New measurement tool promises to track return on marketing investment

Matterhorn, a new data analysis tool for measuring the effectiveness of ad spending in publications and other media, is being introduced by media planning company Telmar. According to a story in MediaDailyNews, the new system measures return on investment for the first time, looking at brand awareness, differentiation and persuasion over the life of a media plan. It would be considered  alongside of, and possibly replacing, the usual measurement CPM, which counts the costs of reaching a thousand readers.

"This has been the Holy Grail of media planning for years," said Telmar chief Stan Federman, during an exclusive preview of the system for MediaDailyNews. Federman was referring to the elusive goal of tying media exposure to marketing results, and the multitude of attempts made on Madison Avenue - including expensive "single-source" measurement systems, and proprietary marketer and agency systems...

"Reach and frequency is great. CPM is great, but what's it really going to do in terms of moving my client's goods," Federman said. Now planners have the ability to take the time-consumer marketing ROI analysis and build it into their plans."