#MediaSnack

In this episode of #MediaSnack Winners, Tom Denford sits down with Terence “Terry” Kawaja, Founder & CEO of LUMA Partners, the digital media M&A advisory firm famous for the LUMAscape. With over $300 billion in deal experience, Terry shares how he built a category-defining business at the intersection of media, marketing, and technology—offering strategic advice with a blend of deep industry insight and sharp humor.

They explore the three-tier landscape of AI adoption, the return of M&A activity after a three-year trough, and what separates successful companies from the pretenders. Terry also shares why psychology matters more than finance in dealmaking, how to spot real innovation in a sea of hype, and why America’s “innovation flywheel” is its biggest comparative advantage.

#MediaSnack is presented by ID Comms, the global media consultancy helping brands achieve better media results.

Find Terry Kawaja on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terencekawaja/

Learn more about LUMA Partners: https://www.lumapartners.com/

Want to stay ahead in media? Visit https://www.idcomms.com

Follow ID Comms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/id-comms/

#MediaSnack Ep. 71: The DOOM And GLOOM Episode by ID Comms

Welcome to #MediaSnack Meets where we meet the individuals and organizations doing great work to inspire success and drive change within the global media and marketing industry.

My guest for this #MediaSnackMeets episode is Anthony Martinez, SVP of Media and Growth Marketing at Serta Simmons Bedding.

Find out:
- What is Anthony's role at Serta Simmons and what is he most proud of professionally?
- What does he see are the industry's biggest challenges and how we might address them?
- What does he do to unwind and recharge?
- Plus Anthony's best industry leadership tips and more!

You can find Anthony here: linkedin.com/in/anthonypmartinez/

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#MediaSnack​ Meets is a regular interview with the curious media professionals who are reshaping the global industry.

Thanks for watching, if you enjoy #MediaSnack​ Meets please give us a thumbs up (it really helps) and do share links and tell others. Subscribe to our channel to stay updated.  

Marketer? 
For tips, guides & other amazing free resources for marketers, get started at: www.idcomms.com

On this week's #MediaSnack we start with a consideration of the impact of Donald Trump's election this week as President-elect of the USA. Our friend Brian Wieser, senior analyst from Pivotal Research Group was the first off the block with his thoughts on how the global advertising industry could be affected. Brian posted his analyst perspectives at 3am NY time as the election result was just becoming clear - which means he'd devoted his evening to shaping thoughts, well done Brian. His main observations were based on the economic, political and regulatory uncertainty, but also covered the impact of potential immigration restrictions especially for multi-national media companies such as media agency networks and ad platforms such as Google and Facebook. He also acknowledged the important role that Twitter plays in these type of global events, although they perhaps weren’t able to commercialise it fully yet.We note the learnings that will surely come from Donald Trump’s unexpected triumph, notably with far less of a campaign war chest compared to the well-funded Hilary Clinton. A Bloomberg Politics report estimates Hilary’s funding exceeded $1bn whilst Trump managed a mere $512m - yet Trump dominated media coverage by a vast margin. Whether by accident or design Trump managed to leverage not just social media power (as Obama had done to huge success in 2012) but dominated mainstream media with his provocative narrative. Estimates are that Donald Trump generated over $2bn value of earned media in his race for POTUS.Continuing the Trump theme, we refer to a piece written by Dominic Mills for Mediatel which made a parallel between Donald Trump’s “blusterous” style (in an attempt to avoid addressing difficult subjects) and comments made by GroupM Global Chairman Irwin Gotlieb at a recent conference in New York. At the Video Everywhere Summit on 28th October Irwin Gotlieb was asked about the media transparency reporting published this year by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA). The ANA Media Transparency report highlighted a rift between advertiser and media agency and pushed trust between the two to new lows. But rather than try to bring parties together, which is what Irwin had called for back in 2015 and which Tom reported on from the ANA’s Advertising Financial Management Conference in Florida, he instead took the opportunity of his platform to further undermine the credibility of the ANA’s initiative. “I’m going to be really harsh,” Gotlieb said candidly. “The entire effort was a biz-dev effort. … The ANA allowed themselves to be part of a third-party’s business development.”Irwin is typically very careful with his words and would not have said such inflammatory things on a public stage in naivety. This was an intentional act designed to further undermine the credibility of a report designed for and funded by America’s largest advertisers, to benefit them. Dominic Mill’s comparison to Trump is not just timely, it's accurate. Brian Jacobs also wrote excellently about this on his recent Cog Blog, link below. Finally, we bring news that Toyota, the car manufacturer who you will remember was recently at the centre of a dramatic over-billing scandal by their Japanese agency Dentsu, have (in unrelated matters) shifted their entire $300m media and creative business away from Publicis Groups agencies and into WPP without a pitch. The comments from Toyota suggest a client with a clarity of vision to create a blueprint for agency resources, as we’ve spoken many times about on #MediaSnack previously.

ID Comms talks to Marla Skiko, Global Head of Media at Ford Motor Company, about the ANA’s Media Transparency report and its lasting impact.

The report helped underpin a process that the company had already begun, reviewing its relationships with agency partners and the level of transparency it wanted, says Marla.

“The transparency report really just gave us some more things to think about. There were some more talking points. It was just more information and background that helped inform conversations that were already right underway,” she says.

Marla, who was working at Publicis Media when the report was originally published and joined Ford in January 2020, says there were issues for Ford around standards, brand safety and metrics that all needed roadmaps for internal and partner use to ensure nothing was left to chance.

“We also changed the makeup of some of we, we thought about, you know, who do we need to have internally so that we have accountability on ourselves. Do we have the right people in the right roles who have the right understanding of how data and technology work and how that's associated with our media spending so that we can then partner with our agencies. It should be, you know, equal on both sides,” she says.

And, she adds, it’s a collaborative process. “The ANA has been really helpful in that and bringing marketers together so that we can benchmark off each other. We can compare notes and as we define what this should be, we then have more of a holistic nature of looking at this. You don't just see it from your angle, but you hear what other people are talking about,” she says.

On this week’s #MediaSnack Tom and David look at some new research suggesting that half of US advertisers are not engaging with their media agency over the findings of the ANA’s Media Transparency report, even though it is nearly 5 months since it was published. This seems to reflect the different stages of reaction that ID Comms has experienced from a wide spectrum of advertisers; some took immediate action back, some are still considering the best course of action and some are seemingly unaware or unconcerned by the ANA's report.The typical response (largely correctly in our view) is that advertisers should have scrutinized their own circumstances by looking at their existing media agency contracts and we helped them quickly establish the level of protection or exposure they face in the areas of “non-transparent practices” detailed by the ANA report. Once we have helped the advertiser establish a point of view of their current situation, then they need to make plans to correct or improve the contract. It is very easy to update contract terms, far harder to actually implement a contract which wholly protects your interests, especially in a complex market like the global media landscape. This is taking time for some advertisers, some are electing to review their contracts as part of a larger tendering process, consider that their scope of work for an agency, their preferred payment model, their media mix, their resource needs may have all changed in the 3 or 4 years since they last pitched. Not to mention the rapid change of the media landscape each year.As a result, we are anticipating a busy 2017 pitch market as many advertisers, kicked into action following the ANA Transparency Report have spent some months reviewing contracts, conducting audits where they can and now shaping plans for their future media agency needs. It still seems possible that some advertisers might elect to pursue legal routes against their media agencies, there are still faint rumblings of an SEC investigation which won't go away just yet and that’s going to keep the US media industry on its toes for the foreseeable months.We anticipate very few advertisers would take this ‘nuclear’ option, fearing that it would actually create larger problems than it might resolve and cause a massive distraction from business as usual (which incumbent agency is going to maintain passion for a client who is publicly suing them for claw-back of millions of dollars?). It presents a huge risk for advertisers considering legal routes. Alternatively, we expect the majority of advertisers will want to re-design and re-engineer their relationship with the media agency. This has to be driven by a clear vision and a common ambition. It is the only sensible route to re-build the missing trust in the industry and set a path for a more productive and transparent and accountable media industry for the future.We are helping brands define this future and we are designing ways for marketers to get back around the table with their agency leadership to design for trust. It won't happen without engineering, it won't happen by accident - the most ambitious brands know they have to make this happen.

My guest for this episode is Hermann Hassenstein, Senior Head of Marketing Operations at Puma.

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Welcome to #MediaSnack Meets where we meet the individuals and organizations doing great work to inspire success and drive change within the global media and marketing industry. 

You’ve hopefully already read the facts. Programmatic is still a MESS.

But there are people, companies, behaviors and practices behind all this mess that we have yet to fully understand. Until now…

On this #MediaSnack LIVE we were joined by the expert team from Kroll, the investigative firm that conducted the qualitative parts of the ANA’s study.

In case you missed it, earlier this year The Association of National Advertisers published the 'first look' of their study into the programmatic media supply chain.
As part of the study Kroll was tasked with “illuminating, clarifying, and demystifying the U.S-based programmatic media supply chain”

In other words, getting to understand the dominant behaviors and practices that exist behind programmatic today.

In particular, Kroll sought to gain insights into the following key areas:
1️⃣ The flow of dollars from advertiser to publisher
2️⃣ The value exchanged for those dollars at each link in the chain
3️⃣ Whether any nontransparent practices or behaviors exist that have the potential to create unnecessary cost or waste for advertisers

Kroll’s part of the report, ‘ANA Programmatic Media Supply Chain Transparency Study - Qualitative Insights’ has just been released and is available for free download at www.ana.net/kroll

If you care about understanding programmatic and maybe making it better, you won't want to miss this podcast.

Joining me as special guests on this extended edition of #MediaSnack LIVE:
Richard Plansky - Regional Managing Director, North America, Forensic Investigations and Intelligence, Kroll
Sherine Ebadi - Managing Director, Forensic Investigations & Intelligence, Kroll
Kelley Elizabeth Train - Programmatic Consultant and Advisor

We gave listeners some tips on different routes you can take to improve your programmatic performance and reduce waste, tailored to the specific programmatic investment profile that best describes you as an advertiser. Listen in to find out more.

At ID Comms, we believe that Brands Deserve Better Media. 📈
Find out more at www.idcomms.com

The biggest media deal in a decade is here—Omnicom’s proposed $13 billion acquisition of IPG—and it’s set to reshape the industry. In this episode of #MediaSnack, Tom Denford and David Indo break down what this consolidation means for advertisers, agencies, and media buying power. With exclusive insights from a private meeting with Omnicom and IPG leadership, they unpack the risks, opportunities, and strategies advertisers should consider as the industry braces for change. Plus, in our #MediaSnack Meets segment, marketing legend Mark Ritson shares his no-BS take on why marketers are addicted to change, why it’s hurting them, and what they should do instead.

01:15 - How Not to Lose

    -What the Omnicom-IPG merger means for advertisers and media buying power
    -Key regulatory hurdles and potential industry ripple effects
    -What non-Omnicom/IPG clients should be doing right now

12:50 - How to Win

    -How brands can leverage industry consolidation for better deals
    -Key negotiation strategies in a competitive agency landscape
   - Why now is the time to stress-test agency capabilities

20:39 - #MediaSnack Meets: Mark Ritson

   - The state of media and advertising today—and why marketers are getting it wrong
   - The power of consistency and why sticking with what works beats chasing the new
  -  Why too much change is killing marketing effectiveness

#MediaSnack is presented by ID Comms, the global media consultancy helping brands achieve better media results.

    -What the Omnicom-IPG Merger Means for Advertisers: https://www.idcomms.com/blog/what-the-omnicom-ipg-merger-means-for-advertisers
    -Winning the Digital Pitch https://www.idcomms.com/blog/winning-the-digital-pitch
    -20 Must-Ask Questions for Digital Media Pitches: https://www.idcomms.com/20-must-ask-questions-for-digital-media-pitches
    -Mark Ritson Mini MBA: https://mba.marketingweek.com/?cmpid=251_se_go_res_tx_nonbrk&utm_medium=search_paid&creative=718241472628&keyword=ritson%20mini%20mba&matchtype=e&network=g&device=c&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAw5W-BhAhEiwApv4goDF1xYqVWC59gfNIqb5OGxwknHUzV3DxlTw8i1zzveKrCWgAXNj3LhoC6e0QAvD_BwE

Want to stay ahead in media? Visit https://www.idcomms.com/
Follow ID Comms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/id-comms/

Can Programmatic spend be audited?
Yes! And it must be given the size of spend. 
Focus on the link between price, quality and outcomes. Define thresholds to mitigate risks. Strive for operational excellence and insist on clear alignment at the setup phase. 

Programmatic done well can generate significant advantage for advertisers. But few companies are realizing the full benefits this channel has to offer.