B&C's 2012 Digital All-Stars
As VP and integrated group director
of Universal McCann’s J3 unit
serving client Johnson & Johnson,
Matthew Baker faces a unique challenge.
Buying both traditional TV and online video
means ! nding ways to compare them; while
they are similar in some ways, they remain
distinct in others.
“The goal was not to put digital video versus
TV, but it was very important for us to show
how they worked together, and to use that to
make the client feel comfortable,” Baker says.
As part of its measurement effort, Baker’s
group of TV buyers and digital specialists
has been working with Nielsen’s online
campaign ratings (OCR), which is busy creating
a digital equivalent of TV’s gross ratings
points to simplify video planning. “We
thought Nielsen came up with the most
compelling product, partly because of its
methodology and partly because of its accreditation
from the Media Research Council,”
Baker says. “The
digital world is still
very much the wild,
wild west. It’s nice to
have that third-party
verification.”
Beyond research,
Baker and his team are
moving forward with
new digital opportunities.
Among other
things, they have created
innovative video
strategies. The company
is currently working
with YouTube, which
is evolving from its user-generated content
platform to develop channels with exclusive,
professionally produced programming.
“The [YouTube channels] we are partnering
with are all of the health and fitness
channels,” Baker says. “Obviously, the content
is very relevant.
There’s a number of
publishers creating this
content for YouTube,
and we thought the exclusive
nature of it was a
nice premium environment
for those brands.”
Baker says he is not
using YouTube as a substitute
for traditional TV.
“We didn’t commit or
buy inventory upfront
like you would on TV,
but we did have an idea
of what we wanted to
include and the appropriate mixes of inventory
from various publishers and sites, and
even networks that would get us the types of
video we would need to fill essentially that
role of the media plan,” he says. “This is part
of that.”
