Saying and Doing

Representative or not the fact remains that a far higher proportion of advertising professionals would rather talk about a topic than put in the hard yards required to put the theory into daytoday practice to the benefit of their clientsWhether itamp8217s attention metrics crossmedia measurement ad fraud effectiveness measures using AI in planning or a whole host of other shiny new items on todayamp8217s todo list thereamp8217s saying and then thereamp8217s doingYou could argue this is a function of time Early adopters take ideas and run with them the rest of us take an age to catchupBut as befits a blog written by a Cynical Old Git hence COG Blog I take an altogether more cynical viewA wellknown media consultant once described the media buying and selling business as being rather like a wellappointed casinoThere are the beautiful people to lure you in and their counterparts serving you drinks and food as you playThen there are the guys setting the odds and making the money They typically keep outofsight but everyone working there knows theyamp8217re there calling the shotsThis all may sound a bit melodramatic but it does explain some of mysteries within this industryIf you were a Naamp239ve Old Bastard the NOB Blog you would be forgiven for believing that the leaders of the media agency industry should be speaking out individually or via our trade body in favour of behaviours designed to build trust and strengthen the agency businessHigh on the agenda would be driving any practices that damage clientsamp8217 belief in advertising as an effective driver of business success like ad fraud from the industryAre they speaking up No theyamp8217re notIt seems they are happier promoting the latest largely incomprehensible systems designed by and for online media platforms to their bemused clientsIt would be incorrect to assume that what agencies say in pitches about serving their clientsamp8217 interests above all things is trueThe incomparable Bob Hoffman in his latest newsletter amp8216Review the Rotamp8217 is in no doubtBob believes that the actions of our industryleading media agency leaders and their online friends is less about client benefits and more aboutamp8220Enabling hundreds of billions of dollars of theftDelivering years of imaginary marketing outcomesProducing a tidal wave of media misinformation disinformation lies defamation hatred and stupidityCausing enormous harm to responsible journalismamp8221Bob makes the point that a small business Adalytics amp8220essentially led by one guy named Krzysztof Franaszek has done more to bring to light the true nature of online advertising than all the holding companies all the media agencies all the trade associations and the entire marketing trade press community combinedamp8221I would add a shoutout to Dr Augustine Fou and his business Fou Analytics who has done more to first uncover then understand and finally show how best to minimise ad fraud than the huge suppliers hired by the holding companiesAnd now two of these huge suppliers IAS and Double Verify are seeking to add genuine innovation and measurement respectability via two of the largest attention measurers Lumen and TVision to what has been to date a distinctly underwhelming fraud detection offeringPutting all these manoeuvrings and machinations to one side underneath it all this is a pretty simple businessOur job is to create and place commercial messages that build business success for our clientsIf we do that well and can demonstrate that weamp8217ve done so then we deserve to be fairly paid for itClients have a right to expect the agencies they hire to work in their best interests including using the latest tools and techniques to help them do the job better They are right to expect us not just to say but to doIamp8217ve been accused of being out of my time of being idealistic of representing a longago and longpast age and of course thatamp8217s true on one levelBut on another level itamp8217s notOur industry was in a far better place when we cared about our clients and let our own wealth and success look after itselfPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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Brian Jacobs

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

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