Many PR Pros Are Using AVE’s. Why are we surprised?
June 23, 2009 by Chuck
DISCLAIMER: Don’t crucify me for what I’m about to say if you are one of the good PR pros not using AVE’s to measure performance.
Ah, Advertising Value Equivalencies. There is seemingly no topic that gets the PR profession more in an uproar faster than AVE’s. Why? I honestly don’t have any idea, mostly because there are still a great many practitioners that are still using the arcane metric to measure performance. Last week, Katie Paine wrote a post following her trip to Berlin for the AMEC Summit on Measurment indicating that of the approximately 150 people in the room, almost all raised their hands when asked if they were using AVE’s. Katie, rightfully so, was confused as to why so many would be using a metric that clearly has no place in the measurement discussion.
I obviously agree with Katie that AVE’s should not be used as a measurement tool, but I’m not surprised that so many are using them to measure their performance. Why? As I noted on Katie’s blog, the real issue is not necessarily that pros are using them (though it’s a biggie), it’s that we have many PR pros who are not capable of having the measurement conversation with their clients. If the client wants to use AVE’s, that’s what they get. The real curiosity, at least for me, is that many of these same PR pros are MORE THAN capable of pushing back on clients when faced with difficult business/communications problems. Why is this different? I’m sure many of you have read the literature on why AVE’s do not make sense (if you haven’t, check out these posts from Don Bartholomew to start), so why are we continuing to take a client’s lead on this? Is it the client’s want to produce something tangible to show management? If that’s the case, there are PLENTY of other metrics that your boss would be more interested in, trust me. Can you help me? If you are still using them, I would love to hear from you. If you aren’t, I’d love to hear why not.