The attendees were virtually a “who’s who” in advertising, marketing, market research and the media industry. Executives from Google, ESPN, Kodak, NBC, Carat, Global Hue, New York Life and JWT were just a few of the many prominent corporations that were on hand to attend this historic luncheon.
“The [ARF)] is the one association that brings together advertisers, media companies, advertising agencies, the research companies and the academics,” said Heather James, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for the ARF “We also have the Ph.D.s who help us understand effective advertising, such as media measurement, quality assurance, research quality and multicultural research.”
As a third-party research company, the ARF exists to insure that advertisers know what advertising mediums are most effective for reaching a certain demographic or psychographic. The ARF’s statistics are considered to be superior to other similar data because the foundation’s involvement is unbiased, meaning it has no interest or investment in any particular company. Its goal is to deliver an accurate analysis of how to reach a particular target market.
“It is important for me to have effective data that measure all consumers and that really understand consumer behavior of all segments. We know that the global community is shifting and changing,” James said. “We really need to have a handle on what all consumers of the new mainstream are focused on, what’s in their register-considering set, and what’s in their shopping basket.”
To see this and more exclusive interviews from the ARF’s 75th luncheon, go to the business page of rollingout.com. –al weems
