Procter & Gamble has said Facebook targeted ads have limited effectiveness and will cut back on using them as part of its strategy.
P&G’s chief marketing officer Marc Pritchard told The Wall Street Journal that while spend on Facebook won’t diminish, spend on highly targeted ads will only be employed where they make sense.
Facebook has been promoting its ability to target the right audiences for some time, based on its huge amounts of personal data.
P&G had been using Facebook’s targeted tools to identify and market to specific types of shoppers who it believed were a match for its products.
Pritchard said: “We targeted too much, and we went too narrow…and now we’re looking at: What is the best way to get the most reach but also the right precision?”
A Facebook spokesperson told AdNews that its partnership with P&G continues to grow "in service of effective and efficient advertising".
"The cornerstone of our ad strategy is a mix of mass reach and personalised targeting that lends well to mobile consumption and is a strong complement to TV," the spokesperson says.
"Our clients tell us this strategy works because we can deliver relevant marketing to the right audiences, with unprecedented scale. It enables partners like P&G to drive the business metrics they care about.”
Pritchard has said the company is increasing spend on digital but will be cutting back on smaller website which lack reach.
The Wall Street Journal is also reporting that P&G has increased its spend in television as it looks to increase its reach.
It follows comments from Melbourne Business School professor of marketing and brand consultant Mark Ritson speaking out on the fallacy of marketers throwing money at digital without evaluating or interrogating the numbers.
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