In advertising, you have to demonstrate that your thinking caused your client’s cash register to ring. Proving your ads actually rang the register, however, has historically been a difficult exercise. More and more marketers are taking the easy way out by relying on 'vanity' metrics. This is particularly evident in the digital space where over-simplified, easily digestible numbers, like YouTube view counts, have essentially become a metric of success.

To illustrate the inherent flaw of vanity metrics, Minneapolis-based Solve created a four-minute blank white video and uploaded it to YouTube. No sound. No animation. No movement. Just four minutes of pure emptiness. Solve then got the blank video over 100,000 views by simply spending $1,400 on YouTube’s TrueView advertising platform. Crossing one million views, the unofficial line of demarcation that signifies a major victory for most brands, would have required nothing more than the willingness to spend $14,000.

Solve’s modest investment generated a slew of engagement metrics that added even more texture to the illusory impact:

· On average, viewers watched 61 percent of the blank video, with more than one in five completing it

· In total, the video received nearly 265,000 minutes of attention

· Even without a call-to-action, the video earned 1,957 clicks, achieving a better than average click-through rate of 0.86%

“As marketers, legitimately measuring the results of what you do is hard work. But it’s worth it. After all, your job is to actually change the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of your audiences. If you are content merely with the appearance of impact, rather than the impact itself, you have failed,” said Solve Digital Strategist Neil James.