been counting on

demographics and lifestyles for decades; the Internet has just enhanced that ability.
However, concerns about privacy have become increasingly recurrent among Internet
users. More than half of all American households use some sort of ad-blocking
technology, such as spam filters to avoid undesired ads via email, and recently Mozilla
reported that Ad-block Plus is being used by approximately 13 million Firefox users.xv
Other studies showed that a large percentage of Americans (48 percent) are concerned
about companies tracking practices.xvi Cell phones are no exception; one-third of all cell
owners have cleared the browsing history or search history on their phone and 19 percent
have turned off the location tracking feature because they feared that other individuals or
companies could access that information. Percentages are even higher when we refer to
smartphone owners as they are especially active when it comes to these behaviorsxvii (50
percent have cleared their phone’s browsing or search history, 30 percent have turned off
the location tracking feature).
Several initiatives have been launched in response to these practices, Do Not Trackxviii
being one of the most popular. When asked about such initiatives, interviewees
considered noteworthy that although targetability may be an obstacle to the advertising
industry in terms of privacy, consumers also realize that platforms are filled with
sponsored content, so being targeted might be the price to pay in order to get it for free
(Figure 6, quote 4). In addition, some participants also mentioned that initiatives, such
as Do Not Track, were a challenge because they brought back the emphasis on human
interaction rather than “cookies” (Figure 6, quote 5).
While not surprising, the findings related to metrics’ value and Return on Investment
(ROI) are of some concern. On the one hand, none of the interviewees estimated that
hypersegmentation was a plausible future scenario because of the associated economic
costs (Figure 6, quotes 6 and 7). On the other hand, all of the interviewees agreed that
getting better-educated clients in terms of digital knowledge would be very helpful to
dynamise the sector. Campaigns that focus on traditional media and consider digital
media just an accessory are a general trend that does not help the business, the clients, or
the advertising agencies, according to our participants. Data provides valuable
information, but there is also need for interpretation of that data and human insight.
Many examples were given where our interviewees pointed to the urge to complement
quantitative data with qualitative insight (e.g., interviews, focus groups), to focus not
only on the “what” of a consumer’s response to an ad, but also on “why” (Figure 6,
quotes 8 and 9). In that sense, one of the interviewees even mentioned that the promise
of traceability could be considered, in a certain way, as an obstacle for the growth of the
advertising industry (Figure 6, quote 10).
Jump
6 of 13 6/19/17, 4:10 PM

Figure 6.
Organizational Structure and Size (Client Base)
When we asked the contributors to that study to share some thoughts on how the
organizational structure and size of their client base affected their professional practices,
they came up with two main conclusions. First, they mentioned that big clients (and
agencies) tend to be more conservative than smaller ones. Second, they agreed that only
big companies can invest a lot of money in strategy.
According to Adobe’s latest study on the state of online advertising, 54 percent of

consumers and 33 percent of marketers believe that banner advertisements do not
work.xix However, in terms of global digital ad spending, we have previously noted
(Figure 3) that banners accounted in 2012 for almost 24 percent of the U.S. share of
digital advertising by format. We noticed this contradiction in all of the interviews
conducted, as all of the participants declared that sometimes they had a hard time trying
to explain their clients the need to be more imaginative and creative in terms of formats
(Figure 7, quote 1). Another of the main issues when asked about the organizational
structure, size of the client base, and how this was translated into the daily routines of the
agencies was about bringing new ideas to the table, hoping that clients would buy them.
This difficulty was particularly notable when dealing with big clients. Apparently, big
clients are still used to buying media on a year-round basis, so it becomes really difficult
for an agency to try to come up with new initiatives; such reactions tend to come very
(figure 7, quote 2). The bigger the client (and the ad agency), the more conservative the
client turns out to be.
Along with that perception that big clients are resistant to change, anchored in the past
and sometimes unaware of the digital landscape, all of the respondents remarked that
working with a big client also implied that they could have access to bigger budgets.
Once these clients trust a given strategy, they are ready to commit.
Big campaigns in which metrics are deeply analyzed, focus groups and surveys are
arranged, and content is created based on the results obtained are very pricey. Digital
technologies give advertising agencies the possibility to reach niche audiences, but
creating tailored micro-campaigns, although highly efficient, can also be very expensive
and therefore not accessible to all (Figure 7, quotes 3 and 4). Shifting to digital seems to
be a solution to this expense, but according to our interviewees, some agencies and
clients have not been able to do so. Not having enough talented staff may be a major
cause in preventing some agencies from adopting a digital approach (Figure 7, quote 5).
This may analogous to the point made above, when describing the transformation of the
business model: respondents reported being aware of talent rush by big agencies (see
mergers and acquisitions section).

Jump Figure 7.
7 of 13 6/19/17, 4:10 PM
Integration of Digital and Traditional Advertising Strategies
Integrating digital and traditional strategies has become a major need according to all of
the interviewees. However, we already noted that some advertisers still kept two
different budgets and, in terms of strategy and media planning, digital options were
usually undervalued. One of the main reasons for that contradiction is the fact that
although our media universe is more divided than ever, one thing has remained almost
the same for the past decades: TV is still at the center, watched an average of 144 hours
per individual every month.xx

Figure 8.
US Consumer Media Usage (monthly average) (Q2, 2012). Source: Nielsen.
As it can be seen in the table above, television is, by and large, the most consumed
media, and values are even higher if we add the minutes from time-shifted (i.e.,
television recorded for viewing at the consumer’s option) TV. However, consumers’ time
on the Internet keeps broadening, and this major transformation on media consumption is
perceived by our interviewees not only as a challenge but also as an added difficulty,
mainly because levels of distraction are very high and brands are suffering because of
that level of distraction (Figure 10, quotes 1, 2, and 3).
When online, time is spent mainly in social networks and blogs (20.1 percent),
followed by online games (8.1 percent) and e-mail (7.1 percent). Regarding the share of
mobile time, the top three activities by function are text (14.1 percent), social networking
(10.2 percent), and dialer (5.5 percent); e-mail (5.3 percent) is the fourth activity. We are
running towards a multi-screen and multi-tasking environment, not surprisingly. On
average, we spend 4.4 hours of our leisure time in front of screens each day.xxi
Seventy-seven percent of television viewers confirm that while sitting in front of the TV
set, they also have another device in hand (49 percent smartphones, and 34 percent
computer or laptop) and regarding the top activities performed during simultaneous
screen usage, emailing is the top one (60 percent), followed by Internet browsing (44
percent), and social networking (40 percent). Only 9 percent of viewers are watching
another video while watching tv. From these data, we concluded that television is still at
the center of the media universe, but it no longer monopolizes the viewers’ attention. As
can be seen in Figure 9, using a smartphone or a tablet while watching television is a
common practice, especially among 18- to 24-year-old consumers.

Figure 9.
Frequency of using another device while watching TV (US, 2012). Source: Google.
Multiscreening and multitasking are indeed another major concern for advertising
agencies (Figure 10, quote 4). All the interviewees considered that one of the biggest
challenges now faced by the industry is the possibility of telling the same story
throughout different mediums (Figure 10, quotes 5, 6, and 7). But which is the most
advantageous approach?
In our opinion, the integration of digital and traditional media will occur only when
Jump
advertising agencies and clients start conceiving campaigns from a holistic perspective
8 of 13 6/19/17, 4:10 PM
from the very beginning. In other words, all of the actions (TV spots, social media, print)
need to be integrated so that the consumer receives a coherent message, no matter the
media. One must take into account the unexpected (e.g. a group of consumers starting a
campaign on a social media platform, to which the advertiser needs to react), of course,
but in a controlled environment. However, we would like to emphasize that this approach
is brought into practice in very few occasions, and according to one of our interviewees,
“it takes almost the perfect storm to create a truly integrated campaign” (Figure 10,
quote 8). When asked if they implemented this kind of holistic, integrated approach, one
of our interviewees described their modus operandi as “planned improvised” (Figure 10,
quote 9) in the sense that although agencies try to create campaigns based on a chain of
connected and interdependent experiences, sometimes they don’t know what is going to
work, so they may just start an initiative in beta, and if it works resources are put behind
it. In that sense, one of the interviewees described his profession as “architecture,” a
description we believe illustrates quite well the change of paradigm: “we used to be
artists; now we are architects... it is a very different mindset” (Figure 10, quote 10).
Regarding the possibility of advertising on Internet television, all of the participants
agreed that it has the advantage of being extremely more effective than other forms of
advertising because messages can be targeted to hyper-segmented audiences if compared
to regular cable television.
Online video plays a strategic role in integrated campaigns, so we also questioned the
participants in our study about the part that online video had played in the evolution of
digital advertising. Studies show that consumers believe that advertisements should tell a
unique story, not just try to sell (73 percent) and that a video is worth 1,000 wordsxxii (67
percent). Accordingly, the one conclusion all of the interviewees acknowledged was that
online video had definitely been a key in making digital advertising more dynamic.
Online video has somehow been, according to our interviewees, a bridge between
traditional and digital advertising; the “natural evolution” of the TV commercial. Online
video widens the range of opportunities given to advertisers as it has the possibility of
engaging viewers, especially if it is a video produced to be displayed on the Internet as
part of a digital campaign. Online video, however, is sometimes used from a traditional
perspective, and it is a relatively common practice to just recycle content created for
television (Figure 10, quote 11) online, a practice that all of the interviewees regretted.
Again, when talking about online video, one of the persistent problems that the
advertising industry has to face is users’ annoyance with such advertising. According to
ComScore,xxiii 85 percent of U.S. Internet users viewed online video in August 2012,
and the average length of these videos was of 6.4 minutes.xxiv However, regardless of the
kind of ad we are referring to, such as pre-roll clips, in-player ads (i.e. embedded in the
media player frame while the video is running), or in-stream ads (embedded within video
content), objection to all kinds of online video ads is the one thing that gathers users
together. In fact, online ads are often referred to as “annoying” (68 percent),
“distracting” (51 percent), and “all over the place” (46 percent).xxv
Time spent watching video ads in August 2012 totaled 3.5 billion minutes, with
BrightRoll Video Network delivering the highest duration of video ads at 717 million
minutes. Video ads reached 54 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 58
times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers
with an average of 51, while Google Sites delivered an average of 19 ads per viewer.xxvi
Jump Click for larger view

9 of 13 6/19/17, 4:10 PM
Figure 10.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
This paper has highlighted some of the major changes being faced today by the
advertising industry from a practitioner’s point of view. The interviews undertaken have
emphasized the difficulties, challenges, and opportunities that shifting to digital may
encompass for both advertisers and advertising agencies whose relationship is being
reshaped by a dramatic transformation of the classic media consumption paradigm. In a
scenario where consumers can create their own media schedule and have the ability to
easily revise, copy, produce, and re-distribute content, the advertising industry, which
depends upon delivering passive audiences to advertisers, is being forced to adapt in
order to survive. The findings of this research posit that while all interviewees recognize
the need to be creative, engaging, and interesting in order to succeed, they also note a
lack of trust (particularly coming from big clients) towards digital tools and campaigns.
The results also point out that the transformation of the advertising industry business
model, the viability and role of the 30-second TV spot, the need to create integrated
campaigns, and the use and interpretation of metrics and traceability tools are subjects of
great concern among advertising agencies.
By 2016, advertisers will spend $77 billion on interactive marketing, as much as they
do on television today. Search marketing, display advertising, mobile marketing, email
marketing, and social media will grow to 35 percent of all advertising expenditures.xxvii
Between 2011 and 2015, revenue from digital advertising in the U.S. is expected to grow
by 40 percent and to overtake all other advertising platforms by 2016.xxviii
Meritxell Roca
Meritxell Roca serves as the Academic Program Manager for the African School of Economics at Princeton University. She was
born in Barcelona (Spain) where she worked as a senior researcher at Open University of Catalonia (UOC), performing research on
free software, media stereotypes and mass media in a digital environment. She also teaches communication at Blanquerna School
of Communication (Ramon Llull University). She received a B.A. in Journalism and a Ph.D. In Communication and Humanities
from the Ramon Llull University. Prior to joining Princeton University she worked as a staff associate at The W. Edwards Deming
Center for Quality, Productivity and Competitiveness (Columbia University). She has also held positions as visiting scholar at The
New School in New York and the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles.
Contact details
Department of Politics
233 Corwin Hall
Phone: 609-258-2848
E-mail: mroca@princeton.edu
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Mark Pollard (Big Spaceship, VP Brand Strategy), Steve Baer (Code and Theory, Dir. Creative Strategy), Andrew Wagner (Area
17, Dir. Strategy), Ian Chee (AKQA,Dir. Strategy), Yashoda Sampath (HUGE, Strategy Dept. / Senior User Experience), Hernan
Sanchez (Havas Media, CEO Havas Media Intelligence), Anders Wahlquist (B-Reel, CEO), Graham Douglas (Droga5, Creative),
Bob Maynard (RGA Digital, Content Strategy Director), Gabe Garner (First Born, SVP Digital Development),Valerie Carlson
(Razorfish, VP Creative), Brad Blondes (McCann, Dir. Design), Phil Zulli (TBG Digital, VP Agency Relations).
Footnotes
i. “Global AdView. Pulse lite. Your connection to global advertising trends. Quarter 3, 2012”. http://www.nielsen.com/us/en
/insights/reports-downloads/2012/global-advertising-view---q3-2012.html (accessed January 30, 2014)
ii. Rainie, Lee. “25 percent of American adults own tablet computers.” Pew Internet & American Life project.
http://pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2012/PIP_TabletOwnership_August2012.pdf (accessed January 30, 2014)
iii. Nielsen. “State of the Media: the Social Media Report” http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/social/2012/ (accessed January 30,
2014)
iv. “GroupM study says 2011 global internet ad spend hit $85 billion for 17 percent of total investment”. http://www.groupm.com
/pressandnews/details/77 (accessed January 30, 2014)
v. The word cloud used in this paper was created with Wordle (http://www.wordle.net). The importance of each topic or concept is
shown with font size according to the frequency it appeared throughout the interviews. Frequencies were determined using Atlas.ti
software. Frequencies taken into consideration were those ranging from 8 to 19: Business Model (19); Dialog with users, 30” tv
spot, Digital educated clients, Future trends, campaigns (14); Consumers Relationship with the Brands (11); More Channels, Big
clients, Consumers Empowerment (10); Challenges, Traceability, Transformation (9); UGC, Brands use digital influencers (8).
vi. Adobe. “Click here: The state of online advertising. New insights into the beliefs of consumers and professional marketers”.
http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/pdfs/201210/102412AdobeAdvertisingResearch.pdf (accessed
January 30, 2014)
vii. Opera. “The State of Mobile Advertising”. http://business.opera.com/sma/2012/q2/ (accessed September 3, 2013
viii. “4 of 7 major ad agency networks are now acquisition targets,” Business Insider, accessed January 30, 2014,
http://www.businessinsider.com/4-of-7-major-ad-agency-networks-are-now-acquisition-targets-2012-4?op=1
ix. A recent study published by the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future (2012) entitled “America at the digital turning
point” showed that only 40 percent of Internet users believed that most or all of the information online is reliable.
x. Nielsen. “State of the Media: the Social Media Report”. http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/social/2012/ (accessed January 30,
2014)
xi. Rainie, Lee; Smith, Aaron and Duggan, Maeve. “Coming and going on facebook.” Pew Internet & American Life project.
http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2013/PIP_Coming_and_going_on_facebook.pdf (accessed January 30,
2014)
xii. Adobe. “Click here: The state of online advertising. New insights into the beliefs of consumers and professional marketers”.
January 30, 2014)
xiii. In 2010 Procter and Gamble launched a social media campaign based on a TV commercial entitled “The man your men could
smell like”. The spot was a hit on video-sharing websites such as YouTube and unchained a long list of user generated video clips
(parodies) some of which featured celebrities. In June 2010 the ad won the Grand Prix for film at the Cannes Lions International
Advertising Festival, and in July 2010 it won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial. Accessed January 30,
2014,<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE>
xiv. A recently published survey (Adobe, 2012) asked to rate several statements based on whether the interviewee agreed or
disagreed and TV commercials were considered to be more effective than online ads; a sizable majority of consumers (66 percent)
and almost half of marketers polled (49 percent) believe that TV commercials are more effective than online advertising and
traditional media are considered to be the best options for marketing and advertising; 45 percent of consumers interviewed and 42
percent of marketers agree with that statement.
xv. Hyun Baek, Tae and Morimoto, Mariko. “Stay away from me. Examining the determinants of consumer avoidance of
personalized advertising.” Journal of Advertising, 41(2012), 59–76.
xvi. The Center for the Digital Future. “Special report: America at the digital turning point.” Los Angeles: USC Annenberg School,
University of Southern California. http://www.worldinternetproject.net/_files/_Published/_oldis
/789_cdf_10_year_digital_turning_point.pdf (Accessed January 30, 2014.)
xvii. Boyles, Jan Lauren; Smith, Aaron and Madden, Mary. “Privacy and data management on mobile devices.” Pew Internet &
Jump
American Life project. http://pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2012/PIP_MobilePrivacyManagement.pdf (accessed
12 of 13 6/19/17, 4:10 PM
January 30, 2014)
xviii. <http://donottrack.us> Do not Track is a technology and policy proposal that enables users to opt out of tracking by
websites they do not visit, including analytics services, advertising networks, and social platforms. The website is maintained by
Stanford researchers Jonathan Mayer and Arvind Narayanan. They are affiliated with the Security Lab at the Computer Science
Department and the Center for Internet and Society at the Law School.
xix. Adobe. “Click here: The state of online advertising. New insights into the beliefs of consumers and professional marketers”.
January 30, 2014)
xx. Nielsen. “State of the Media. U.S. consumer usage report.” http://www.slideshare.net/nielsen/state-of-the-mediaconsumer-
usage-report (accessed January 30, 2014)
xxi. Google. “The new multi-screen world: understanding cross-platform consumer behavior”. http://services.google.com/fh/files
/misc/multiscreenworld_final.pdf (accessed January 30, 2014)
xxii. Adobe. “Click here: The state of online advertising. New insights into the beliefs of consumers and professional marketers”.
January 30, 2014)
xxiii. “ComScore Releases August 2012 U.S. Online Video Rankings,” ComScore, accessed January 30, 2014.
http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press_Releases/2012/9/comScore_Releases_August_2012_U.S._Online_Video_Rankings
xxiv. Comscore defines a video as any streamed segment of audiovisual content, including both progressive downloads and live
streams. For long-form, segmented content, (e.g. television episodes with ad pods in the middle) each segment of the content is
counted as a distinct video stream. Video views are inclusive of both user-initiated and auto-played videos that are viewed for
longer than 3 seconds.
xxv. Adobe. “Click here: The state of online advertising. New insights into the beliefs of consumers and professional marketers”.
January 30, 2014)
xxvi. “ComScore Releases August 2012 U.S. Online Video Rankings,” ComScore, accessed January 30, 2014,
http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press_Releases/2012/9/comScore_Releases_August_2012_U.S._Online_Video_Rankings
xxvii. Van Boskirk, Shar. “US interactive marketing forecast, 2011 to 2016.” Forrester Research. http://www.forrester.com
/US+Interactive+Marketing+Forecast+2011+To+2016/fulltext/-/E-RES59379?al=0 (Accessed January 30, 2014.)
xxviii. Pew Research Center: Project for Excellence in Journalism. “Digital advertising and news. Who advertises on news sites
and how much those ads are targeted.” http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/digital_advertising_and_news (accessed
January 30, 2014)
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The transformation of the advertising industry. Shifting to digital: difﬁculties,

Article in Advertising & Society Review · January 2014

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

for Librarians for Publishers Advanced Search

Shifting to Digital: Advertising &

This paper adopts a qualitative approach based on interviews. We understand advertising

Research Limitations Restricted Access

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Business Model Transformation

Several examples illustrating the necessary transformation of the business model

From impressions (air time) to performances

It is still difficult to measure the contribution of a given impression toward business

If we take a look at US Digital Ad Spending Share by format (Figure 3), it can be

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From telling to engaging

interviewees agreed that the communication paradigm has radically changed, as

New professional profiles

Mergers and acquisitions

Two separate budgets

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Building Relationships with Consumers

“CREDIBILITY LOSS” it refers to both brands themselves and the advertising

Many studies have analyzed to what extent e-advertising is perceived as annoying by

Advertisements created by professional marketers are considered by 36 percent of

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Metrics and Analytics

Internet and related information-processing technologies have enabled marketers to tailor

Personalization in advertising is nothing new. Marketers have been counting on

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Organizational Structure and Size (Client Base)

According to Adobe’s latest study on the state of online advertising, 54 percent of

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Integration of Digital and Traditional Advertising Strategies

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DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

multitasking consumers.” Journal of Advertising, 40 (2) (2011): 63–75. Google ScholarOpenURL

January 30, 2014)

Copyright © 2014 The Advertising Educational Foundation, Inc

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