Of course not.

We’ve all seen them – online ads cluttering your screen that are irrelevant, outdated or simply annoying. Even pertinent ads are often lost in the visual chaos. Click fraud and accounting 'irregularities' from Facebook, Google & others further complicate a marketer's challenge of measuring the effectiveness of their ad spend in the online channel.

Layer in artificial intelligence / machine learning and the lines of accountability and reliability will continue to blur for years to come.

An estimated $16 billion will be lost to online ad fraud worldwide in 2017, according to CNBC.

Enter Retail Technology & Analytics

Contrast the above with emerging technology in the (physical) retail environment that can deliver verifiable data around advertising effectiveness. When applied thoughtfully, retail analytics can piece together the information that helps marketers connect the dots between advertising and action. Example applications include:

Physical ad displays – calculating the number of shoppers who see a display ad for a retailer and subsequently go their store and make a purchase.
Email campaign effectiveness - tracking the number of shoppers who receive an email about an upcoming event and then attend it.
Location based marketing – sending a mobile offer to shoppers leaving a retail property and determining how many turn around and stay longer.

Online advertising will continue to grow and be a powerful marketing tool for the foreseeable future. But considering the growing uncertainty around transparency in the online ad space, marketers may want to consider reallocating some of their online ad budget to more reliable & accountable channels like physical retail.