Leo wrote up some notes on the session we did at the IMM09 event. They are found here.
One of the themes that came out of the group is that the agency should be the agency of consumer insight, educating the client and helping them keep abreast of trends. And historically, a media agency strength has been the ability to dissect consumer media habits.
Yet two things. First,
along with other independent operations, I work with clients to help them navigate through the wonderful communications chaos. Media Agencies are not delivering this as well as they could be. But really this should be their domain.
This leads to the second thing. Are Media Agencies curious enough in the digital world? There are some truly fantastic operations out there dealing with people's media habits, which happen to be taking place via digital platforms. The media agencies are nowhere to be seen here. This was summed up in the IMM09 conference, where so few have experimented with something as basic as uploading a youtube video or finding out what twitter is all about.
So the agency of 2012 has to deliver on the promise of knowing the media habits of people. And the agency folk have to be curious folk too...
Paul
I think that the debate about the role of the media agency in a digital world is hugely interesting and important. Whilst media agencies say that they "get digital" what they often mean is that they know 'old media' people who know work for digital media owners.
This doesn't invoke curiosity, understanding or even interest as many media agency people continue to see elements of digital as channels they can just buy like TV or press. Unfortunately most aspects of digital are not that simple and if media agencies continue to try and make them so I hope that clients will move away from them to use real experts... such as digital agencies.
Digital provides the opportunity for clients to question media agencies about costs / rates and for media agencies to revise how they make money from clients - in my opinion it should no longer be from media owner commissions but rather for expert opinions, research and strategies.
Lastly, there is a huge difference between knowing the media habits of a sample of 20,000 people vs. monitoring the Internet to really understand people (e.g. Buzz, polls etc.). Media agencies like paid-for research solutions as they make them money. This doesn't necessarily place them as the best provider to really understand a brands' consumer.
Posted by: RA | 02/12/2009 at 09:59 AM
Great points RA. Thanks for contributing. Some media agencies are investing in digital talent, but I hear too often that this talent is wheeled out in pitches only to be sent off to run a bit of tactical SEO. Others throw their digital net only so far, thus offering the online offering of a magazine dressed up as an 'integrated solution'. Glad you agree of the importance of the debate.
Posted by: citizenbay | 02/13/2009 at 09:35 PM
Arguably agencies only really seriously invested in acquiring digital expertise because of the increased margins it offered versus 'traditional' media buying which had become commoditised and unprofitable as a skill. Now those digital advertising margins are eroding I wonder how much digital integration there will really be within large agencies. Now the higher margins exist in other places such as non-trad outdoor, events, digitsl experiences, SEO or creating IP from content, we'll be sure to start seeing more and more agencies investing in acquiring these areas.
Everyone's chasing the almighty dollar of course. No news there...but it means that the definition and shape of media agencies will continue to change as they strive to find profitable disciplines to drive growth.
Posted by: Tom Denford (ID Comms) | 05/08/2009 at 12:58 PM
If you want to increase your experience just keep visiting this site
and be updated with the most recent news posted here.
Posted by: http://besttvstuff.com/brainetics/ | 03/08/2013 at 10:17 AM