"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know what half."~ John Wanamaker
John Wanamaker is the man most credit for having said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know what half.”
For generations advertising sales reps have been using Wanamaker’s quote to scare advertisers into renewing their ad agreements. They twisted Wanamaker’s words to mean that it was impossible to eliminate bad advertising without taking out the good stuff too. In other words, if you decide to throw out the bath water you have effectively decided to toss the baby too.
Wanamaker would have disagreed. What he was actually saying is that with better analytical tools he could weed out even more wasteful ad spend. The mere fact that in the year 1919 Wanamaker wasn’t satisfied with a 50% conversion rate is telling.
Today we have the tools that Wanamaker dreamed about. Of course, media reps misrepresenting Wanamaker’s words 90 years later might not be aware of such things. Keep that in mind and resolve never to do business with anyone who thinks wasting 50% of your ad budget is an acceptable loss.
You might not recall the name John Wanamaker, but he has influenced a lot of bad marketing decisions. He is the guy most attribute to having first said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know what half.” The typical advertising sales rep takes Wanamaker out of context by suggesting the risk of reducing ad spend far exceeds any cost savings that might result. Actually, Wanamaker was just expressing frustration about how hard it was to quantify measure results. I can see how that might have been true in 1919 when Wanamaker uttered these remarks, but technology has come a long way since then.Ofcourse itisfair toassume advertising sales reps conjuring upWanamaker’s 90years later might not beaware ofthese tools. A more sinister view isthat they are aware and figured out they are better ofsticking with Wanamaker.You might not recall the name John Wanamaker, but he has influenced a lot of bad marketing decisions. He is the guy most attribute to having first said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know what half.” The typical advertising sales rep takes Wanamaker out of context by suggesting the risk of reducing ad spend far exceeds any cost savings that might result. Actually, Wanamaker was just expressing frustration about how hard it was to quantify measure results. I can see how that might have been true in 1919 when Wanamaker uttered these remarks, but technology has come a long way since then.Ofcourse itisfair toassume advertising sales reps conjuring upWanamaker’s 90years later might not beaware ofthese tools. A more sinister view isthat they are aware and figured out they are better ofsticking with Wanamaker.You might not recall the name John Wanamaker, but he has influenced a lot of bad marketing decisions. He is the guy most attribute to having first said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know what half.” The typical advertising sales rep takes Wanamaker out of context by suggesting the risk of reducing ad spend far exceeds any cost savings that might result. Actually, Wanamaker was just expressing frustration about how hard it was to quantify measure results. I can see how that might have been true in 1919 when Wanamaker uttered these remarks, but technology has come a long way since then.Ofcourse itisfair toassume advertising sales reps conjuring upWanamaker’s 90years later might not beaware ofthese tools. A more sinister view isthat they are aware and figured out they are better ofsticking with Wanamaker.
