Advertisers and a Levy

In particular a remark from Phil Smith Director General of ISBA the UK advertiser trade body that there is growing support amongst his members for a levy to fund crossmedia measurementThe timing was appropriate as it was two years ago at the Prague asi meeting that I proposed a levy on adspend to fund this aspect of media measurement I drew a comparison with the UK39s ASBOF levy that pays for our selfregulatory system and is now well embedded within the industryPhil was kind enough to acknowledge that this initiative started from the platform in Prague Subsequent Cog Blog posts have tried to advance the levy ideaA levy of course isn39t as simple as all that First it39s voluntary and so the benefits it delivers need to be recognized and soldSecond it needs a cap to stop the largest advertisers paying disproportionately large amounts in the event that a proportion of smaller advertisers choose to pay nothingThird it would be wrong to see this as some way of replacing the established funding models used successfully for many years within the JIC mechanismThis last point needs to be made very clearThe JIC system has served the industry well for many decades It is about intramedia measurement which spot to buy how many OOH sites are needed which radio networks are attracting what audienceThe JICs are about a currency they39re a basis for trading Their use in planning is tactical which mix of stations etcThey are illsuited and always have been for strategic planning They are nothing to do with intermedia comparisonsComparisons between media forms are not what the JICs are there for for one simple reason The JICs are primarily funded by the vendors and anything that threatens their ad revenues is naturally of no interestThe problem is that any initiative seen even mistakenly as a threat to the JICs is threatened by the inevitable howls of protestWe seem incapable of encouraging any new approach without assuming that the new must by default be there to trash the establishedTrue crossmedia measurement helps optimize planning The very concept aims to address a question the JICs were never designed to answerTalk of crossmedia measures lead inevitably to the IPA39s Touchpoints A fine idea albeit a snapshot that seems always to struggle for funding Agencies traditionally hate paying anything for audience measurement and so after the initial enthusiasm burned off the burden has fallen again on the vendorsBut any new structure shouldn39t discard Touchpoints or indeed TGI rather it should seek to weave what39s out there into a new and improved measurement framework The new doesn39t have to trash the oldIt39s advertisers who benefit from the better plans that emerge from being able to explore the impact of crossmedia campaigns to quantify the role that PR or experiential or instore plays alongside advertising And as the main beneficiary advertisers should pay as the WFA ISBA and the ANA acknowledgeISBA39s Project Origin is a start it39s not yet about true crossmedia In truth it39s tackling crossplatform videoBut let39s remember the answer to the old question How do you eat an elephant One small bite at a timeA crossmedia service meets a longtime need It makes sense to look for a way of spreading the funding load Hence the levyThe great thing about a levy is that it soon becomes part of lifeThe UK39s ASBOF levy dates back to 1975 Not everyone pays it but the massive benefits of selfregulation are never challenged by the industry maybe by politicians but not by the industryLevies become a part of the landscape Plans account for them invoices include them and pretty soon most accept themOnce there they can be used to underpin future work to drive new and exciting developmental research into improving how we plan communicationThey move us forward step by step along a new path funded by those who stand to benefitSpecialists often do what they do because it39s what they39ve always done Advertisers39 involvement is a positive a levy system is not a threat to the old comfortable order of doing things but a huge opportunitySweating the small stuff as the caravan moves on is not the wayClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Brian Jacobs

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