In Memory of Bill McKenna

Evelyn said he looked at her, and then his eyes rolled up and he was gone. It was cardiac arrest. He will be interred at Arlington Cemetery. This is the link to the memorial service and obituary details.  Andy Brown is organizing a memorial Zoom for his industry friends.

He had a big heart and made friends easily, was a genius, and meticulous in his studies. His life was a full one, from flying Phantoms off of carriers to inventing ScanAmerica to running RMT and designing the new audience currency system in India, BARC, and a heck of a lot more. I was with him when we were meeting new people, and wherever they came from, Bill always had been there and knew the special places, having seen a lot of the world while a pilot in the Navy. I’m going to miss him. I miss him already.

Here is what people who knew Bill McKenna are saying about him:

He was a great man, very highly moral and intelligent, and was a great MRC participant when he owned Mediafax in Puerto Rico. ~ George Ivie

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I first met Bill M in 1965-1966 when we were both working with Arbitron. We met again and again, and he became one of my favorite people. He knew everyone in the industry globally and had his finger on every pulse. After that, I always wanted to be able to work with him again. When I was starting TRA, I went to Bill, and he talked to Irwin Gotlieb about TRA, and then WPP became our first investor. Bill was on the TRA Board. Then, when we sold TRA to TiVo, I told Bill about my plans for RMT and asked him to be a 50/50 partner with me, and that he should be CEO, and I should be Chairman. He asked for all the background material, and I sent him a huge pile. He read it and absorbed it all completely within 24 hours and agreed to the deal.

I miss him already. But I have a feeling that he is happily surprised to still be aware of his own existence and is in a good mood. ~ Bill Harvey

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I’m so very sorry, Bill.  Bill McKenna was commanding, lucid, and fully present until the end…and certainly loved, respected, and admired.  As I age, I know it’s the best kind of closing act anyone can ask for. ~ Audrey Steele

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Such sad news. He truly was a genius and a gentleman. I got to spend some time with him on a few trips down to Puerto Rico on business. He was such a gracious host and was always proud of the PR media scene. He was, above all, a nice person and will be missed very much. ~ David Ernst

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Oh man. I’m so sorry to hear that. Bill was a true giant in the business. 

I remember seeing you, Spaeth, and Bill together at an ARF at the Hilton and calling you “the single-source mafia.”

Sorry for your loss. ~ Joshua Chasin

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I’m so sorry to hear this. I didn’t know him well, but I loved his energy and enthusiasm for our collaborations and ideas. My deepest condolences to Bill’s family and to all of you who worked closely with him over the years.
~ Elizabeth Nan Johnson

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Thank you for the short note on your history with him, Bill.  I crossed paths with Bill many times over the years and echo yours and others’ sentiments about Bill – brilliant mind, warm, generous friend.  He will be missed. ~ Pat Pellegrini

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Oh no, such very sad news.  I’m sorry for your loss, Bill.  He was a true media research legend, and even more importantly, he was a terrific guy.  Years ago, when a small startup I was at, on whose board Bill M served, had to close its doors in the throes of the 2008 ‘great recession’ at Thanksgiving time that year, Bill told me, “Don’t worry; you’ll be fine”.  And a week later, I’m interviewing with Bill Harvey and this then-partner at TRA, also on whose board Bill M served; he totally cleared a fast path for me to get these interviews.  And for some reason, they hired me.  And now, here we are, these many years later.  Thank you to both the Bills for that. And God bless Bill M ~ Steve Walsh

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I’m so sorry to hear this, Bill. This is a major loss. ~ Michael Platt

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He was a big personality that will be missed, but it also sounds like he lived a great and full life, which should be celebrated. ~ Kasper Skou

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Deepest condolences on the loss of your longtime friend, Bill. I didn’t have much interaction with Bill McKenna, but the emails yesterday were very moving, and it is easy to see what a great businessman and friend he was. ~ George Niver

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Missing Bill McKenna already. He was and is an inspiration to me. There is so much I have learnt from working with him. My condolences to you, his colleagues, and his family.  ~ Milind Sattur

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I just heard that our mutual friend Bill passed away on Sunday. I know you were close to him, so please accept my condolences.

Is there any plan to remember Bill across the industry?  I would love to support.

Many thanks, Bill. Such a lovely tribute. He was one of the special ones. Always so kind, generous with his time and his knowledge.  I was supposed to be his “boss” at Kantar Media. Bill was never a line report but always a partner. I learned so much from him. His experience was invaluable and influenced me significantly.

I trust that the research industry recognises his achievements (not just in the US, because his influence was global, e.g., BARC in India). 

Condolences to Evelyn and the family. ~ Andy Brown

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I’m so sorry for your loss, Bill.  While I’ve only interacted with him via email, he sounds like an incredible person who lived a very full life.  Sending love, ~ Kristin Dragos

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Wow.  Bill, this is truly heartbreaking news. And an entire surprise for me in every way. Bill McKenna always seemed like someone who would always be with us. I look forward to talking to you and reflecting. ~ Lucas Tanner

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I’m so sorry for your loss, and for this news about Bill.  While my interactions with him were fairly recent, it was a pleasure to work with him. Pat has always had great things to say about him as well. 

To work with and be friends with someone as long as you two have is a great privilege, and I know you’ll have many memories to hold onto.  

Sending my condolences to you, and to Bill’s family and friends. ~ Tosha Kirk

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I heard about Bill (McKenna) passing. I’m so incredibly sorry to hear about this great loss. My heart goes out to you, his team, and his family.

Sending peace and light. ~ Kym Frank

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Bill, my condolences to all, and to you on the loss of a friend and colleague.
~ Bob DeSena

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I just heard from a post by Josh Chasin on LinkedIn that Bill McKenna passed. I’m so sorry for you. My deepest condolences. ~ Rick Bruner

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I can’t believe he was 86. You guys are ageless. I learned a lot from Bill during our chats over the years. I will miss him as a mentor. ~ Terrance Kent

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Dear Bill,
My heartfelt condolences go out to you, Bill McKenna’s family, friends, and colleagues. I know he was a long-time friend and partner of yours. In his long and full life, he must have touched so many lives in the very best way.

Although I didn’t know Bill well, I had the good fortune to work with him directly from afar. I was impressed by his clarity in understanding and expressing exactly what he wanted and needed. I am sure he will be missed in many ways by many people. ~ Christine Niver

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Bill Harvey and Bill McKenna need no introduction in the media and marketing industries, having won numerous awards for the improvements they have made along the way. Research Measurement Technologies, RMT, is their latest venture, and it focuses on getting higher positive responses from advertising. Their prior venture, now part of TiVo, was TRA, which began the era of big data ROI measurement.

Awards Received

       

The only way left to get more positive response from advertising is to exalt the ad.

Meaning:

1. Find the people whom this ad will really move.
2. Find the contexts that will most amplify this ad.

We’ve been doing it with many companies. Consistently high response results. So much so that we guarantee high response or the equivalent of your money back (a makegood).

Who Uses RMT Technology / Value Signals

Here’s where you’ll find the proof that the RMT method works. Double digit increases in advertising sales effects (NCS) and branding effects (605). +95% increase in ROAS (Neustar). +83% improvement in lookalikes used before (Simmons). Accounts for 48% of sales effect (ARF Cognition Council).

Story of how the technology was developed. (It all started with a program recommender – part of the technology that won an Emmy^® Award.)

The industry is finally focusing on Quality Impressions. Excellent work is being done with neuro, attention, biometrics, and AI. RMT technology can enhance all of that. The little-known fact which makes all the difference is that CONTEXT QUALITY IS DIFFERENT FOR EACH AD. The size of the interaction effect between ads and contexts is larger than what the context itself brings to every ad.

This finding is supported by Nielsen’s NCS division which measures sales effects in two separate ways:

1. 1. NCS reports that contexts themselves account for only 2% of sales effect but cautions that “Context, while it seems to have the smallest overall impact on sales, it is very tightly connected to the specific creative. Context has the potential to provide strong benefits for advertising, though it requires creating content that is properly matched to the surrounding program environment. We believe that the value that was measured is just a small fraction of the potential impact that context can have on advertising.”
   2. NCS also reports that the degree of RMT resonance (alignment) between the ad and the context has double digit sales lift impact.

Over in the right-hand column (below on mobile) you will see the following reports available:

• • 95% increase in incremental sales found by Neustar for major retail chain using RMT Semasio Motivational Targets in programmatic digital.
  • Why effective tune-in advertising is now mission critical for all series in the new crowded and turbulent streaming/linear world of television.
  • Ad-context alignment is far more powerful than context effect alone
  • Brands need to think about human values and motivations in planning their messaging and creative briefs further ahead, so that ad-context alignment can be taken into account in upfront buying, long before specific creative executions are made.
  • AI is leaping ahead in some respects but the most advanced chatbots do not get human feelings. Amidst tens of billions of dollars of investment in AI, much smaller investments in training AI with RMT science of human feelings can equip the next generation of AI with sensitivity to human feelings, values and motivations, which can be activated semantically (words) and semiotically (images).
  • Media optimization is an old subject but not a tired one. The new aspects of media optimization are related to the creative, alignment of creative and context, cross-media, full funnel, and synergy effects.

Please click here if you’d like to have a conversation.

Looking forward to working with you!

All the best,

Bill Harvey
Bill McKenna