Gasahol...

Let me state the obvious: Fuel prices are too darned high.

Part of the overpricing here in Chicago is a special, legislated "Green Blend" gas.

An automotive client explained the technical details to me. The blend is called E10. Basically, it's 10% ethyl alcohol. Because ethanol burns slightly cleaner than gas, the blend reduces harmful emissions slightly. That's good.

Then my client made me think. He explained the alcohol is made by distilling corn mash. In most cases, they distill it by burning a petroleum product -- gas, oil -- or worse coal. The end result? In many cases the total output of harmful emissions over the entire PROCESS is equal to-- or in many cases more -- than running our cars on straight gasoline. That's bad.

Not debating the validity of my client's claim, there's a marketing lesson here.

Often when we look at the effectiveness of advertising, we tend to measure one metric rather than look at the entire process.

For example, an ad in one publication generates more leads than another so we put more money in that ad or publication. We rarely analyze how many leads actually buy anything. Or if these leads take more of a salesperson's time to close. Or how much they spend.

Remember: not all the influence of advertising can be directly measured. But by measuring what we can, we avoid wasting a lot of money trying to do what seems good only to find it is actually not doing all that it promises to.

What's your advertising really costing you?

- Phil Sasso