Nielsen have pulled out of the landmark Project Apollo experiment, which is now likely to close after presumed cost over-runs and a lack of actionable data. For many years, ad experts had claimed that the only true way to make advertising accountable was to get single source data. This means knowing what ads are watched, read, listened to and knowing how the same people behaved in stores. And combining this knowledge with all the other marketing elements like pricing, sales promotion etc.

Of course, in the old days with simple mass media, this was a reasonable goal. But not now, with fragmentation and segmentation of audiences this way and that, plus the onset of so many new media vehicles, it’s tricky as hell. As Nielsen have found out. So the holy grail is consigned to the waste bin. Measurement takes a step back. And maybe truly integrated, innovative, creative media strategies comes further out into the spotlights.