FAQ

Why another organization looking at marketing accountability and metrics?   At a very high level the answers are: To take a broad view rather than looking only at a specific activity like television advertising or the Internet; To create an independent organization that does not bring vested interests to the table and can therefore be more impartial (even if this just means asuring that all of the interests are at the same table); No other body has stepped forward to try to coordinate all of the many efforts now underway; It makes no sense to try to create a common vocabulary or a standard process if these are only standard within a single domain…they need to be shared and coordinated across domains (product/service development, advertising, sales, promotion, distribution, PR, etc).

What are standards?
Standards are a form of embodied technical knowledge accessible to all types of business, that enables more effective product and process development (“Standards and Innovation” National Standardization Strategic Framework). 

Why are standards important for marketing?
The absence of well-accepted and uniform definitions of constructs, measures and processes within marketing has hampered the ability of the discipline to be a full partner in the strategic decisions of the firm, much as operations was hampered by idiosyncratic processes and the lack of standards prior to the advent of the quality movement.
The marketing discipline stands at a crossroad where it can take a leadership role in the development of standard metrics and processes or continue to be reduced to the role of tactical implementation of the strategies designed by others.

What are the overall benefits of having standards?
The development of generally accepted and common standards for measurement and measurement processes will significantly enhance the credibility of the marketing discipline, improve the effectiveness and efficiency of marketing activities, and enable organizational learning and continuous improvement in performance over time.

What standards will MASB address?
MASB will address standards such as: Common language and vocabulary, processes that link marketing activities to marketing metrics to financial performance, characteristics of ideal measures, measurement development and management practices followed by providers of ideal measures, identification of a small number of key metrics, common body of knowledge, etc. See MASB Projects.

Have standards been applied to other business activities?
Yes, there are at least two models: Manufacturing and product quality (with ANSI & ISO) and accounting and financial reporting (with FASB & IASB).

For more than fifty years the quality movement has developed, applied and proven standard metrics and processes that are common to very diverse types of business. Six-sigma has been applied in businesses ranging from high technology to financial services to the automotive industry to pharmaceuticals…and the first ones in gained sustained competitive advantage: “…by the 1980s, Japan looked ready to eat everyone’s economic lunch… and today, as Toyota continues to grow and GM faces more hard times, it’s clear that the power of committing to a (measurement and process management) approach is enduring” (“1950: Deming charts Japan’s remarkable course” FORTUNE Magazine, 6/27/05

For more than thirty years the Financial Accounting Foundation, with its standard’s setting FASB, has been setting the standards (GAAP) for financial accounting and reporting…the standards by which all public and most private businesses report. Subsequently, our financial markets became the envy of the world and the CFO rose to Board level status along the way.

What are the implications of MASB being a 501 (c) 3?
The Foundation is incorporated exclusively for charitable, educational, scientific, & literary purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

There are two advantages of this form of not-for-profit, both of which relate to fund raising: Contributions (membership et al) are tax deductible for the donor, and 501(c)(3) organizations qualify for foundation grants.

The Foundation applied to the IRS for this status in the late 2008, and received a favorable determination in February 2009.