#MediaSnack

On #MediaSnack this week Tom and David mark the 50th episode by taking a look at recent reporting by Campaign after a survey into staff morale at agencies, both Creative and Media. It highlights a worrying downward trend of morale amongst staff at different levels. About a third of the respondents work in media agencies, in the USA which is the area the study covers.The most worrying element of the data is that amongst the more senior media agency staffers (who are the cohort most likely to state they have low morale) state that the main driver of their low morale is "lack of leadership"Is this indicative of media agencies lacking vision and ambition? Or is this simply burn out? We consider whether just being worked hard leads to low morale and conclude that working hard without purpose is what leads to negative thinking. Have media agencies lost their vision and purpose? If they had more vision from their leadership would things change? This comes coincidentally alongside news that global media agency network MEC announces that their long-serving global CEO Charles Courtier is stepping down in 2017, his replacement is Tim Castree, most recently running video ad sales platform Videology. Will be interesting to see how the narrative in that agency evolves in new leadership hands. A few week's ago Tom wrote an OpEd for Campaign called "Its Time For A Change of Guard at Media Agencies" which posed the question whether existing media agency leadership have the skills and appetite for the next five years battle which is much different as the nature of media agencies and their business model evolves. Some will become more transparent, some less, some will specialize some will diversify further. Laura Desmond, long time CEO of Starcom has recently resigned and we've seen a change of leadership at GroupM, with Kelly Clark taking the reins again. We wish Charles the best for his next adventure.

In this week’s #MediaSnack, Tom and David discuss the role pitch consultants at an important time of the year for new business. The start of the summer is traditionally the time when clients announce reviews just before they go away on holiday as well as the moment when pitches announced in Q2 start to approach decision time.Tom also reveals that he’s taking part in a session for the International Advertising Association, alongside Credit Suisse and OMD in a session called Behind the Curtain of Pitching. Tom and David explain how they are engaged by advertisers and what their role is as a strategic consultancy.David argues that the most important role for the pitch consultant is to provide clarity. To work closely with the advertiser to understand their objectives because that will determine how the agencies are stress tested. ID, he says, demands really clear briefings so that each pitch can be designed from the bottom up.He adds that the consultants typically add the greatest value at the beginning of the process because they make the sure that the deliverables are specific so that that goal of the review are precise and accountable.Briefing a consultant requires the advertiser to know four key things: clarity on objectives and outcomes, who the key stakeholders are, what are key timings for the business and where are the barriers to success.Tom says that pitches are about change management – that doesn’t mean the incumbent agency will change – but that they should deliver improvements on both sides whateve the result. These are often complex processes with multiple stakeholders, many of whom haven’t experienced a pitch before, and there can be many millions of pounds, dollars or Euros at stake.This week’s question of the day is: Who works hardest in a pitch?Finally, Tom and David reveal plans for a #MediaSnack 100 party to celebrate the 100th episode in roughly 14 weeks. Contact the ID Comms team if you want to attend.

Never miss your #MediaSnack - subscribe for updates every FridayOn this week’s #MediaSnack we reflect on what's driving media pitches in 2017 and what to expect to be figuring in pitch briefs in 2018.*****Thank you to COMvergence for sharing some of their data on the global pitch activity this year. You can find out more about them and their research into the global media industry here:http://comvergence.net/*****At this time of year, as we enter Q4 it's a good time to reflect on the global media pitch market; the major ones are concluding and marketers begin to refine their thinking for reviewing agency contracts for the year ahead. Tom and David consider the trend of pitches since 2015 which you will remember became known as 'MediaPalooza' because of the unusual volume of media pitches triggered, especially in the USA. The subsequent years have been relatively quieter, driven by marketers reflecting on powerful insights provided by 2016's ANA media transparency report and P&G's Marc Pritchard making a rallying cry to the industry to clean up its act in January 2017. Tom and David are anticipating all this marketer reflection to result in 2018 being another busy year. Some pitches will occur due to natural 3 years cycles following the 2015 gold rush, but other major advertisers will be considering 2018 as the year in which they put their new knowledge and oversight of their media investments to the test. Expect that 2018 pitches focus less on cost savings and more on defining a long-term constructive relationship with a media agency as a business partner, built on principles of trust and transparency and shared values and objectives. With reference to data from a great study called 'Global Media Governance & Guardianship' by the WFA published in August 2017 - #MediaSnack predicts that 5 key themes will become part of 2018 media pitches:1. Liability for fraudulent inventory2. Brand safety3. Control of programmatic4. Data ownership5. Fair agency compensationSome #MediaSnack tips for those advertisers preparing 2018 media pitches: Prepare, think long-term, set a clear vision, create a strong contract, drive better accountabilityOn this week's Good Week Bad Week, we congratulate independent media agencies in the UK, who last week made up 5 of the top 10 most successful agencies in new business in 2017 so far. Its a Bad Week for the ID Comms Library Shelves, who have featured in all 94 episodes so far but will be replaced next week as we move into our new, bigger office in London. Can a shelf itself be left on the shelf....?Further reading:WFA Report: https://www.wfanet.org/news-centre/global-marketers-making-radical-changes-to-media-management/Good Week: Bad Week:RIP the ID Comms Library Shelves...QOTW: What will dominate 2018 media pitch briefs? Talent, Fraud or Pricing?

Are you a Procurement Professional trying to grapple with the big issues of the day or are you trying to better understand Procurements pain points?

If so, then this #MediaSnack episode is a good primer. We drill down on four main themes covered at the 2022 ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference and give you some things to implement today in your organization that will help you gain a competitive advantage. 

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In this episode: ANA Resource List for Diverse Suppliers
https://www.ana.net/miccontent/show/i...

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#MediaForGrowth

#MediaSnack is brought to you by ID Comms, the award-winning growth consultancy specializing in media and advertising. Advisors to the world's most ambitious brands.

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Welcome to #MediaSnack, if you are new to the channel it's great to have you join us!

#MediaSnack is a LIVE weekly show where we unpack questions you all have about media, agencies, marketing, and more.  

On this week's #MediaSnack we are celebrating our (lucky) 7th birthday as ID Comms, yes we launched on April Fools Day in 2009. Just like Apple Inc did in 1976.... On the show today we first consider the K2 Intelligence assessment that is ongoing in the US as part of the ANA's look into potential media rebate practice in US. Tom shares his experience of being (pleasantly) interrogated by the K2 team in New York as ID Comms supported their process of data collection and analysis. Also we reference Tom's article on the subject in this week's Campaign magazine. See link below. Next, continuing the theme of trust and transparency we review the headline results of the recent ID Comms 2016 Media Transparency survey, the report from which will be published next week. If you'd like a copy please get in touch, @idcomms Following this survey report ID Comms is hosting an exclusive invitation only panel discussion on 15th April in London to build on these insights. Tom and David reveal who will be sitting on the stellar panel, including Bob Wootton from ISBA and Iain Jacob the CEO for the new Publicis Media operation across EMEA. Finally we review the recent product updates announced this week for #Snapchat and consider how they might be getting it right to rapidly build out their user based and attract valuable media dollars away from Facebook. You can find and follow Tom on snapchat at denfordtom. Next week we will be doing a special birthday Q&A - David and Tom will answer questions about the industry, the ID Comms business and what they see trends in media for the future. Please leave questions in comments below or tweet @idcomms - many thanks for the great questions so far. 

How To Manage Agency Conflict #MediaSnack Ep. 148 by ID Comms

This week's #MediaSnack is all about data strategies, viewability, ad fraud and key client watch-outs when it comes to programmatic. David is joined by one of the most experienced people in ad:tech - Wayne Blodwell. For the last couple of years he led programmatic initiatives at Dentsu Aegis and GroupM in the UK but has now founded a consultancy offering programmatic advice to brands, agencies and media vendors.David and Wayne start with some context. Programmatic is now one of the fastest-growing disciplines in advertising. Brands are expected to spend almost $40bn on programmatic this year, with more half of all display transactions now conducted this way. Next, they look at how programmatic strategy differs from traditional marketing strategy, and Wayne identifies the key elements that make the former successful: data, segmentation, creative, activation and measurement. Wayne and David also discuss the vexed question of whether brands should take programmatic in-house. Earlier this year, ID Comms’ Global Media Talent report highlighted the fact that advertisers are expected to develop their programmatic skills internally in the next two or three years. There are already signs of such investment, the most recent example coming from the UK, with Diageo's hire of Gawain Owen as Head of Programmatic. While agencies currently have the greater tools and talent, and are well informed to make decisions for their client, big brands that are spending more and more on programmatic do need to get closer to the data and the tech that's enabling it. They also need to get a handle on issues such as ad fraud, viewability and ad-blocking to ensure they are not needlessly exposed to risk.Finally, Wayne summarises his three key recommendations for advertisers. Firstly, they need to think about their data, first-party as well as the data that they have access to. Second, they need to think about technology and whether these decisions are being made appropriately for each brand. Thirdly, they need to think big and take advantage of programmatic beyond the simple placement of display. Getting programmatic right will allow marketers to make smarter decisions and get more value from their media investment.Links from the episode:http://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/11/28/programmatic-advertising-grow-31-2017http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/programmatic-ad-buying-now-available-social-influencers-174811http://digiday.com/publishers/programmatic-advertising-alt-right-problem/http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/programmatic-spend-will-grow-almost-third-2017-forecast-says/1416932http://www.chiefmarketer.com/build-stronger-relationships-with-programmatic-advertising/http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/programmatic-will-meet-purpose-2017/1417696http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/diageo-hires-nestles-gawain-owen-first-head-programmatic/1416900http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/putting-new-lens-programmatic-telescope/1416865http://www.wsj.com/articles/breitbart-controversy-spotlights-ad-technology-confusion-1480737178http://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/12/02/we-need-transparency-around-the-decisions-agencies-make-and-its-good-discuss-openlyhttp://www.isba.org.uk/blog/2016/12/02/unilever-asks-advertisers-to-engage-on-digital-industry-issues

#MediaSnack 114 Facebook's FAIL Advertisers Strike Back by ID Comms

The marketing organization is changing and nowhere more than in the media team. So what internal capabilities are needed to give your brands the competitive edge in media?

Here's the #MediaSnack alternative perspective on what makes a successful media team plus we share THREE GREAT TIPS on how to ensure your organization stays on the top of the capabilities race.

#MediaForGrowth

#MediaSnack is brought to you by ID Comms, the award-winning growth consultancy specializing in media and advertising. Advisors to the world's most ambitious brands.

In this special episode of MediaSnack, Tom Denford walks through the topline findings from ID Comms’ new 2026 State of Digital Media report, based on a global benchmark study representing over $35B in media spend. This episode—originally recorded as a live webinar—covers key insights for marketers and procurement leaders looking to strengthen governance, transparency, and confidence in digital media.

Tom reveals why media confidence still hovers around just 60%, why many brands are stuck in reactive compliance audits rather than performance-driven oversight, and why internal data silos—not fraud or fees—are now seen as the #1 source of media waste. He also unpacks the widening optimism gap between marketers and agencies, what to do about it, and why AI’s transformative power in media won’t be realized unless brands fix their governance foundations first.

You’ll hear why 2026 must be the year marketers shift from asking “Did we spend our media budget?” to “Did we waste it?”—and how to close the confidence gap before it costs you.

Learn more about ID Comms