What's better, TV or Digital advertising? (Hint: That's the wrong question.)

A recent AdAge article reported that Cola-Cola CMO Marcos de Quinto said television advertising was still, "very, very critical for our business". He even shared some data (from 2014) stating Coca-Cola's ROI on TV was $2.13 for every dollar spent, compared with just $1.26 for digital.

Coca-Cola has historically been one of the world's best marketers. So if they've found that TV offers a much better return on their investment than digital, companies everywhere should probably abandon their digital advertising efforts and return to television... right?

But wait... back in October, VaynerMedia CEO Gary Vaynerchuk boldly proclaimed to attendees of the ANA Masters of Marketing conference in Orlando that, "If you are running a commercial for a brand and the target audience is 22 and under, you’re a fuckface.” (His words, not mine.) Coca-Cola clearly covets a teen audience, so it might be fair to say that Mr. Vaynerchuk disagrees with Mr. de Quintos' conclusion.

Is Vaynerchuk against all television advertising? He doesn't appear to be. In fact, in that same speech, he told his audience, "buying a Super Bowl ad is the greatest buy in the world" due to the massive attention SuperBowl ads generate.

There's a more simple explanation for Vaynerchuck's profanity-laced proclamation: he doesn't think brands targeting audiences under 22-years of age should use television advertising because he doesn't believe that segment watches traditional television anymore. Vaynerchuck strongly believes marketers should spend their dollars where their messages will get the most attention.

And he's absolutely correct.

As a marketer, you want to reach your audience with your message as efficiently and effectively as possible. That means messaging them where they are, not where you wish they would be. Your job isn't to use the communication channels most familiar, convenient, or cost-effective to you. (And on the opposite end of the spectrum, it also isn't to immediately jump on every shiny-object platform that comes around just to say you were first in your space to be there.) Your job is to use what's most likely to work.

Neither television nor digital advertising is "better" than the other in all circumstances, because the "right" media mix that will work for everyone in all cases just doesn't exist.

What's "better" is to spend time understanding your audiences and how they consume media, then develop your marketing plan accordingly.

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