Correspondence: Laura Patterson, Vision Edge Marketing, PO Box 342546, Austin, TX 78734, USA. Tel: 512 681 8800; Fax: 512 263 7268; Email: laurap@visionedgemarketing.com

¹is a 25-plus-year marketing and sales veteran having worked for both large public companies such as State Farm and Motorola as well as start-ups. In her career, she has only worked for two types of people, engineers and accountants. Both care deeply about data and numbers, and so her passion for metrics was really based on career survival. In 1999 she cofounded VisionEdge Marketing (www.visionedgemarketing.com), a data-driven metrics-based strategic and product marketing company that specializes in improving marketing performance and helping organizations create a competitive advantage designed to attract, secure and retain profitable customers. Author of dozens of published marketing and branding articles and the books Gone Fishin' and Measure What Matters, Laura has served on several nonprofit boards, provided programming for professional organizations such as the ANA and BMA, and has served as a guest lecturer at various universities, including the University of Texas at Austin, Stanford University and Purdue University. Laura earned her BA from Truman State University and her Master's at the University of South Florida.

Abstract

In various studies over the course of the past year, accountability has surfaced as one of the top issues in marketers' minds today. From the Association of National Advertisers, to Frost & Sullivan, to IDC and to the CMO Council, marketing accountability has been front and center at conferences and in papers. The reason is that CEOs are demanding more accountability from marketing.