Women Still Not on a Level Playing Field...

A new government report found that women have made few inroads into management positions over the past decade and still face a persistent pay gap with their male counterparts. The findings, released today by the Government Accountability Office, and reported in the New York Times, showed that in 2007, the latest data available, women accounted for about 40% of managers in the U.S. work force. That number is up just slightly from 2000, when women held 39% of management positions.

Meanwhile, the pay gap between male and female managers-–especially those who are parents–still remains strong. Among the managerial ranks, women full-time managers earned 81 cents for every dollar earned by male full-time managers in 2007. However, female managers fared worse if they were mothers; managers who were mothers earned 79 cents of every dollar paid to managers who were fathers, after adjusting for things like age and education. This gap has stayed the same since at least 2000, the Times reported.

Perhaps as a result of this “motherhood penalty,” female managers are less likely to have children—or even be married– than male managers. In 2007, 63% of female managers were childless, compared with just 57% of male managers. Of those managers who did have children, men on average had more children than their female counterparts.

And female managers were also less likely to be married than male managers, at rates of 59% vs. 74%, respectively.

“When working women have kids, they know it will change their lives, but they are stunned at how much it changes their paycheck,” said N.Y. Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, who requested the report, to the Times.

How do women fare in the managerial ranks at your employers? Are the female managers you know less likely to have children or be married than their male counterparts?

Because Ads in College Newspapers make college students drink more....

Advertisers: Allow Booze Ads in Campus Papers

Advertisers today called on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the state of Virginia's ban on most alcohol advertising in college newspapers, saying the law restricts free speech.

The court should "step in to stop the growing trend of government regulators to censor more and more speech directed to adults because those at the threshold of adulthood might see it," Dan Jaffe, exec VP for government relations for the Association of National Advertisers, said in a statement.

The association is joining the 4A's and American Advertising Federation in asking the court to overturn a recent appeals court ruling that upheld the long-standing regulation. The ad groups argue that the ruling runs counter to the Supreme Court's trend of "increasing protection for commercial speech," according to a brief filed with the Supreme Court, which also points out that many students are of legal drinking age.

Virginia prohibits student-run campus publications from running alcohol ads unless they are "in reference to a dining establishment." The exempted ads cannot refer to a particular brand or price and instead must use generic phrases such as "beer," "wine" or "cocktails."

The Cavalier Daily, at the University of Virginia, and the The Collegiate Times, at Virginia Tech, each blame the law for $30,000 in lost advertising revenue annually.

The newspapers say the regulation violates their First Amendment rights and they won an initial case before a district court. But the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond overturned the ruling, finding the government has a "substantial interest" in keeping the ban in place.

The appeals court sided with the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which asserts that "history, consensus and common sense support the link between advertising bans in college newspapers and a decrease in demand for alcohol among college students," according to court filings.

The college newspapers countered that the ban on alcohol advertising is ineffective because students will still see ads for alcohol in other non-student-run publications.

Branding Grows as Online Ad Objective

While online advertising has been primarily a direct-response-focused space, brand-focused spending is growing, according to a new report by eMarketer.

"Many of the largest advertisers have shown little interest in the internet ads often most suited to branding," said David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst. "But that trend is changing -- and with it the spending focus of many brand marketers."

By 2014 nearly 42 percent of online ad dollars in the U.S. will be spent on branding, compared to just 35.7 percent today, the firm reported.

"Some of today's greatest success stories in online branding blend ingredients from three kinds of marketing media: paid, owned and earned," Hallerman said. However, "marketers must learn to construct campaigns that rely on all three types of media to engage with consumers and amplify brand messages. Paid, owned and earned media all contribute to the whole and to one another."

Overvaluing vs. Undervaluing Online Media

Digital media measurement is a mess, and we're all responsible for it. There are multiple vendors producing ever-growing quantities of data that often do not agree with each other, even directionally. There is no "currency" that governs the planning, buying and delivery of guaranteed audiences for advertising flights. What's more, as an industry we have contributed and created the faulty perception that online advertising is not brand hospitable because of the way we have allowed online advertising to be evaluated and bought on direct response metrics like clicks and actions.

For too long, we as an industry have fueled the problem and done little to suggest solutions. As a result, it has created a complex and costly supply chain and compromised the ability of marketers, ad agencies and publishers to be accountable for advertising expenditures.

A solution is possible
The IAB, the ANA and the 4As have joined forces in an effort to solve the measurement mess and live up to the promise of being the most accountable medium.

We need you -- the industry's best and brightest. For the good of the industry, we need to put aside competitive differences in order to find a radical rethink for digital and cross-platform measurement. We are forming a cross-industry coalition of experts drawn from consumer marketing companies, advertising agencies and media companies that will identify and create consensus around the metrics and systems that are needed to run our businesses. The coalition will identify a solution that embraces the needs of all digital media in a platform agnostic fashion.

In addition to creating the solution, we need a pervasive and ongoing system of accountability. We must create a governing body -- an industry-wide body that sets standards and ensures that measurement will consistently address the evolving needs of the industry. For example, the Media Rating Council (MRC) could play the role of the governing body, but it would need to be empowered to do so across media, which would take broader support from marketers, agencies and media organizations.

Time to stop scapegoating
Measurement must be approached as a business process that incorporates research science rather than as a research process that seeks support from the businesses. And that business process must be one that incorporates a vision and a structure for change management, innovation and quality assurance. Discrete research RFP's alone cannot fix the problem.

It is mission critical that measurement and metrics stop being the favorite scapegoat of the media business. Media, both traditional and digital, have long blamed measurement for multiple revenue maladies. As an ecosystem, we must stop talking the talk and begin walking the walk.

The structure, process and objectives of the proposed solution are a distillation of many voices of many thinkers throughout the ecosystem and inspired by the findings of a report ("Digital Marketing Metrics: How Can Innovation Unlock More Dollars?") done for the IAB and the 4A's by McKinsey & Co.

And for industry to take control
It is time for the entire ecosystem to take control of measurement. That includes defining and using metrics that matter -- metrics that take us from counting exposures to valuing exposures to contributing to brand health to putting paid and earned media together in creative cross platform campaigns -- and providing easy to use post-buy analyses. Yes, you just read that long bombastic sentence. And you will read it again because it captures the dire needs we have today. They will be exacerbated if we do not solve them now.

The ANA, the 4As and the IAB together with any sensible businessperson who wants to follow consumers in a digitally transformed world are waiting for you.

I can't wait to hear from you.