Vulcans, Earthlings and Marketing ROI

Co-published with the Institute of Communication Agencies

Every few years, business is galvanized by a new concept. Accountability is the latest idea in the spotlight. It’s a huge topic, and in the broadest sense embraces ethics, corporate governance, and all the issues spawned by the recent spate of business scandals. Vulcans, Earthlings and Marketing ROI deals with a more pragmatic aspect: the accountability behind the question “Are our investments in marketing and advertising sensible and successful, short and long term, from a business point of view?”

In Part 1 the authors establish that finance, marketing, and advertising share common ground in the value of brands. Part 2 reviews the evidence for the business impact of marketing and advertising, summarizing key research and practical experience. Part 3 outlines what it takes to build an accountability culture and profiles some techniques that are useful for framing and measuring the business impact of marketing and advertising investment. The book is intended for anyone with an interest in accountability as it applies to short- and long-term marketing effort.

David Rutherford is a consultant, specializing in marketing, advertising, and business writing. He is also the long-standing editor for the CASSIES, the annual awards show for advertising that proves business-building effectiveness via a rigorous written case. Rutherford also wrote the ICA guide to Client-Agency Evaluation, and is editor and contributing author for the ICA book Excellence in Brand Communication.

Jonathan Knowles runs two brand consulting firms―Structured Intuition (based in Toronto) and Type 2 Consulting (based in New York). He is co-author of the ICA report “Measuring and Valuing Brand Equity”, and his articles on the role of brand in business have appeared in the Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, and The Wall Street Journal.