From Silos to Synergy

ABSTRACT

Before the advent of the Internet, media planning focused on individual media and used exposure—opportunity to see—as the criterion of effectiveness. Since then, the focus has shifted to the interaction between media (particularly on- and offline media) with a shift in emphasis to opportunity to act and to sales and ROI measures of effectiveness. This article traces the move from silos to synergy over a 50-year period, much of it reported in the Journal of Advertising Research. After 1994, the concept of synergy came to be increasingly identified with interactive media effects. Most notably, a few researchers saw the importance of tying cross-media effects to sales and ROI because, as one study found, media allocation criteria differ under conditions of synergy compared to the traditional silo framework for budgetary decisions. Although much has been accomplished as described herein, the promise of cross-media research has yet to be achieved. Interactive media studies have tended to focus on limited paired media comparisons. Key areas of synergistic effects such as the distinction between sequential and simultaneous media exposure have yet to be explored. And only two studies could be cited that sought to utilize cross-media effects to establish media allocation criteria based on the association of media interactions to ROI. Of most importance is the lack of reliable measures of cross-media effects. Ideally, single-source systems would measure multi-media exposure and purchase behavior for the same respondent. The data burden placed on respondents, however, makes such systems difficult to implement. The technology resulting in the proliferation of media has outstripped the means to measure cross-media effectiveness. Until adequate measures of interactive media effects are developed, cross-media research will not reach its full potential.