These are the nominees for the 2012-2013 DAA Board of Directors Election. The election runs until June 18, 2012 at 23:59 GMT (7:59 PM ET, 4:59 PM PT).

Read an important note from your Board of Directors about changes to the election process.

Slate (Yes/No)

• Peter Fader, Professor of Marketing; Co-Director of the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (USA)
  Higher education

Background

Peter S. Fader is the Frances and Pei-Yuan Chia Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His expertise centers around the analysis of behavioral data to understand and forecast customer shopping/purchasing activities. He works with firms from a wide range of industries, such as consumer packaged goods, interactive media, financial services, retailing, and pharmaceuticals. Managerial applications focus on topics such as customer relationship management, lifetime value of the customer, and sales forecasting for new products. Much of his research highlights the consistent (but often surprising) behavioral patterns that exist across these industries and other seemingly different domains.

Many of these cross-industry experiences have led to the development of the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative, a new research center that serves as a “matchmaker” between leading-edge academic researchers and top companies that depend on granular, customer-level data for key strategic decisions.

Professor Fader believes that marketing should not be viewed as a “soft” discipline, and he frequently works with different companies and industry associations to improve managerial perspectives in this regard. His work has been published in (and he serves on the editorial boards of) a number of leading journals in marketing, statistics, and the management sciences. He has won many awards for his teaching and research accomplishments.

What major contribution will you bring to Digital Analytics Association and its membership?

Much tighter (and hopefully more fruitful) connections with faculty, students, and others associated with the academic community.

Why should members vote for you?

I would bring a very unique set of perspectives and skills to the DAA. Furthermore, I can help create more exposure for the DAA to the academic community.

Where do you think the Digital Analytics Association should be in the next two years?

As much as I enjoy being an analytics geek (like most active DAA members), we need to broaden our footprint and get more “normal people” – albeit ones with a strong interest in analytics – to the table.

How can you specifically assist DAA with the expansion to the digital analytics industry?

Access to the academic community.

What is your vision for DAA long term?

The move from WAA to DAA was a great first step in the kind of broadening noted above. But it’s got to be more than just surface-level changes like that. Only a teeny tiny fraction of analytically minded students and faculty have heard of the organization, regardless of its name. It’s time to spread the word much more vigorously.

What is the biggest challenge facing the digital marketing industry?

The biggest challenge is that, despite all of today’s great technologies, toast continues to land with the buttered side down. If we can fix this problem, the world will be a much better place.

• Eric Feinberg, Senior Director, Mobile, Media & Entertainment, ForeSee (USA)
  Product or Services; Consulting/Academia

Background

Eric provides leadership to ForeSee’s mobile solutions as well as solutions related to the media and entertainment industries. He is responsible for working with product, delivery, sales and marketing teams to ensure that ForeSee continues to bring innovation and operational excellence to its mobile offerings.

Since joining ForeSee in 2004, Eric has been contributing to the strategic growth of the organization. He brings 15 years of customer-focused experience to the team, and is a frequent presenter at conferences in the U.S. and UK. Eric is the Co-Chairman of the Digital Analytics Association’s Membership Committee and serves as instructor for various trade groups on the importance and application of attitudinal analytics.

Previously, he has held positions that include web analyst, multichannel strategy consultant, usability specialist and focus group moderator. His goal is to best understand and motivate multi-channel consumers on behalf of his clients.

What major contribution will you bring to Digital Analytics Association and its membership?

I will bring passion, energy, joy and unwavering belief in what we do. As a DAA Board member, I would continue to allocate my time, effort, resources and creativity as I have done for past years to advance the DAA mission. My unique knowledge of our organization as an active on-the-ground volunteer for many years will help contribute to my success as a Board member.

Since the previous Board election, I have been honored to represent the DAA in various roles:

• Co-Founder, DAA LA Chapter: proud co-originator of our local DAA chapter
• Co-Chair, Los Angeles Symposium: originated, planned, raise funds, secured the local venue and emceed the profitable January event attended by over 250 digital analytics professionals
• Co-Chair, DAA Membership Committee: continued leadership of this key committee that is the entity responsible for, among many things, furthering the value of becoming and being a DAA members, the DAA Gala and DAA Membership meetings
• Emcee, DAA Membership Meetings and LA Symposium: regular meetings held nationwide to acknowledge our past, present and future as an association
• Mobile Analytics Thinker: already thinking outside of the web, I’ve created via the ForeSee blog and at industry events awareness of how the DAA is growing in to these new arenas

Why should members vote for you?

I have lived our history and am unafraid to communicate where I think we are/should be heading. I was present at the eMetrics Summit in Santa Barbara back in 2003 when the gem of an idea that became the WAA – now DAA – was unearthed. The people I met that week in Santa Barbara have helped me grow professionally – and personally.

I am committed to the evolution of the DAA as we spread our wings into things over and beyond web and into the multi-channel, multi-device world. Unencumbered by technology, I think our goal should be to foster thought leadership in how to solve business problems and not just find the right technology. I would appreciate any votes by the membership; they should vote for me because they want a staunch advocate for them personally and their industry. We are in this together and I can be their voice.

Where do you think the Digital Analytics Association should be in the next two years?

We will either be in the exact same place as we are now or we will be recognized as the worldwide thought leader in digital analytics theory and practice. I think we’ve got an equal shot of each. With the name change from WAA to DAA comes a great challenge. Because of our broadened focus, more associations will say that we do what they do. Our goal is to keep our base strong and grow on top of that. It will be difficult to do if we do not have a strategy and plan that the membership can rally around. As a Board member, I can help with enabling our success for the 2-year plan and beyond.

The DAA can be the vocal thought leader for what it takes to connect our companies with their customer relationships through the power of analysis. We’ve got the capabilities to understand the impact of customer experiences across channels: social media, mobile, commerce, support, content, engagement, community building, and so much more. With these increasingly prevalent and relevant touchpoints for our customers – and for our analytics community – we can grow the DAA to meet the needs of our constituents and exceed their expectations.

What is your vision for DAA long term?

The DAA should be the organization that owns all thought leadership and community activities surrounding digital analytics theory and practice not only in North America but also across the globe. The person or organization that holds the customer information holds the keys to that company’s future. The DAA represents both human beings that make magic with numbers and the technology providers that enable great data processing. This symbiosis is essential to our long term success.

How can you specifically assist DAA with the expansion to the digital analytics industry?

I applaud the DAA with taking the step of changing from a web analytics focus to encompass the broader scope of what we are capable of: a truly integrated, multi-channel and multi-device analytics approach. Two years ago, I voiced my concern about staying solely focused on web.

Expansion essentially means more: more members, more thought leadership, and more awareness in other industries. My role already encompasses more than web. I can help the DAA expand to the complete scope of what digital analytics industry can be because I have lived it for the past few years.

We can educate not only our own members to change the silo mindset from within but also to communicate out accordingly. It is critical that our Board be visible at conferences and other events beyond eMetrics to teach others about the essential role an integrated, multi-channel and device approach to analysis has for any organization that wants to thrive in the age of the multi-channel, multi-device super consumer.

What is the biggest challenge facing the digital marketing industry?

The biggest challenge facing the digital marketing industry is our inability to paint the complete customer picture. No one provider or skill set does it all. We need the integrated perspective of the customer: quantitative and qualitative. It is critical to bring together insights from behavioral, attitudinal, observational, and predictive analytics.

Customers are migratory creatures. They consume content, comparison shop, make purchases and purchase decisions, and share their opinions where and when it best serves them – on our sites, on mobile devices, through social media, and offline. We are challenged with establishing an expert measurement and analytics footprint within each channel while unearthing channel drivers, successes, failures and business outcomes. Only then, can we view cross-channel linkage and analyze integrated data to know what we know and what we don’t know. Then…we take action and drive powerful business success.

The heroes are the analysts who are at the forefront of these challenges each day. By being the thought leader in digital analytics, the DAA can help them face these issues, which will elevate their status. They will rightly be seen as the people who provide the strategic fuel that runs their organization.

• John Lovett, Senior Partner, Web Analytics Demystified (USA)
  Consulting

Background

John Lovett is a veteran industry analyst and expert consultant who has spent the past decade helping organizations to understand and measure their digital marketing activities. Lovett regularly consults with leading vendors and enterprises to offer strategic guidance for building innovative digital measurement programs. His deep industry knowledge and forward thinking perspective help both vendors and clients alike to transcend mediocrity by changing the shape of business using strategic measurement practices. Prior to joining Web Analytics Demystified, Lovett was a Senior Analyst with Forrester Research. Currently, Lovett sits on the Board of Directors for the Web Analytics Association and is anticipating the publication of his first book, Social Media Metrics Secrets (Wiley & Sons, 2011).

What major contribution will you bring to Digital Analytics Association and its membership?

As a Board member of the Digital Analytics Association, my major contribution will be to strengthen the global leadership of the organization by developing clearly defined goals and helping to articulate those goals to our member base and to the general public. Additionally, I will work to establish DAA Global as a centralized resource that empowers local chapters, Special Interest Groups, and individual members to bring their ideas, enthusiasm, and efforts to the community as a whole.

Why should members vote for you?

Members should vote for me because I bring a passion for progressing the future of digital analytics and a true desire to move our industry forward. Through education, research, standards, and public policy, I believe that we can educate consumers on the benefits of digital analytics and deliver value to businesses in pursuit of a clearer understand of customer behavior.

Where do you think the Digital Analytics Association should be in the next two years?

My hope goal is that in the next two years, the Digital Analytics Association will grow its corporate member base from 62 companies to 100 companies. Additionally, I would like to see the Digital Analytics Association continue to attract an executive-level leadership board that unites to collectively demonstrate the value of data and analysis.

How can you specifically assist DAA with the expansion to the digital analytics industry?

I will personally assist with the DAA expansion by continuing to be an evangelist and advocate for Digital Analytics in all of my public interactions. By activating local members to encourage growth and participation at the ground level and by continue to pursue corporate entities, I believe that we can significantly expand the DAA’s role in the industry.

What is your vision for DAA long term?

I would like the DAA to become the trusted source for news, information, education, and best practices on Digital Analytics. By becoming a centralized resource for not only getting involved with the Digital Analytics industry, but also the place to find out about events, legislation, jobs, vendor news, etc. we can increase our awareness and visibility while providing immense value to our members and to the general public.

What is the biggest challenge facing the digital marketing industry?

The biggest technical challenge we will face as an industry is assembling multi-channel, multi-source data at the individual consumer level. This requires data integration, profile management, and accurate data serialization to adequately capture the necessary details to make this happen. Yet, this visitor-level awareness is essential for not only improving digital experiences, but also to understand macro trends that will allow us to see behavioral patterns in our data and to effectively predict desired outcomes.

The biggest ethical challenge we will face as an industry is individual privacy. As much as my former statement is critical to the evolution of digital analytics, so too are the privacy considerations that go along with it. We will need to be a leading association for ethical stewardship of digital data and to educate and train on best practices for data handling and governance.

At Large Nominees (Pick 2)

• Terry Cohen, SVP, Strategy & Analytics, Digitas (USA)
  Vendor (agency)

Background

As Senior Vice President of Strategy and Analytics at Digitas (a leading global integrated brand agency), Terry provides leadership on analytics, and marketing strategy for Fortune 100 companies . She has been a pioneer in developing the digital analytics capability at Digitas throughout her 16 year tenure. Her accomplishments include designing analytics engines for acquisition and CRM, development of measurement frameworks and methodologies, management of web analytics and research partnerships and solutions, and digital and web analytics training for hundreds of analytics practitioners.

Terry has both B2C and B2B experience across a wide number of industries including financial services, travel, CPG, entertainment, electronics, telecommunications, publishing, and pharmaceuticals. Prior to working at Digitas, Terry worked in technology development at GTE as well as holding various roles in television research and marketing consulting.

Terry was a member of the launch team for the Web Analytics Association Education Committee. In that role, she was a contributor to the WAA-UBC Award of Achievement program in Web Analytics. She continues to be a speaker, moderator and panel member at a variety of analytics and advertising industry events including Emetrics (“The EMetrics Ecosystem,” “Measuring Brand Conversation”), XChange (“Measuring Engagement”), Ad:Tech (“The new measurement currency”), and NATPE.

Terry holds a BS in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics from the State University of NY at Albany, and an MBA in marketing from Babson College.

What major contribution will you bring to Digital Analytics Association and its membership?

I believe that my broad industry experience and role at a leading agency gives me a unique perspective to help advance the impact of our association. In particular:

• My broad experience and exposure to digital analytic needs and innovations across a wide number of industries will enable me to represent the needs of a large number of our users.
• As a leader in an organization with over 200 digital analytics experts, I am familiar with challenges facing both entry level and advanced practitioners.
• As a member of Digitas leadership, I am privy to innovations in digital marketing coming from some of the leading companies in the industry. Where possible, I can work to ensure that our needs are being considered in this vision as well as sharing the vision with our teams to enable us to plan for the future.

Why should members vote for you?

• I am passionate about our industry and the development of our people. I believe that building an environment for shared learning and communication enables all of us to grow and add value.
• I have experience in driving results for my clients and for industry organizations, including the WAA and an earlier role as a regional President of a national technology users association, where I developed and launched their first skills and mentorship network.

Where do you think the Digital Analytics Association should be in the next two years?

• The DAA should continue to focus on building more local connections through the use of regional symposiums , events, training and mentorship programs as well as relationships with local corporations and universities.
• The DAA should expand outreach among our community to gather case studies and POVs that can be used as a resource for our members.
• Expanded relationships should be in place with other industry associations, such as the ARF, the DMA, and the IAB to enable us to play a larger role in defining standards and best practices.

How can you specifically assist DAA with the expansion to the digital analytics industry?

• My 16 years in advertising has always involved analytics beyond site optimization including such areas as media analytics. During those years I have developed solutions and vendor partnerships that can be useful for the DAA.
• As a media measurement committee member for the 4As, and as an ARF ambassador for Digitas I have relationships that I can bring to the DAA.

What is your vision for DAA long term?

The DAA should be a primary resource for all digital analytics practitioners. It should be a source for career growth and guidance, as well as a resource for POVs, case studies, approaches, vendor contacts and recruiting.

What is the biggest challenge facing the digital marketing industry?

The increasing amounts of data available in our industry today require that we have people trained with the skills to best use and interpret this data. This requires greater knowledge in advanced analytics as well as increased strategic thinking. Training and advanced tools are critical in our industry today.

• Juan Manuel Damia, Co-Founder, Intellignos (Argentina)
  Practitioner

Background

• Co-Founded Socialmetrix, the leading Social Media Analytics platform in the Latin American Market. Partially acquired by the British A&N Media, part of the DMGT group.
• Co-Founded Intellignos, the first Google Analytics Certified Partner in Latin America, and the leading Research and Analytics Consultancy firm in the Region (Partially Acquired by Havas Digital).
• As Regional Coordinator at the Digital Analytics Association for the Hispanic American Region, I helped generating brand awareness and memberships through the whole region.
• I was elected Endeavor High Impact Entrepreneur and Global Emerging Entrepreneur of the year 2010
• Author of the book Meta Analytics, produced by one of the most important universities in Buenos Aires.
• Creator and writer at the blog www.analytics20.org, a blog visited by analytics referents from the world (In English and Spanish).
• Developer of a new Analytics 2.0 theory, which provides a completely new vision of Analytics.
• Founded HOWA – Hands on Web Analytics the most important event in Latam Regarding Web Analytics.
• Frequent speaker in important events related with digital marketing in the Americas and Europe.
• Developed the first Analytics program in Latin America. People from the entire region came to the University of Palermo in Buenos Aires to take the course.

What major contribution will you bring to Digital Analytics Association and its membership?

I have more than 14 years of experience in the industry plus the knowledge of a particular market like Latin America and my entrepreneurial skills could definitely represents an important asset for the DAA. In those more than 14 years I added experience as an Analyst, Director of Analytics and Data Insights, Entrepreneur in Consultancy and SaaS firms (Both partially acquired by global groups), Book author (Meta Analytics), Professor, Blog Writer, Speaker, Event organizer and founder (HOWA) among many other initiatives all related with Analytics.

The above mentioned skills can be a very valuable asset for the improvements that the DAA is working and for the globalization of the new image and strategy.

Why should members vote for you?

Because that will makes me very happy…but also because as Regional Coordinator for the DAA in the Latin American Region I already demonstrated a huge execution capacity with almost no resources, I can do even more with a vote on the Board.

Where do you think the Digital Analytics Association should be in the next two years?

The role of the WAA is crucial at all levels. It is the entity that brings Analytics professionals together and promotes the development of its activities. It helps improve current practices. Unifies and homogenizes approaches and concepts and is responsible for the creation of a suitable environment for:

1. People who are beginning with this activity and require knowledge and support.
2. Professionals who need to exchange ideas that will help improve practices and tools.
3. Companies that will need those professionals to provide them with accurate information.

In order to achieve this, the WAA will be faced with a big challenge in the near future. Because it is not only about joining approaches and concepts but also bringing together cultures and behaviors, I am sure that by working together we will obtain an enormous amount of synergy.

How can you specifically assist DAA with the expansion to the digital analytics industry?

First bringing to the Board information, needs and requirements from different markets with very particular cultures and behavior. Second, improving the communication headed not just to new places but also to the ones where the DAA is not well known.

What is your vision for DAA long term?

A global organization with focus on improving the quality of the consumed information, taking care of users’ information privacy.

What is the biggest challenge facing the digital marketing industry?

Information integration, standardization and globalization.

• Michael Hayward, EVP, Chief Strategy Officer, Acronym (USA)
  Vendor (agency)

Background

As a new nominee, I can bring meaningful insight and guidance to the Association - a brief summary of my experience:

• 20+ years as a brand marketer at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts (based at corporate HQ in Toronto)
• Led web site development and web analytics since 1995.
• Led virtually all technology-related initiatives in marketing (sales force automation, customer database and loyalty/recognition, etc)
• 2 years (and counting) as the CEO of ROI Labs (now Acronym), an analytics consulting services agency (based in NY with Singapore and London offices)
• Partner agency of Acronym Media (see below)
• Top clients include SAP, Humana, Accenture, Four Seasons Hotels, Aberdeen Asset Managers, Wharton School
• Partner agency to Adobe, WebTrends, YWA, certified GA team.
• 'Technology-agnostic' approach with broad view of analytics space
• 10 years of involvement in a similar association: HSMAI - Hotel Sales and Marketing Association Int'l
• Co-founded Digital Marketing SIG
• Regular speaker and thought-leader at industry events
• 2 years of involvement at DAA
• Speaker at eMetrics and related conferences
• Speaker at search conference on analytics topics
• Chaired and co-emceed the recent New York Symposium effort

I believe my long-term involvement and global experience on both the client and agency side of analytics and digital marketing will offer a useful perspective for the board of the DAA.

What major contribution will you bring to Digital Analytics Association and its membership?

As a Board member I will bring:

• A seasoned, global perspective, with 25+ years as an analytics-driven marketer, practitioner, and now a vendor, all in a global context
• A client and service provider perspective – I learned the power of data-driven approaches as a marketer at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, and have applied these principles as leader of the analytics business at Acronym (formerly ROI Labs), working with large, complex global organizations (like SAP, Aberdeen Asset Managers, Humana, HP, etc)

Why should members vote for you?

• I will bring a well-rounded view of analytics and the strategic application in real-life business scenarios. As a practitioner, marketing leader, technologist and agency professional I understand the contribution of analytics from all points of view, not just one.
• As a vendor-agnostic analytics leader I recognize that software itself does not yield insight, and that no one piece of software stands alone as an ‘ideal’ solution – real insights for business, comes from the thoughtful application of human expertise, associated with detailed and relevant data sourced from the best combination of tools for the company.
• I have experience as a leader not only in DAA activities, but also in my role with the HSMAI (Hospitality Sales and Marketing), so I already have a sense of major issues facing industry associations.

Where do you think the Digital Analytics Association should be in the next two years?

• I believe a priority for the DAA will be to pursue a strategy that ensures long-term viability of the association. A balance of interests needs to be maintained, for companies to see value in sponsoring their employees into the association, for individuals to see real educational and networking opportunities, and vendors to tap into collected expertise to improve the collective IQ of the analytics community.
• The association should also continue to set standards as appropriate for practitioners and vendors, to ensure that a common ‘language’ develops for analytics, ensuing leverage for better business results and less fragmentation or isolation of specific solutions. This will ensure greater transparency and community, and lead to practitioner skills being easily transferable from company to company, and tool to tool.

How can you specifically assist DAA with the expansion to the digital analytics industry?

• I have personally been involved in many of these issues, both as a practitioner and as a participant in HSMAI activities
• I have been a leader in similar associations
• I co-founded the Digital Marketing SIG at HSMAI. The group led educational initiatives for marketers across the hotel sector and strove to set standards t0 make hotel statistics more comparable for companies, while preserving appropriate competitive and business privacy standards.
• I know the importance of standards to a viable growth strategy
• I worked on broad standards development, integration and compliance in my role as a hotel marketer to bring elements of digital commerce to a common standard – with commonly-defined variables. This meant that hoteliers could know that their systems would be compliant with a wider range of technology solutions, and more interoperable with channel partners

What is your vision for DAA long term?

I see a growing role for the association in developing ongoing educational programs, advocating analytics as a profession to business leaders, and in setting the standards that can facilitate rapid growth in the sector, helping us avoid the trap of proprietary solutions, and lack of visibility at CxO level, that can hamper the evolution of analytics.

What is the biggest challenge facing the digital marketing industry?

The big challenge today is convincing companies that use digital analytics tools to move from simple reporting, to using data to make smarter decisions. As long as companies (and providers) focus too much on the purchase and implementation of tools and underinvest in the human capital required to transform the data being captured into actual, usable insights for the business, the risk is that analytics remains in the margin of the business – eventually making it difficult to show the true value of digital analytics, and eventually reducing the overall investment, to everyone’s detriment.

• Xavier R. Jimenez, Director, Social Solutions Consulting, Lithium (USA)
  Product or Services

Background

• 13 years’ experience creating digital branding, digital marketing and digital measurement best practices for SMB’s and the Enterprise.
• 5 years’ experience leading eCommerce, eCRM and digital advertising teams to deliver ROI-driven marketing program & campaigns.
• Expert at using web analytics data to uncover key insights, increase CSAT, improve UX and increase ARPU for digital products.
• Have presented on social media and web analytics best practices at shop.org, eMetrics, WOMMA and the University of Washington. Husband, Father, Rugby Coach and Chile Pepper Enthusiast.

Practiced at: Social Media Marketing & Measurement, Interactive Planning & Media Optimization, eCommerce, Team Development and Management, Business Development, Customer Relationship Management, Digital Product Marketing, Web Analytics, Strategy Consulting, Omniture [SC/TT], Radian6, AlterianSM2, Google Analytics, SocialCRM, Social Business, Social Media Analytics

What major contribution will you bring to Digital Analytics Association and its membership?

My ultimate contribution to the DAA will be to motivate and inspire our membership to collaborate w/ others in the field of digital media measurement to co-create a holistic methodology for measuring the social customer experience. I feel that we as web analysts are the best equipped to own the customer experience as we are charged by our CEO, & CMO to help drive CLTV, charged by our CTO to lower the total cost of generating insights and data that can be used to maintain the privacy and trust of our customers in this new world of open data.

Why should members vote for you?

I’d like to help the DAA provide more documentation around digital>social>mobile standards to help our growing list of vendors and customers with the implementation of myriad SaaS based tools that seek to measure the same values.

I’m also, interested in helping the DAA address the growing need of, the Enterprise, to understand and incorporate “big data” measurement and analysis. I’m currently working w/ several of the web largest enterprise organization like HP, AT&T, SKYPE and others to:

• understand to role big data plays inside their organization and hope to bring a heightened sense of urgency around working w/ smart data, not just big data.
• Having deep agency and consulting roots, I know the pain of sifting through pages and pages of google results trying to find that one case study or business use case to help validate a POV, so I would like to focus on getting more of the collaborative assets our membership creates online in a “tribal knowledgebase” that is partially if not totally accessible to the public.

Where do you think the Digital Analytics Association should be in the next two years?

I hope that the Digital Analytics Association will expand to tackle the newest and biggest challenges facing digital B2B2C Marketers and Customer focused professionals, namely social analytics and the rising tide of actionless data. We desperately need standards, methods, and a nomenclature for understanding what to keep and what to throw away when it comes to social analytics data. Big Data is a big deal, but not in the way most of us think. We need to lead the charge in simplifying the use of large data sets to perform actionable analysis.

How can you specifically assist DAA with the expansion to the digital analytics industry?

I’m recognized as a social media measurement maverick and will bring new energy to the task of defining and motivating our membership to incorporate social media analytics into their online business measurement models. In addition, I’ve been asked to teach digital marketing & measurement best practice courses at Seattle’s, School for Visual concepts, the University of Washington Foster School for Business, as well as help guide web analyst as to social media measurement best practices at emetrics 2010 and I’ll work tirelessly to push for the advancement of social analytics education and learning opportunities for our members.

What is your vision for DAA long term?

My ultimate vision for the digital analytics association is for it to be recognized as the driving force for standardizing the lexicon of the commercial web. We currently lack the nomenclature needed to understand how the web can safely be used for ethical commerce and as frontline practitioners of measurement we are in the best position to define and unify best practices used by the entire digital industry [digital, mobile, social, local].

What is the biggest challenge facing the digital marketing industry?

Today, we, as practitioners, have all seen an avalanche of data come across our desks, emails and API’s. Yet with all this data many of us are no closer to developing a data-based social strategy that is able to elicit meaningful responses for our customers, clients and partners.

We have a huge problem with focusing on things that just don’t matter in the end.

The measurement industry faces three major challenges, all stemming from the rise of social media.

1. too much value being place on all the data originating from the social web.
2. not enough guidance as to how to accurately collect and use all this new social data and we need a better way to understand and interpret the signal in the noise.
3. not enough value, inside the enterprise, being placed on integrating social data into current measurement methodologies that are already working

Though, difficult, these problems are ones that we can solve, if we work together.

• Jim Sterne, President, Target Marketing
  Product or Services; Consulting/Academia; Practitioners Consulting

Background

Jim Sterne produced the world's first "Marketing on the Internet" seminar series in 1994. Today, Sterne is an internationally known speaker on electronic marketing and customer interaction and a consultant to Fortune 500 companies and Internet entrepreneurs. Sterne focuses his thirty years in sales and marketing on measuring the value of the Internet as a medium for creating and strengthening customer relationships and has written seven books including:

• World Wide Web Marketing, 1st, 2nd & 3rd Editions
• Customer Service on the Internet, 1st & 2nd Editions
• What Makes People Click: Advertising on the Internet
• E-Mail Marketing
• Web Metrics: Proven Methods for Measuring Web Site Success
• Advanced Email Marketing
• Social Media Metrics: How to Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Investment

With a special focus on Internet metrics, his company, Target Marketing targeting.com, is dedicated to helping organizations understand the possibilities and manage the realities of conducting business online.

Sterne is the producer of the international eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit emetrics.org and is co-founder and current Chairman of the Digital Analytics Association www.DigitalAnalyticsAssociation.org

What major contribution will you bring to Digital Analytics Association and its membership?

If elected, I will focus my attentions on greatly expanding the ranks of the DAA's membership. We have gotten where we are by chance, luck, extremely hard work and a large number of more-than-dedicated volunteers. Given our 2,500 members, our name change and the proven effectiveness of our outstanding Executive Director, we are now in a position to leverage our solid beginnings into a much larger association.

I pledge to increase our numbers by enticing a wider variety of professional, creating a more robust and broader membership. As a result, we will all be able to leverage a more comprehensive federation of expertise.

Why should members vote for you?

My deep knowledge of the origins of the industry lends the Board institutional and political memory. As an elder on the Board, I can provide historical insights and explain how we took some actions and avoided others.

As the producer of the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit, I am in a position to draw our members together and attract new professionals to the DAA.

Where do you think the Digital Analytics Association should be in the next two years?

The next two years should be a time of explosive growth. We should be able to dramatically increase our size and add a wider variety of programs, educational opportunities and local events. I see Special Interest Groups blossoming in the next two years with Social Media, Predictive Analytics and Testing following in the footsteps of the Media SIG.

How can you specifically assist DAA with the expansion to the digital analytics industry?

My personal plans are to identify groups of professionals within the online marketing world who are not yet represented by an association and invite them to find a home at the DAA. Practitioners, consultants and vendors in online advertising, email marketing, testing, user experience, personalization, etc., may be members of associations that only dedicate a modicum of attention to analytics. I will reach out and invite them to join their colleagues in the quest to build data-driven expertise.

What is your vision for DAA long term?

I see a large organization that has graduated from a small group of dedicated individuals and will matriculate through the small business phase to become a strong, vibrant community. Our 2,500 members will swell to many times that number. Membership will provide a recognition among ourselves as people who love a puzzle and crave a challenge. At the same time, the DAA will impart a recognition from the rest of society that we are fluent in the language of numbers in pursuit of practical achievement.

What is the biggest challenge facing the digital marketing industry?

I see two challenges - one for the industry and one for the DAA.

The Challenge of Education.

The concept of business analytics is finally making its way into the hearts and minds of mainstream business. While a positive article about A/B testing quoting Avinash Kaushik appeared in the latest issue of Wired Magazine, news in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal continue to be critical of marketing "by the numbers" and skepticism reigns due to privacy issues.

The DAA has a responsibility to clarify what we do by proposing ways to do it that are practical for business, advantageous to individuals and beneficial to the public at large. Without this outreach, we will continue to be marginalized in the press and hampered by the legislature. Without this outreach we will continue to be a small group of alchemists who are misunderstood and distrusted.

The Challenge of Organizational Accessibility

As the DAA grows, it will become harder to provide fast answers to individual questions. In a smaller association, all members have the email addresses and phone numbers of the people with the answers. As we grow, it will become harder to know where to turn. Our intelligence must combine with our online tools to help every member find the information they need when they need it.

Returning

• Shari Cleary, Practitioner, USA
• Jodi McDermott, Vendor, USA
• Joe Megibow, Practitioner, USA
• Bob Page, Practitioner, USA
• Peter Sanborn, Practitioner, USA
• Ed Wu, Practitioner, USA
• Alex Yoder, Vendor, USA

Read an important note from your Board of Directors about changes to the election process.