This VP of media believes the agency role will continue to evolve, and that the future is based on being able to show results and media investment value.

Sarah Kim is VP of media for the east coast operations at avenue a | razorfish. Before joining avenue a | razorfish, Kim was partner and group planning director for mOne Worldwide. She was responsible for all online and direct media planning and execution for IBM. Kim has worked with American Express, Kimberly Clark, NY Times Digital and AIG, among others.

iMedia Communications: What has been the biggest change that you have experienced in the online advertising industry over the past year?

Kim: Increase in rates, streaming as part of regular media vernacular, podcasting.

iMedia Communications: What do you hope to accomplish or try this year?

Kim: Continuing the positive growth trend for avenue a | razorfish.

iMedia Communications: How do you evaluate media placements?

Kim: Depends on the objectives of the campaign; for DR it would be type of content and rates; for brand metrics it would be site demos, positioning, targeting, industry rates/average for that particular vertical, tie-in with offline efforts if applicable meaning cross media not just parallel media opportunities.

iMedia Communications: What needs to be done internally as well as in partnership with the clients to better coordinate integrated marketing efforts?

Kim: This needs to be championed and mandated by the client. Clear direction from the client on objectives not just straight advertising goals but internal expectations on the purpose and value of the integrated efforts. Internally, between agencies and the client need to agree upfront on rules of engagement, media priorities and some direction on budgets. Understanding the internal issues and drivers on the client side will help set these as well.

iMedia Communications: Behavioral targeting is a hot topic. Are you using it for any of your clients? How and what have the results been like?

Kim: We are utilizing behavioral targeting for most of our clients. The results have been positive. It's one of many tactics we employ on our media plan.

iMedia Communications: Are any of your clients being affected by any consumer-generated marketing (CGM) -- blogs, user groups, etc.? Are they using any blogs or other social networking tools to market?

Kim: Most of our clients have expressed interest in learning more about marketing opportunities associated with CGM. The options that have been presented revolve around banner placements within a blog (for instance) environment or an advertorial-esque blog. We've done some testing with display media within these areas.

iMedia Communications: Are analytics getting any easier? Where do you see this aspect of online marketing going?

Kim: Analytics is still a challenge. Understanding and applying cross media metrics is a focal point for us. We do not want to look at online/digital media in a silo, but the current tools do not allow us to accurately reflect our numbers vs. other media. The added complexity of search, text ads, email marketing and how we do or do not account for this in reach metrics, for instance, is an area that as an industry we need to make more of an effort to standardize.

iMedia Communications: We recently asked Brands what they thought the future of advertising agencies is. Want to weigh in on the topic? What do you think agencies' greatest role will be moving forward?

Kim: The agency role will continue to evolve. I believe that our future is in being able to show results and the value of the media investment (across communications) for our clients, not just in pure direct response metrics, but translating brand metrics such as favorability, intent, recognition etc and how those impact and are tied to sales or whatever success metrics that have been established.

iMedia Communications: What are brands still not getting about interactive marketing?

Kim: It's not an either or when it comes to adding or including interactive in the marketing mix.

iMedia Communications: What marketing or business books do you most recommend?

Kim: The Tipping Point, Blink, Ogilvy on Advertising, Confessions of an Advertising Man.