Xaxis Revisited

Last week Brian Lesser the Xaxis CEO gave an interview to Businessamp160Insider This was interesting for several reasons First the assertion that Xaxis is not a trading desk or perhaps more accurately not only a trading deskLesser makes the point that his organization has amp8220recently created a product called Xaxis Sync that allows advertisers to sync advertising served to a mobile device with what is happening at the same time on TVamp8221Good idea and well done to them Thatamp8217s exactly the sort of initiative they should be takingBack in March 2014 The Cog Blog made the point that GroupM had positioned Xaxis incorrectly by focusing on the trading aspects of what it does We said that there was great potential in a technology business delivering benefits to the Groupamp8217s planning agencies We commentedamp160amp8220It would be smart if those who run Xaxis quietly started a rethink on just what itamp8217s for They need to appreciate that advertisers are increasingly and understandably demanding transparency and full disclosure and yes I do appreciate the difference Consequently thereamp8217s a need to reorganize and reposition the organization around the good bits Itamp8217s time to deliver a Whyaxixamp8221Later in the same interview Lesser reverted back to the bad stuffamp8220Xaxis negotiates big trade deals with publishers which Lesser says disables his company from exposing that pricing to clientsamp8221Letamp8217s just consider that Xaxis is used by many WPP clients They trust the organization to spend their money wisely and in their best interests amp160in exactly the same way that clients trust Mindshare or any other agency to do the same in offline media formsXaxis exactly like GroupM negotiates deals based on their total volume Some clients like that some donamp8217t Those that donamp8217t including a number of the largest vote with their feet and find other homes for their online budgetsBut unlike GroupMamp8217s negotiations with for example TV broadcasters at Xaxis they are saying they wonamp8217t tell clients what prices have been negotiated with whom on their behalfSo to summarize clients trust Xaxis with their online budgets Xaxis being very large negotiates great deals no doubt covering more than space costs But they wonamp8217t tell their clients what those deals areAt the heart of this is the belief at Xaxis that clients buy audiences and as long as they deliver those audiences at a great price it doesnamp8217t matter where the ads appear or what terms have been negotiated with those carrying those adsAnd donamp8217t letamp8217s forget that Xaxis is also a media owner courtesy of what was 247 amp160and so theoretically they could be buying from themselvesOr they could be favouring those that favor them amp160thus putting the buy ahead of the planThe whole subject of online advertising is so fraught with problems from fraudulent sites to bots to ads not being viewed that it is hardly surprising that clients are increasingly viewing the whole medium as problematicamp160What the medium doesnamp8217t need is further obliqueness from the very people charged with spending their clientsamp8217 money effectivelyXaxisamp160and their counterparts are to be praised for their work in addressing some of the endemic issues faced by the medium But why throw it all away by behaving so obliquely as tradersEven if theyamp8217re not trading desksThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecom management or associated bloggers Image courtesy of freedigitalphotosnetamp160amp160

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Xaxis Revisited

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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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Xaxis Revisited

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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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