South Africa, April 21 -- Michael Farmer, a veteran advertising strategist, published a devastating analysis dubbed "Madison Avenue Media Madness", of what digital advertising has actually done to the world's biggest brands over the past fifteen years. (Read it - it's a great piece!)

His conclusion is uncomfortable reading for anyone who has spent the last decade confidently shifting budget toward programmatic and social. Farmer asks the question almost nobody in those rooms asks - and one we see play out consistently in campaign performance conversations with clients: is it actually working?

Not "is it generating impressions?" or "is the CTR up?", but the only real question that should matter to a business: are you growing?

The data, ...