Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

At AdExchanger’s Industry Preview on Wednesday, Vaynerchuk shared his provocative views with an audience of digital industry professionals who he clearly wanted to shake up: “I believe this entire space is broken not in a bad way, but from the way I see the world.” And what is that? He believes that brand marketers, agencies, and tech suppliers, see everything based on a short-term vision. “Everyone talks about return on ad spend, click-throughs… everything is math and metrics but meanwhile, the business is in the tank,” he said. “There’s a disconnect,” he says -- and he blames short-term thinking, and the industry’s obsession with “math” and metrics.

“Common sense needs to enter ad tech,” he said, rating the common-sense element at “zero.” He also blamed much of the existing dysfunction on programmatic and “behavior that is so predicated in the moment or in the machine.” And he boldly stated to the audience: “You don’t believe in what you’re selling.” He said everyone in the room is concerned about short-term returns, and brand managers worry about making the numbers quarter by quarter, instead of taking a longer view.

All of this is taking place within the context of extreme channel conflict, where marketers are increasingly going direct consumer....