I’m not sure about you, but I crave good news. Maybe it’s because I’m the eternal optimist. Everywhere you turn its more gloom and doom. Bad housing market. Layoffs. Higher unemployment. Shaky stock market. Bailouts. This stuff dominates the media’s attention leaving little time or energy for any sign of good news.

It pisses me off. There are good things happening, I know it. They should talk about it, share it. 

The other night I’m watching the news and during the commercial break I saw this spot for GM that talks about them rallying in these tough times. People in the spot were wearing rally caps (inside out baseball hats for those of you not familiar). The spot’s tone is uplifting and, get this, positive. I couldn’t believe it. Immediately following this spot is AT&T with another spot that taps into the power of positive thinking. This one talks about how, for every downturn, there’s an upturn while touting some of the cool things they are doing for the long-term.

Those 60 seconds were great. Two ads that attempted to turn a negative into a positive for their brands, flipping the script a bit and taking a different angle. I don’t think much of either brand, but I respect their current POV: Some optimism.

One way to break through the clutter is to go counter to what’s in the news. For these brands, who knows if it’ll work, but I know I appreciated their optimism. I sure hope others catch on.

We all have an opinion of what the new year will hold.  My opinion is that we’ll see a focus on accountability in marketing.

Since the economy is in a “depression,” the marketing budget tends to be the first cut or minimized.  Though this is counter intuitive to what we may have been taught in school or told in the field.  Interpublic Group’s Mediabrands’ chief executive, Nick Brien was quoted in the WSJ as saying, “Ads have to get combative in bad times.  It’s a dog fight, and it’s about getting leaner and meaner.”

Though I’m not aggressive by nature, I do agree with getting “leaner and meaner,” or at least focusing and making your marketing budget work for you and making it accountable. These two reasons are why I’m passionate about digital media.

Accountability lies at the heart of digital media’s wonderful tracking abilities.  Though these abilities can vary from site or service, the basics are the number of people that see the message and the number of people that take action by clicking on your ad.  The analytic in me likes tracking on a more micro level.  I love to see what specific ad (size, copy and channel) is doing the best and then optimizing the campaign.  This gives the biggest bang for the buck (making your budget work for you).

Though the same WSJ article states that “banner ads will be the new junk mail,” this tracking information is not just available for online banner campaigns.  It’s also accessible for SEM, email blasts, widgets and even some social networks. Please keep in mind I’m not media biased.  I love the analytics in other mediums too.

For example, gross rating points (GRPs) in radio and television are a form of tracking.  Though these numbers are based on small sample sizes versus actual numbers, if your agency posts its holding these vendors accountable and making your budget work for you. Also, out of home is building up its technology arsenal.  This includes facial recognition of demography (young/old, male/female) to deliver a targeted message.  And sending information to your cell phone as you walk by (thank you, Bluetooth).  And, with technology, comes trackability.

So, take this time of the New Year and think about how to add some accountability to your marketing plan.

I’m not going to take it anymore. It’ll be hard, but I’m going to have to turn off the news. No more Morning Edition, definitely no more Marketplace, and I’m going to have to do something about my trigger finger — the one that rolls the mouse and instantly clicks on the New York Times link.

NO MORE.

If I hear any more fear or panic or predictions or forecasts or studies about how awful the world is going to be in three months, six months, the fourth quarter of 2025, it’s going to be a life of Camel Lights and flannel bathrobes.

For two years, we were bombarded with “hope” and “change” and the “real America.” Now, it’s “crisis” and “bailout” and “loss” and “deflation” and “worst since” and “impending” and “percentage drop” and “vampires.”

While my macro professor would argue that economics is truth based in numbers and figures (or at least charts), like anything we “read,” I’m choosing to believe it’s all up for interpretation. Maybe the reporters are just really scared. As newspaper sales decline, maybe managing editors see hope in hyperbole. Maybe those rational economists out there thrive on the hype and, with the election over, finally see their big break.

An article in today’s New York Times suggests that many consumers seem to be spending more as a way to control costs. We save money by buying big screen TVs at Wal-Mart rather than Best Buy and purchasing more than we need at discount warehouse stores.  A professor of behavioral economics at MIT explains that rational would mean that you take all possible information into account and you make the optimal decision. But I have a more relaxed definition, which is that rational decisions are those you make and don’t regret later.

Rational shmational…I think I’ll just find my own reality.

While it may be hard to remain positive about the economic impact on the advertising business over the next 12 to 24 months, there will be consequential benefits. Clients and their agencies will be even more accountable for their media spending on both traditional and non-traditional media. On the bright side, media strategies and tactics will provide greater focus on only the most important objectives.

Most clients do not have the money of Barack Obama to flood the broadcast TV and radio air waves and saturate the internet with search and social marketing. As a result, their media buying decisions have to be smarter.

One new example of a smart and highly visible opportunity is Titan Outdoor’s launch of multiple digital transit boards/displays which will allow advertisers to target people using GPS coordinates. The boards will be on bus exteriors, transit platforms, interior commuter rails and at street level. The message can change depending on the time of day or which area of a city the board is located. Advertisers buying the whole city could tailor their message by area or a small retailer can just talk to people within a set geographic area. Imagine how much stronger the messages will be when they can relate to the consumer in the here (geographically speaking) and now.

It’s yet another example of how the opportunities across the media are endless for those who see their potential.