Grady Rose Consulting's Larry Everling measures the ad industry's progress towards integration.

It was a little over eight months ago when I examined the attempts marketers and their agencies/service providers had made at connecting consideration, selection, intent and action during the 2004 holiday season. As my beleaguered mailman hands off the six pounds of catalogs we receive every day, as required by law after September 1 (springboards for the December spend-fest disguised as promoting "Autumn"), I asked myself, "Has there been any genuine progress in integrating the online experience, as a high priority component of the marketing mix?"

Have we reached that all too elusive point where the online medium/channel, in all of its forms, is widely deployed as the measurable linkage between awareness to acquisition to retention? Can I get an amen my brethren? Uh, no… not yet. Despite all of the recent jostling for position, as seen by the traditional media/marketing buying spree of internet firms, I contend we've moved about, oh, 6 inches closer to legitimate integration. Why? Because the bar continues to be raised for customer expectations in a world when the options for multi-touchpoint purchasing are so easy to use. The next frontier is the broad acceptance that not all customers have the same value, and the differentiating mechanism is the data captured during their total lifetime shopping and buying behavior, most notably through digital means.

As you've probably surmised from past columns, I'm a cynic at heart. But make no mistake, I delight in the success stories. So big props to Ford for openly emulating Chrysler's continued shift of budget dollars to digital. Committing 15 percent of a $1 billion budget to online should naturally be celebrated, however, the true win is that Ford is using a tracking technology that captures the response times Ford dealers incur when fielding internet leads. Why? Because Ford isn't just pursuing online advertising for online advertising's sake. Some of the automaker's dealers convert one out of five sales opportunities that began online, with significantly higher close rates when the dealer follow-up to an online inquiry is swift; up to four times higher than delayed responses.  Is it any wonder that BMW has demanded "the best automotive website" as part of its agency review?

A recent Baird Equity Research report in June echoed the same findings for the Online Education industry. Ironically, a category, which is inherently dependent on the internet as a lead generation channel, has found similar challenges to the automotive business. According to the Baird report, internet leads are seen as "…having an extremely short shelf life with willingness to engage in a meaningful discussion about the opportunity… diminishing drastically over time… with conversion rates doubling when an internet lead is [contacted] within 15 minutes, underscoring the need for sophisticated lead management."

A-ha -- catalogs, conversion rates and lead management -- smells like database marketing. Well, has anyone else noticed that the big data warehouse firms have snapped up most of the independent email distribution providers? Not just one or two, but seven since 2002, with two of the bigger purchases occurring in Q3, 2005 (Experian + CheetahMail and Alliant Data + Big Foot Interactive). Anyone care to guess where DartMail may end up?

In general, I see this as a positive trend, but I do have some concerns.

1. Does it perpetuate the outdated belief that online marketing is simply electronic direct mail?
2. How is the variety of prospect & customer hand-raising activities over time recognized at the point of sale?  Are there applications that also account for traditional media advertising exposure, online ad serving, Search and site traffic data, in this extended equation? 

What kills me is that database marketing is still banished off to the geek corner, thought of as just applicable to the DR programs, when the technology to support the information flow is the cornerstone to integrated marketing, encompassing all executions. Audience modeling, segment profitability, behavioral profiling can't be ignored by the "brand" media buyers

But once again, the big ad agencies and media buying houses clinging to traditional tactics and metrics are dropping the ball. Instead, they continue to dwell in snapshot validations, discourage multiple touches and don't embrace the concept of message sequencing. These strategies don't produce improved sales conversion, better margins and hence higher Life Time Value. But hey, we can't all be R/GA, or should we?

By the way, is it just me or is the rush to endorse product placement a cry of denial that screams: "We want less accountability!"

But, let's not fixate on the negative heading into Q4. Is there a marketer that truly encourages multiple touchpoints across a variety of media channels? Yes, Virginia, just such a company indeed exists.

Best Buy is the best-of-breed retailer blending online and offline. Much has been written about Best Buy's segmentation strategy, with most of the press covering how the physical store layout has been overhauled to appeal to the electronic retailer's two most profitable targets simultaneously: "Barry's" (upscale, professional men) and "Jill's" (soccer moms). Yet the real genius is the recognition that Best Buy provides online shoppers who complete the sale at the store in two ways.

1. Order online -- pick up at the store.
2. Shop online, print out web pricing, go to physical store and price is honored. 

Number two is a far subtler, but more powerful policy. There is no balking at those of us who pursue cross-channel shopping. In fact, the customer is rewarded for being smarter. Each salesperson or cashier is trained to honor a price displayed on bestbuy.com, if a customer presents documentation. Best Buy is building a holistic purchasing environment, engendering a far more loyal customer base with tremendous Life Time Value potential.  I fully expect a huge holiday season for Best Buy, distancing itself further from its competition. 

I contend the larger challenge for true integration is the notion that we as marketers pre-suppose how to move prospects from one medium to the next in the purchase cycle. This directive keeps alive the siloed "X discipline is only good for one thing" mentality in a time when the consumer is dictating his/her own preferred media consumption order.
It's all about evolving past our linear thinking, and embracing the fact that the best customers are voting by their actions and want options for cross-channel, multi-touchpoint engagements.

Now, are you prepared?

Larry Everling is recognized as an industry leader for driving progressive brand advancement and marketing ROI results in the online medium. Working with leading brands such as Nextel, Novartis, CareerBuilder, IBM, Sheraton Hotels, BMW and UPS, he possesses the rare combination background of 10 years of online expertise, plus client side and agency traditional campaign experience. In May 2003, Everling started Grady Rose Consulting, and has provided strategic online marketing guidance for: Forbes.com, The Washington Post, AOL/Netscape and jaffe, LLC.