Unfortunately, judging by the number of folks that find their way to my blog by searching for "how to calculate AVEs," we are. So, I suppose the question isn't so much "are we" as "why are we?" The industry, rightly so, is largely moving away from its use as a measure of anything meaningful.
The topic has been debated to (near) death. With the exception of the intriguing use that Angela Jeffrey at VMS puts AVEs (market proxy in her lingo) to, it's a shame the metric hasn't itself died. In addition to KD Paine's entire book chapter on the topic, here's a small sampling of some of the other recent chit chat on the topic out there:
PR is about so much more than product-related media coverage. And it's much more than a support function to marketing. We know it's about relationships (what Grunig refers to as interest group liberalism), trust, corporate social responsibility, reputation etc. All of these can and should be measured not just for measurement sake but to continue to legitimize the profession.
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About Alan Chumley
In the newly-created role of Director, Measurement, Alan works with clients from the business development phase all the way through their relationship with Hill & Knowlton, identifying the ideal metrics for defining, and then measuring success. Alan marries his background as a communications practitioner with a deep understanding and experience in measuring communications to deliver measurable impact.
An active blogger and frequent speaker, Alan is also a resource on trends, theories and the latest insights in measurement.
Prior to joining Hill & Knowlton, Alan was the Vice-President, Business Development, at Cormex Research, a Canadian media content analysis and measurement firm. Before this, Alan held increasingly senior positions on both the client and supplier side including: CNW Group (formerly Canada Newswire) as Director, Media Intelligence Services; Bell Canada as Associate Director of Corporate Communication, and ING Canada as Marketing Communications Specialist.
Alan is a graduate of the University of Waterloo and holds a post-graduate certificate in public relations from Ryerson University and an M.A. in communication and culture from York University with research focusing on media effects and uses, audience analysis, reception studies and best practices in PR management and measurement. Alan teaches a course in research and program evaluation in Ryerson University’s post-graduate PR certificate program and is a member of the Canadian Public Relations Society’s Measurement Committee.