 Brent Lowe-Bernie
President
Media Metrix Canada Co.
(First published July 11/00)
Asked his thoughts on a topic, Brent Lowe-Bernie, president of Media Metrix Canada Co. since Jan., 2000, often tends to answer in the third person.
"Brent thinks that..." he might say. Or, on a subject to which he's often been questioned, he might offer a "Brentism".
Asked why, he explains: "What I say is only my opinion. It may not be the popular opinion or what others think. It's simply what Brent thinks, and I want to stress that."
Nevertheless, it has obviously become second nature to the man who leads the Internet measurement company. Media Metrix was first off the mark in giving ratings regarding Canadian Internet at-home usage, and has been offering figures since the beginning of the year in the English market. It has just launched its first French market at-home usage figures, and will shortly also be measuring Internet usage at work in both French and English markets. And it is now getting into measuring 'convergence' with a current small test in the homes in British Columbia that are people-metered by BBM Bureau of Measurement.
While BBM subsidiary ComQUEST Research is a minority owner of Media Metrix, Lowe-Bernie and his team stress the independence of their measurement service and, in fact, are moving out of the BBM offices in Don Mills, Ont., which gave them their startup to set up their own quarters closer to the Toronto agency world and to stress that independence.
"We like to link to a local research house in each country where we operate." says Lowe-Bernie. "For example, in Brazil and many European countries, we're linked with IPSOS. And in Canada, Nielsen has its own ratings system, so we wouldn't link with it."
Room for Two Internet Ratings Services?
But the connection with BBM does rather bring into focus that the battle between BBM and Nielsen to be 'the' recognized people meter rating service in broadcast extends now into the Internet field, since Nielsen NetRatings service is now being launched in Canada.
"There's room for more than one ratings service," says Lowe-Bernie, who from 1981-92 worked for Nielsen Marketing Research himself. "But Media Metrix will be number one. We're going to leverage our being at the top in the U.S. to being number one in Canada. And rather than trying to be an expert in everything, especially in such a fast business, all our resources are on the Internet. Media Metrix specializes. We concentrate."
As a leader in Internet and Digital Media measurement, Media Metrix measures the full digital universe: the World Wide Web, Online Services such as AOL, computer software, and other interactive applications. Real-time, daily data is collected automatically and reported monthly. The company offers a wide array of products, services and data delivery options to meet specific client and marketplace needs.
Media Metrix's Key Measures Report offers such information as unique visitors; reach; average usage days per user; average unique pages per user per day and month; average minutes spent per person per page, per day and per month; age and gender composition; and demographic composition. The Report is available monthly via Media Metrix Canada's Web 1.0 Web-based delivery system.
Media Metrix in the U.S. recently announced the purchase of the forecasting company Jupiter which, if it goes through as expected, will further strengthen the company's offerings.
"It will help customers save time in making it even easier to interpret data and what it means, among many advantages," says Lowe-Bernie.
A Budding Disc Jockey
Lowe-Bernie had left the presidency of Harris Media Systems and was doing consulting work for companies like Generation Five when he learned of Media Metrix coming into Canada and met with the key people in the U.S..
"It was a good, instantaneous fit, and I wanted to get in on the ground floor," he says. "I'm a going forward type of guy."
The Media Metrix head has been 'going forward' ever since he got into the grocery business at the age of 15, learning at each stage and early on, understanding the value of good customer service. He stayed in the grocery business, full and part time, for eight years. Money earned went mainly to further his education, while he was storing up his knowledge of ordering, management and satisfying customers for future use.
Interest in music and an original goal of becoming a disc jockey led to studies at Ryerson Polytechnic University in radio and television arts in the Bachelor of Applied Arts program. This led, in turn, to positions in programming, operations scheduling and eventually in market research with Global Television. Simultaneously, he went back to earn a Certificate in Marketing Management through night school. And during that time, his interest in the music or TV production side waned as he leaned more to the business aspect. Broadcast, on reflection, wasn't necessarily what he wanted to do. Nor was only tumbling numbers in straight research.
Moving to the media group in Nielsen Marketing Research, Lowe-Bernie got into the sales side of the business, calling on agencies, advertisers and broadcasters, then getting involved with launch of People Meters as well as the Nielsen Computer Product Index, launched to measure sales of computers and peripherals. He was named vice-president in 1991.
"I always said that I'd never get into sales, but the bug bit and it turned out that I love it," he says. "Sales is helping people. You go out, not to sell, but to help people. If you go with that perspective, you will sell."
Next stop was Compusearch Micromarketing and Systems as vice-president sales then on to Harris as v-p sales and then president.
"I've learned at each company, not just the job. I learned a lot about integrity, honour and ethics from Bob Harris (late founder of Harris Media Systems)," says Lowe-Bernie.
Goal Oriented from the Get-Go
Education and work ethics both play an important role in his life. He credits his parents for his old fashioned work ethics. Both worked and encouraged him to be goal-oriented.
"When I went to Nielsen, I was originally told I'd do more service than sales, and so I was determined to be the best darn service person there was. That developed relationships which led to sales.
"Now Media Metrix is going to be the best service business, the best in personal delivery. We're building a dream team of people from all different backgrounds and media experience, and clients are going to find that we're the ones who are going to service better. That's what works!"
Education a Key Role
Media Metrix is also playing, and going to play, more of an educational role, if Lowe-Bernie has his way.
"We want to help people learn how to deal with and use the information effectively," he says. "People are drowning in data. It causes mental gridlock and they either can't make decisions, or make bad ones. And most don't have the time to train people.
"So our role is as much one of education as it is of marketing and research. For the benefit of the Internet business, we want to help people use the information to problem solve and turn it into an action plan.
"Generally, in research, there are nuggets of opportunity that can help fuel breakthrough marketing plans. For the most part, it takes a schooled practitioner to find them, but when they do, it can change the financial future of a company. It can involve trends, or categories, or something else. It's fascinating."
And with the Internet still being a baby, its future on how to connect to different groups and relate to other media and targets is just beginning.
For students wanting to get into the field, Lowe-Bernie suggests that having a background in statistics helps. "And communication skills are huge, because you have to be able to take the data and be able to talk about it in a language that senior management can understand."
Data Availability Should Ease Advertisers' Reticence
"The Internet isn't a panacea for every problem. It's one clear direct marketing channel, but it must fit in with a marketing plan. Once management has the data in hand, it can see how it matches up with the company's demographic target. Then it might see where it could strike promotional deals with sites that are growing, for example, perhaps with auction portals."
"Until recently, the lack of audience research has caused some reticence among advertisers, but they should realize that there are credible companies now who can help. They have to learn before they'll free up dollars. It will take time and education, so we see that as our role, along with research and sales, and we're working with the Internet Advertising Bureau of Canada and the Bureau de la publicité sur Internet au Québec in that area. On occasion, we'll also be going with advertising agencies to make presentations to clients."
Lowe-Bernie is also one of 25 members of Media Metrix's International Council, a group that concerns itself in part with measurement of new Internet developments, how they can be measured and marketed. Current topics are convergence, wireless Internet and streaming media, as well as personal digital assistants and even Gameboys.
Personal Life Essential
With a small staff and many hats to wear, Lowe-Bernie treasures his free time, spending it in more solo relaxation pursuits or with his wife Sherry, who has her own business as a women's personal trainer. Following a recent meeting of the International Council in London, he and his wife took a week to visit Scotland, a country that intrigues both.
"I feel very strongly about people having a personal life," he says. "When I'm on holidays, I totally shut off everything, including my e-mail. If the company can't work without Brent, there's a problem." His personal interests are varied, including running, weight training, music, gardening and golf, as well as the third member of his household: Velvet, a black lab.
With a constant interest in education, he also gives his time as a member of the Sheridan College Advisory Committee for the Advertising Program and as a member of the Ontario Government Education Standards Council for Advertising Courses in Colleges.
"I really like developing people," he says, admitting to a longterm goal of teaching, as well as more free time to travel with his wife.
But for now, his interests are focused on the Internet and "trying stay even with the game" in an industry that's moving ahead daily. By the fourth quarter of this year, MediaMetrix will have a new measurement tool ready that's able to measure streaming media.
"Canadians are a tech-savvy country," he says. "They spent more time on the Internet in December/99 than did Americans (although usually they're surfing about four hours a month less than the Americans). Cable took off first in Canada. And cell phones and VCRs took off quickly. We're inquisitive people."
A 'Brentism"
The number of eyeballs using the Internet isn't the only thing that's important, and Lowe-Bernie's job is also to make sure people realize that.
"Stickiness (the length of time a user stays on a site) is really important," he stresses. "Here's a Brentism: As an Internet site, I'd would rather be number two in reach if I could be number one in stickiness.
"As a client, you want stickiness, so content is king, to keep users on your site. If you don't have content, you may get reach, but not stickiness. You're dead, a mouse click away. Even with broadband and high speed, with control of the distribution channel more important, in the end, content is still king.
Measurement numbers are most important to the big worldwide brands, the Cokes, Visas, Volkswagens and General Motors, for brand awareness and for knowledge of what it delivers if they buy all the major worldwide portals, for example, says Lowe-Bernie. But the Internet can direct market deliver on a more local level, too, by country, or continent, or the English-speaking world, as examples.
"As a rule, I don't think companies care how many eyeballs are on their site. They care how many people will buy their product. Rather than play the cost-per-eyeball game, it's time for a shift to more targeted selling and buying. Clients don't want the best 'deal' in terms of big sites and low costs. What they want is the best target group. Information is now available, so it's time to move away from the CPM and CPC (cost-per-thousand and cost-per-click), and to price accordingly.
Lowe-Bernie thinks that measurement of the Internet is going to follow the path of audience profiling, similar to magazines, rather than it being a ratings game.
Internet Will Affect Magazines
"There's tremendous value in the qualitative side of the information game - things like lifestyle and media habits." he says. "How people are different, and how they become different types of Internet users, are topics that are going to be more important to Web site operators as the Internet becomes more mainstream. The Internet is a highly interactive, objective-oriented, self-directed medium. It's not so much just for surfing around anymore. People now go to it for a reason. They make a choice, in the same way they make a conscious choice for magazines.
"So I think that magazines could be affected by time spent with the Internet, more so than television, despite convergence of the Internet and TV. Television is a passive entertainment vehicle that people use when they don't want to think. They won't use it in the same way as the Internet, no matter which monitor or screen they're using at the time."
New Services
In another six-to-nine months, Media Metrix will offer AdRelevance service in Canada. Media Metrix's U.S. parent company acquired the company AdRelevance, a provider of advertising measurement and intelligent agent ad tracking technology, late in 1999. AdRelevance Ad Reporting Service systematically scours commercial sites on the Web searching for and capturing for analysis detailed data about advertising banners, promotions, sponsorships, text links and rich media. It offers data on ad spending, placement, creative and competitive online advertising market share. Clients can query the AdRelevance database and generate Web-based reports on demand.
Another service due in Canada by about year-end is MyMetrix.com, a service that allows client Web sites to customize reports and analysis based on Media Metrix's database of audience measurement statistics.
Lowe-Bernie says that not much data is yet available to link Web surfing with purchasing behavior in Canada.
"Canada is two-to two-and-a-half years behind the U.S., with Quebec lagging the rest of Canada," he says. Right now it's more important to build the service and then we'll get to that. We have four markets: agencies; financial (venture capitalists and banks), web publishers, and clients. It's a challenge. There are some early adopters, such as M2 Universal and Bell Actimedia, that are quick to acquire information. But some agencies don't even have an interactive department.
"So we have to market on all sides, and have to do education on all sides as well."
These and other new developments keep Lowe-Bernie running. He says his personal strength is his drive and energy. It sounds like he'll need it.
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