PHD’s Malcolm Devoy on the Power of Adelaide’s AU for Effective Planning
At The Business of Attention, Malcolm Devoy, Worldwide Chief Planning Officer at PHD, shared his perspective on how attention data is transforming media planning. While much of the industry has focused on activation, he emphasized the value of leveraging attention insights earlier in the campaign lifecycle to maximize effectiveness.
“The AU score is powerful because it isn’t necessarily attention as an outcome, but attention as an input to understand the outcome.”
Watch His Full Session Below and Explore the Key Takeaways:
- Why Measuring Effort Isn’t Enough
For years, advertisers have relied on efficiency metrics like CPM and Cost per Click, assuming they translate to business success. Devoy challenged this, explaining that efficiency measures effort while effectiveness measures actual impact. PHD’s research reveals that many efficiency metrics do not correlate with effectiveness, exposing a major gap in media planning and buying strategies.
- The Key to Maximizing Effectiveness: Reach + Attention Metrics
Reach is a cornerstone of media planning and a stronger indicator of effectiveness than cost-based metrics, but traditional reach models treat all exposures equally despite their varying impact. Devoy noted that attention is an even stronger predictor of performance—but duration alone isn’t enough.
- Attention-Adjusted Planning Is the Optimal Approach
To address this, PHD investigated how Adelaide's AU—a metric proven to predict attention and subsequent outcomes—could enhance planning strategies. They found that while higher AU scores drive better results across the funnel, the highest level of attention isn’t always necessary. Instead, AU could help identify the optimal media quality required for a given KPI. Based on these insights, PHD developed a prototype planning framework integrating AU into reach-based modeling. Looking ahead, media planning tools like this could enable teams to plan and optimize not just for reach but for effective reach.