#MediaSnack

On this week’s #MediaSnack we can’t stop talking about the Publicis Groupe restructure (see Episode 4 [link] for a back story to all this). We spent some time last week with a delegation of institutional investors in the media sector at a special ID Comms Q&A lunch at Nomura Bank in London. Their questions were fascinating but lots of attention and focus was paid to Publicis Groupe, their restructure and their ability to reverse recent fortunes and find organic growth and grow margins. In today’s episode we delve further into these questions. We pick up on news that ITV, the UK’s largest terrestrial broadcaster has started an investigation into one of the UK’s largest media buying agencies (Dentsu-Aegis Network) for failing to meet their trading commitments (ITV suggest that the agency didn’t spend enough of its clients money with them). We discuss the merits and challenges with these kinds of big agency trading deals and wonder what the real benefit might be to brands when they seem to fail like these with increasingly regularity. Finally, Tom has a little moan about the poor standards of agency marketing collateral and what might be done to improve this. 

#MediaSnack 119: The FUTURE of Media Conferences by ID Comms

My guest for this episode is Adam Benaroya, Director, Global Media Capabilities & Operations at Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health.

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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. 

#MediaSnack 111: TRADING: The Media Action Plan for 2018 by ID Comms

#MediaSnack 109: TERMS OF BUSINESS: The Media Action Plan for 2018 by ID Comms

On this week’s rather meaty #MediaSnack we review 3 big stories each likely to have a significant impact on the global media industry.First off we can't escape the Brexit UK referendum decision and its potential impact on the UK marketing scene and how it might affect marketers behaviours in the coming months. We try not to get caught up in the general negativity and whilst managing Brexit certainly has its challenges from a political perspective, if its going ahead then agile and ambitious companies will already be figuring out their best next moves to make the most of the opportunities. Those opportunities in media are likely to be significant, the rejection of the political status quo by UK citizens could set some precedent for marketers’ rejection of the status quo when it comes to the current media landscape and ways of working. There was already some appetite for change and re-invention in the media industry, which we have discussed before, but perhaps this may accelerate somewhat with the referendum decision. David and Tom consider how different kinds of marketers might react and hope their reaction will be largely proactive, optimistic and brave. This is the time to adopt a challenger mindset, think in leaner and more agile ways and consider how positive disruption might benefit your marketing organisation. Things are going to be tough, we all need to plan to survive and then flourish, to make change and innovation better than the status quo. Next we report on a fascinating story coming out of the US, the Chase retail bank has launched a deep audit of their media agency Zenith in the US and have hired corporate investigations firm K2 Intelligence and media auditor Ebiquity Firm Decisions to execute this. You will recall that these are the same two firms who have also provided the analysis for the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) recent investigation into media rebate practice in the US. The fact that the CMO of Chase sits on the board of the ANA could suggest that this might be just the tip of the iceberg and we may see other ANA members follow suit with big audits of their media agency practices. Finally, Firm Decisions is in the news again, this time they are being taken to the High Court by the world’s biggest media buyer GroupM. The claim lodged by the agency group accuses Firm Decisions of potentially misusing privileged data sent to them by mistake. Firm Decisions is yet to respond to the claim. We have reviewed the court papers and GroupM’s requests seem logical and reasonable, to request Firm Decisions prove they have deleted materials and account for how they came into possession of them. The alarming element is that this has ended up in court in public view, its very rare for agency and auditor to end up in court and is not reassuring for advertisers at a time of uncertainty to have the integrity of a leading auditor called into question. All at the same time Ebiquity Firm Decision are imminently about to publish their part of the ANA report into media rebate practices in the US….All of today’s stories are just the beginning, all will run much further so we will keep an eye on their progress in the coming weeks.

#MediaSnack Ep. 19: Q&A On Media, Brands & How To Design A Media Agency by ID Comms

On this week’s Episode of #MediaSnack Tom and David discuss the value of Cannes and review the most bizarre media pitch that they have ever seen.They start off by sharing some observations from their trip to the Cannes Lions, also known as the Festival of Creativity. Every year, pretty much the entire global advertising industry travels to the south of France to celebrate but actually it’s a good place to meet a lot of clients, outside of the office environment and have some really interesting conversations.David points out that it was very rare that there were any conversations about pitches or about agency structures. Most of the conversations, he says reflected each client’s internal operational requirements; “How should they look to design their own internal structures and ways of working to get the most of out media.”Tom and David argue that these conversations, in one way or another, have been provoked by last year’s ANA report, which encouraged marketers to take control of their media. And that’s exactly what’s happening because those are the questions being asked by CMOs, Marketing/ Media directors responsible for media investments. They realise that it’s not a question of changing the scope of the agency immediately nor about changing agencies/running pitches. They are now focused on the internal operating model and ways of working around media.And that’s where the biggest challenge of all lies, because smart marketers are also considering how to organise themselves better to get the most out of media. They are thinking about ways of taking greater control before thinking about agency rosters. The most important question is: “How should we be operating and where do we start?”Tom and David argue that marketers have to understand the strengths and weakness of their current operating structure and the way that they manage media now. This will help them to identify both the easy wins and the greater opportunities for improvement. Whatever the structure/framework you have, you need to understand where you currently stand, identify they key areas for improvement and then develop a roadmap. Only then can they can go to market and identify the right marketing services, solutions and agency solution but getting that structure properly designed internally is vital. Despite this, we still see advertisers who launch media reviews driven by an opportunity to save money solely and without necessarily strategic ambition. The recent pitch by Sainsbury’s, a UK large supermarket/retail/grocer is a good example. Sainsbury’s has now reversed their decision and will no longer be working with m/SIX (the agency that won the account in Q1). Instead they will be going back to PHD, the incumbent agency that had the account for over 20 years. Tom and David suggest that, perhaps, due to the recent purchase of the Home Retail Group, Sainsbury’s wanted to immediately realise some synergy savings.It is a common situation, which we see a lot when big mergers happen. We often decline such pitch projects because we know it’s going to become a race to the bottom on cost without defined strategic ambition. In the last few years we’ve just seen a whole number of these where the internal operating model, the structure, the actual requirements of a media agency have not been defined at all. Our approach is always to go back to the client and offer to help them get their own internal house in order. If you’re going to pitch media, prepare, get some advice, do it properly and involve your stakeholders throughout the business.

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 Amy Williams, Founder and CEO at Good-Loop

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

You can find Amy here: linkedin.com/in/amy-williams-
And more about Good-Loop here: good-loop.com

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

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My guest for this episode is Belinda Smith, Global Head of Marketing Intelligence at EA (Electronic Arts) one of the world’s largest video game and entertainment companies. 

For the last couple of years, before she moved into her new Marketing Intelligence role, Belinda was the Global Media Director of EA and to those in the know, she has been one of the real pioneers of what has become called “the in-housing of media”. And you will learn in this episode why she detests that phrase, as do I. 

I first met Belinda a few years ago at an excellent ANA Media conference where she was speaking  about EA’s plans to build their internal media capabilities. This was in 2017 and up to that point I had not heard someone talk about in-housing (that word) with such a clarity of vision and so articulately. Since then, Belinda and her team at EA went on a fascinating journey which she details in this episode, some things worked, some did not and needed refining. It really is a masterclass for anyone thinking about how to approach in-housing of their own media operations.

If you pay any attention to the media industry then you have probably either seen Belinda at an event or you have read something she has written about media. She has also become an important voice for diversity in the industry, in 2019 being named the Diversity Ambassador for the World Federation of Advertiser and she still sits on their global media board.

I always appreciate Belinda’s view of what we all do because, in these often divided and confrontational times she approaches the industry with more humanity than I think I see in anyone else. She wastes no time dwelling on negatives and always seems to have an optimistic and pragmatic view forward.