So Apple announced its new gouging pricing for its iAd platform.  $10 CPM plus $2 per click, which could $30 CPM if the ad clicks even moderately well.  But the biggest news here isn’t the pricing for 1,000 impressions, but that it’s a one million dollar minimum commitment.  That’s a big chunk of change for most advertisers, and those CMOs who decide to make the leap will definitely be defining a point in their recent careers.  But, will it make these CMOs a star and launch them to greater fame and fortune, or will it be a career killer?  Let’s take a look.

Hyundai was mentioned as an early adopter.  They are certainly on a roll and are positioned to be a top-few automaker in the world by the end of the decade.  But are Apple device owners the right target to spend $1MM?  On one hand, I haven’t seen any research that shows these consumers are any more likely to purchase a new car, or more specifically an import or Hyundai, than any other device user.  For all we know, Blackberry Pearl users could be the perfect target.  On the flip side, Apple device owners surely aren’t any less likely than the average TV watcher, and car companies spend billions on (basically) untargeted TV advertising each year anyway.

So is this a bad use of money, or just questionable?  Other than the pricing being misguided, the CMO who decides to spend this $1MM+ will have to decide if there are future employers they’re hoping to work for.  With CMO tenure averaging only 18 months, they’ll likely soon be working somewhere else and if that company is a PR-driven company, this could be a great move for them.  I believe most of the value in this $1MM will be in the PR generated from it.  However, if it’s a very metrics-oriented company a CMO will be interviewing with next, the iAd pricing is too expensive to justify the near-term ROI.  It’s unfortunately $1MM of some company’s money will likely be spent to further one or a few people’s career, but at this point that’s what the iAd’s early adopters seems to be appealing to.

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