Advertising.com, iMedia study will survey hundreds of top marketers.

Advertising.com has fielded a significant research study on media spending, with an emphasis on interactive expenditures. iMedia Communications is co-sponsoring the study, and the results will be released at the iMedia Brand Summit  in September. Advertising.com has contracted with Millward Brown, a respected global research firm, to reach out to hundreds of top marketers around the U.S. to participate in this study.

The study will investigate:

• How marketing dollars are being allocated across different media and why.
• Marketer perceptions about which media channels and combinations provide the greatest return for different objectives (new product launch, expanding brand consideration, etc.).
• The overall role of interactive online marketing (online advertising, search, email marketing, Web sites, banner ads) in comparison and in combination with traditional media.
• Latest trends in cross-media marketing.
• How measurement tools and information are used now, and what marketers need to make better decisions about media-mix allocations and evaluating ROI.

There are two parts to the study: a qualitative section, which is just about completed; and the quantitative online interviews.

"The qualitative interviews are in-depth discussions designed to get texture and background on the media spending subject at hand. The quantitative interviews will provide the data needed to make significant projections on our industry’s future behavior," says Neil Perry, marketing consultant and former head of McDonald’s Interactive Marketing. Advertising.com selected Perry to serve as a liaison with participating marketers.

“We found out during the qualitative interviews that much of our interactive spending is not necessarily reflected in our overall online media dollars," Perry says. “For example, frequently email marketing expenditures are captured under a corporate CRM spending category, and not reported as marketing expenditures. The same is often times true for search, Web site optimization, affiliate marketing and other subsets of the interactive media environment. We want to get to the bottom of this, and get a true understanding of our approach to contacting consumers via the Internet.”

“It’s also important for us to know what really are the key factors marketers are using to evaluate the Return on their Investment moving forward," Perry says.

Qualified marketers from the iMedia database were invited last week to participate.

"If you received an invitation, please complete it as quickly as possible so that your insights are included in this valuable industry study," Perry says. "If you did not receive an invitation, by FedEx, to participate, and feel you should -- e.g. if you are a marketer who has control over or major influence over your company’s interactive budget -- please email me."

A third phase of this study will launch in September, when Millward Brown will conduct interviews with advertising agency executives about their thoughts about and practices in the online space.