The Future for Media Agencies

Last month Sir Martin Sorrell SMS was at DMexco being interviewed by Ralph Simon the CEO of the mobile consultancy business MobiliumHereamp8217s what SMS had to say about the future of media agenciesamp8220My view is that the media planning and buying organisations that we see in the six agency holding companies probably employ about 200000250000 people They will not all be employed there amp8230 even in two yearsamp8217 timeamp8221Sorrell was the pioneer of media agency miniholding groups in his case GroupM whose original reason for being was volume and volume dealsI have an SMS quote from 15 years ago when he opined that media agencies were entering a new era of amp8216brain not just brawnamp8217 Itamp8217s been a while coming the lure of high margins was just too great but better late than neverMedia agencies grew up as buyers first and foremost Clients referred to them as media buying agencies amp8211 many still doPlanning was an afterthought the frontofhouse people designed to get you in the door Once safely inside you were escorted to the smokefilled windowless room at the back where the deals were done Truth is you came for the deals and everyone knew itTimes change today the opportunity is all about understanding audiences and turning that understanding those insights into practical actionsBuying the right thing beats taking on any old cheap tatOr it should do There are still some dinosaurs around the industry talking of share deals cheap CPMamp8217s optimising clicks using words like amp8216viewsamp8217 and amp8216viewabilityamp8217 amp8216attentionamp8217 and amp8216attributionamp8217 without really knowing what they meanItamp8217s an understandable confusion if you ask 10 agencies for their definition of letamp8217s pick one at random amp8216attentionamp8217 youamp8217ll get at least 15 different answersWe donamp8217t know what we mean ourselves so why should our clientsWhat weamp8217re seeing today is the painful rebirth of the planning era an era defined by insights and creativity not audits and CPMamp8217s The dinosaurs will die out or at least retire comfortably still raging against the platforms and advertiser research initiatives whilst their exemployersamp8217 revenues drift awayTheir old allies the buying agencies are of little use They have been hollowed out A combination of a lack of trust the giant platforms going direct to their advertisers and a lack of real training in creativity as opposed to media technology has done this to themTheyamp8217re understaffed their margins arenamp8217t what they were in the golden era before some busybodies and knowitalls invented transparency and the large groups are in amp8216deal hockamp8217 to the major vendorsThey have little to say few opinions about the issues of the day for fear of upsetting some corporate applecart somewhereTheyamp8217re fast in danger of becoming irrelevantBut there is hopeAdvertisers need help with navigation There has never been a more complicated media scene and weamp8217ve never had more data to help in the navigation Data that can be insightful or highly misleadingAdvertisers know this Last weekamp8217s WFA and MediaSense research indicates that 24 say their media agency model is amp8216unfit for their future needsamp8217 Just half that number 11 say their agency does meet their future needsThe best agencies are full of bright people who between them combine the creative with the technologicalThe rest are full of people terrified of making a mistake whose horizons are defined not by doing the best for their clients but by keeping their superiorsamp8217 deals in lineThe best love the challenge of working with ambitious risktaking clientsThe rest settle for an easy life and simple solutionsThe best embrace accountability and search for innovation in modelling effectThe rest look to control and bend results to their endbenefit regardless of validation or accuracyThe best form a close bond with their clients and have no difficulty arguing for and justifying higher feesThe rest cut client fees to win the business and moan about it for evermore whilst finding ways to top up their revenue from suppliersThe best create innovative plans and find a way to executeThe rest subcontract amp8216planningamp8217 more accurately allocation to vendors and postrationalise what theyamp8217re fed backThe best will survive and thrive the rest will be replaced by machines and algorithmsThereamp8217s certainly a bright future as long as the agencies replace the rest with the bestThe ball is with themPosted 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

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