The election and your marketing ROI

As a marketer I am often asked to analyze the potential ROI of a particular campaign or marketing venture. This can often be a lot harder than it looks. Many parts of the ROI are embedded deep under the skin of the consumer and don’t show up on a dollar and cents spread sheet.

If you look at the 2008 election in terms of return on investment there is something deceiving about the numbers.

Looking at the dollars spent and votes cast we see McCain spent about $3.50 less than Obama. But in the end we know the net result and the brand that Barrack Obama has built.

Among the things not factored in is the general intangibles - in this case Obama’s win plants him not only in the White House but firmly in the American zeitgeist as well. How do we measure that? If that were a point on the metrics when establishing the ROI what dollar figure would be appropriate?

In the end marketing investment metrics need to not only ask what is the “sales goal” but what is the intrinsic value to the brand? The hardest part will be quantifying that.