Rob Norman: The ANA Report -- Addressing Complexity Is a Complex Issue

The report acknowledges the pricing pressures imposed on agencies by clients and their procurement offices However it omits acknowledgement that in spite of such pressure media services companies play an important role in supporting clients through a time of technology enabled radical change in consumer behavior and media consumptionThis includes the development of the highest possible standards of verification viewability antifraud antipiracy and consumer privacy measures These have promoted integrity in the digital supply chain and protected advertiser investments and reputations In our estimation this has saved advertisers many millions of dollars Our contribution and that of our peers to this process has been entirely overlooked in the ANA reportIn response companies like ours have made and continue to make real and necessary investments in order to effectively plan and trade new markets and provide seller agnostic solutions for our clients who as the report points out value vendor neutralityThe evidence of our actual technology investments is significantWPPamp8217s acquisition of 247 Real Media in 2007The subsequent creation of Xaxis and its buy side DMP Turbine The more recent acquisition by Xaxis of ActionX for cross screen targeting and mobile commerce and the creation of Light Reaction which is compensated solely on the outcomes createdWPPamp8217s 2015 acquisition of Medialets and its mobile adserving and attribution capabilities that create an alternative to the walled gardens of the media technology giantsOur acquisition of The Exchange Lab in 2016 which via their solution Proteus offers access to almost all sources of programmatically traded digital inventoryOur minority investment in AppNexus the worldamp8217s leading programmable advertising platformThe development of the Zipline DMP by KBMG a sister WPP companyThe creation of Modi Media the US leader in addressable televisionThese investments enable us to apply data and technology to the purchase of inventory The addition of data tech and analysis transforms the nature of the underlying commodity by turning billions of impressions into relevant and valuable audiencesThis is a new class of media asset We offer this new asset to clients in two ways The first way is at a high level of service pricing with as much underlying disclosure of costs at the vendor level as possible many clients choose this Alternatively we offer advertisers guaranteed pricing for a given objective bundling all costs of data media tech and service This is a principal trading modelamp160 As we have repeatedly stated this requires an optin is subject to constant performance review and in no way depends on leveraging the spend of advertisers who do not opt in as we are leveraging technology and data not volume of advertiser spendIn either approach to working with us the client enjoys the same GroupM standards of viewability and verification which weamp8217ve set at bars surpassing industry normsamp160 We continue to win client business against traditional and new competitors with both models because we create competitive advantage for advertisersIt is our perspective that advertisers and their advisors should take a valuecentric point of view around principal media trading models in digital and other media These models are developed on the basis of marketplace insights into supply and demand dynamics and not the leverage of client volumesamp160 The ANA Report does not concede that this is possible and inaccurately suggests such models must be at the compromise of value due to clients Media service companies accept many risks including intellectual property liability on behalf of clients In turn it is our right to assume our own risks to the benefit of our own business especially when they only reward us if they reward the advertiserThe ANA report seems to suggest that there is something wrong with agencies being rewarded for these investments and acceptance of riskamp160In no way do we expect advertisers to participate blindly It is the agencyamp8217s clear responsibility to demonstrate both value and the lack of harm caused by creating that value We hope that the Ebiquityauthored guidelines take a balanced view of this issue Of course they should encourage vigilance of course they should encourage clients to be satisfied that these business models are delivering value What they should ensure is that the guidelines do not have the effect of reducing investment in amp8216fit for marketamp8217 technology and ultimately disadvantaging advertisers in the name of transparency It seems that such a balanced approach is in keeping with the stated business purpose of auditors and consultants collaborating with the ANA who are focused on helping advertisers achieve business success in changing times Thatamp8217s a great goal and one we shareThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet management or associated bloggersamp160

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Rob Norman: The ANA Report -- Addressing Complexity Is a Complex Issue

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