It’s something that has gripped the whole industry. The investigation into media rebates doesn’t quite name and shame (now that would have been interesting) – but the Association of National Advertisers has suggested that many media outlets are implicated, and I imagine that there will be some uncomfortable client conversations happening over the next few days if they haven’t happened already.
It’s the elephant in the room – to date, the biggest media agencies have been in an incredibly powerful position that is beyond trust with clients. Generally, they are working with very large sums of money, and control most of the data on return on investment. They are also, again generally, working without too much day-to-day challenge or competition.
There is a common state of affairs amongst the ‘big four’ networks – they offer all of the strategic, creative and media advice under one, tangled networked web. There is no option to choose a media partner that is better suited to the brief, or a client’s business. You keep it in the family.
Don’t get me wrong – at iris we have solid partnerships with media agencies. Some we’ve worked with for years. But that partnership is based on them being the right match for the client and the brief, and to deliver on the same ambition for a campaign. It’s also based on knowing when paid for media is, and more importantly isn’t, a necessity or even part of the answer.
In the rapidly changing consumer world, there is a growing discrepancy between what has a real impact with people, and what traditional media tells us should have impact. This varies audience to audience. Likes vs shares, what actually constitutes a view or engagement with an idea, and how this affects both soft and hard business metrics.
We have very deliberately built a business that places participation at the heart of what we do for clients, recognising that paid for media is becoming more of a commodity, and that the rules governing it remain decidedly murky.
The term ROI should consider much more – defining a “return on involvement” to better evaluate the increasingly complex array of channels/ideas/platforms/ spheres of influence we operate in.
With the emergence of this ANA report, I really can’t see how clients can possibly give the ad agencies and the media agencies so much trust (and budget responsibility) without more challenges, more checks and better balances.
Will we some brands challenging their agency portfolios to see how they can make ideas travel further with less focus on paid for media? And will we see clients start to reward great creativity with greater budgets, rather than allowing budgets to drive mediocre work? The jury is still out on that one.
Of course, I’m hoping that this report does something to challenge the norm of the industry, and what most consider to be an outdated media model. In my view, modern creative agencies should be separate and independent from the world of media. This allows for the best collaborations between agencies to happen, if and when it’s right for the brand rather than when it’s right for the pockets of the network shareholders.
Ian Millner is co-founder and chief executive of iris Worldwide
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