As marketers, we all seem to think that to some degree or another, all advertising should be performance advertising and measurable; however, we all know the limitations with measuring the impact of offline advertising. At the moment, Performance Marketing seems to be relatively relegated to online channels due to the tracking systems in place and the ability to tie back interactions with ad channels directly to conversions. Offline advertising relies on correlation analysis and inference of how channels impact the overall purchase behaviour.

It seems in the near future that the realm of Performance Advertising could get a lot bigger and start to include those less measurable offline channels. That is if Google has anything to say about it. Google has recently patented its Gaze Tracking System, officially making it public last week. The platform leverages a head-mounted device that can identify exactly what a person is looking at; even measuring emotional responses via pupil dilation. The idea of wearing a head-mounted device may seem absurd; however, Google Glass may become the next technological fad, meaning we’re all going to want to be wearing them anyways.

The impact on advertising could be the “Pay per Gaze” model. By being able to identify exactly what a user is looking at, and engaging with, Google could become the first company to provide direct performance metrics with respect to viewing offline advertising. With a “Pay per Gaze” model, advertisers would be charged based, in some degree, by the number of times their ad was actually seen. Print, Outdoor, and other forms of advertising may all join the ranks of Performance Advertising.

The amount of data that would be collected, anonymously of course, will allow advertisers to identify prime advertising locations, know the exact reach of an advertising medium, and be able to value their ad distribution based on an exactly calculated reach, rather than based on the overly generous estimates we have to work with currently.

With a Pay-per-Gaze model, or merely being able to tap into the data collected by this new “Gaze Tracking System,” advertisers as a whole could be a lot more accountable and are going to be able to better identify which half of our marketing is actually working. Attribution windows and gaze log tracking will be able to correlate and provide information on the impact of advertising on direct revenue conversion. “How did that Point of Sale advertisement work?” We’ll finally have a better answer.


About the Author
Kyle joined Mediative about 5 ½ years ago and has been working as a Digital Marketing Strategist since that time; although his official title is Performance Media Manager. Kyle’s passion is Digital Marketing Strategies and Integrated Marketing Communications. Although an expert in online Paid Advertising, Kyle seeks to look at the whole picture and welcomes the opportunity to talk holistic Digital Marketing Strategies. Kyle has worked with some of Mediative’s largest Paid Search accounts; managing accounts in excess of 1 million keywords and a monthly spend of over $1 million. He is able to combine his skills in data analysis and marketing ability to develop highly targeted ad messaging and campaigns, aiming to not only access the correct target market, but to speak to them with the right language. Although, his largest accounts have been in the B2B e-commerce space, Kyle has also successfully managed lead generation and branding campaigns in both the B2C and B2B markets. During his tenure at Mediative, Kyle has gained in-depth experience on a multitude of Analytics and bid management platforms such as Google Analytics, CoreMetrics, Omniture, Marin Software and Acquisio.