New Weapon In TV Vs. Google Ad War

By Janet Stilson

TVNewsCheck, Mar 1 2010, 12:57 PM ET
There's a sales tool called AfterMath that just hit the market. And its creators are bent on correcting what they believe are client misperceptions about the relative value of TV commercials and Google AdWords per-click buys.

AfterMath is the brainchild of the sales consultancy Eckstein, Summers, Armbruster & Co. It's releasing AfterMath to its sponsor stations now in advance of a wider rollout in the months to come.
"We estimate that over a $1 billion is spent incorrectly with Google. We can change all that," claims Adam Armbruster, an ESA partner.

Armbruster contends that when search-advertising services like AdWords may seem fairly inexpensive, they aren't when measured by the actual revenue they generate.

"We came up with a cost per customer," Armbruster says, noting that demos, dayparts and markets are all part of the analysis.

AfterMath has determined that, in general, a $1.50-per-click rate with Google is equivalent to what it costs to advertise on TV stations. "When you go above $1.50, the advantage quickly tips to television, meaning you should get out of Google and buy television in a specific city," Ambruster says.

Armbruster notes that lawyers who go straight to Google pay way more than $1.50 — between $25 and $50 per click, depending on the market.

Some sales executives may take some convincing.

Brooke Knight Warner, general manager of WBOC Interactive in Salisbury, Md., notes the branding power of online promotions. "The relationships you can build [online] — those bonds are so strong they don't always convert immediately," she says.

Warner hasn't heard the AfterMath sales pitch yet. But Jeffrey Ulrich, senior director of digital sales strategy and training at Cox Media Group, has and he considers it a one-of-a-kind sales tool. ESA "has thoroughly analyzed the numbers and the ratios," he says.

But, he adds, he will not be using it to sell against Google. In fact, he says, Cox resells Google to clients and considers it to be just one arrow in its sales quiver.

Ulrich sees AfterMath as a way to have "honest discussions with clients about all the tools that are out there."

Armbruster is on the same page. As long as clients are buying from stations' toolbox, all is well. But "clients are going off on their own willy-nilly and are just getting taken" by buying directly from Google. That's what ESA is trying to counteract.

Not everyone needs AfterMath to understand TV's relative value. "I know that if I spend $2,000 on television, I'll get more signed-up clients than if I spend $2,000 on online," says Joe Laub, president of Laub & Laub LLC, a law practice with offices in Nevada and California.

Ellen Dykes, director of marketing and advertising at Great American Home Store, a furniture retailer in Tennessee, can also tell from the business that walks in the door that "TV commercials are far more efficient than any other form of media we could buy."

The metrics of AfterMath come at a critical time. Gordon Borrell, of Borrell Associates, notes that the economic triggers that played out in 2009 caused many clients to reassess the value of their online ad strategy. And he expects that many will tilt back toward traditional media, including TV, over the course of 2010.