A bevy of research firms and consultancies are vying to become the gold standard firm for measuring the value of product placement and other integrated marketing elements, according to Hollywood Reporter. Most of the dozen or so firms factor in the CPM of 30-second TV commercials, traditional ratings information, placement duration and other characteristics. Missing from the discussion is the distinction between pricing factors and valuation factors…

While a system of pricing may eventually standardize how product placements get bought and sold, those placements will have very different values depending on both the brand involved and the execution. The variables that control the value of traditional media placements proved too complex to standardize the estimation of received value, and the still more complicated integrated marketing efforts aren't likely to see more success at that. One of the reasons standard traditional media effectiveness valuations have eluded marketers has been that marketers both feel they know best how much an opportunity is worth to their brand and at the same time fear being compared to a benchmark against which they can fail. That could be seen in a Coca-Cola marketing executives comments to Hollywood Reporter: "These companies don't know the value to my company of having that integration. That's something we determine internally and would never outsource to an external party."