Defining an Advertising Supply Chain - Harold Geller

Underlying these beliefs exist constant discreet references to a supply chain even more so there are references to its need for a facelift However there is a lack of discussion about the bare bones of the current structure as it relates to its ability to function independently from its individual elements This begs the question in this case does the whole equal the sum of its parts The answer to this question is necessary in order to facilitate the basic changes to an antiquated albeit traditional supply chainThe supply chain must begin somewhere It is imperative to understand that partners in a supply chain have defined responsibilities in the process of taking raw materials through the stages of completion This results in a consumable finished product In our industry a finished product is an Ad but raw materials can be the footage that is shot during the production process other graphic elements or even closed captioning At each stage of completion a partner not only ends up with the tangible product but a progressively more complete description of the product Each partner contributes their experience in the development of the product and makes the definition more robustNow I39d like to get into the details of what it means to be each partner within a supply chain To rebuild a Chevy you must know how to disassemble it the same applies for our purposesThe industry today is focused on making sure that the advertiser gets what they want when they want it and for the best price possible For more than 20 years the marketing communications business has lived in a world where bottomup solutions like master data management and asset identification and description have taken a back seat to top down metrics such as ROI audience measurement and comparative analytics I suggest that we begin to look at these both as equally valuable and necessary Realistically we are looking at a bottomup foundation versus topdown evaluations measurement and analytics which need to coexist symbioticallyAt the head of Advertising Supply Chain is the Advertiser their contribution is the marketing and consumer insights that are necessary to begin a creative development process not to mention they fund it entirely However they also provide the baselevel information that will be used throughout the supply chain This bottomup information includes the standardized naming of both their corporate and brand entities and campaign level information such as quotthe Fall Launch CampaignquotTheir processes are then followed by the Advertising Agencies which begin the creative development and media planning development At this juncture the raw materials of the advertiser39s campaign begin to take shape Now there are conceptual ideas and the initial stages of how the consumer will be exposed to the message Perhaps they will be exposed via visual media like TV or on radio or in a magazine or morelikelythannot the internetAt this stage we begin to develop what these messages will be called and what kind of creative units will be developed For example there might be 3 commercials planned two 15 second spots and a 30 and they may be called quotThe Doritos chip manquot quotThe Doritos chip man returnsquot and the quotDoritos chip man attacksquotAre you beginning to see that the layers of abstraction describing this product are sort of like a Russian nested doll The smaller doll is inside enclosed by the larger doll which then is enclosed in a larger doll and so onAs these commercials find their way through the next stages preproduction production and post production the descriptions and elements that have become more progressively robust are supposed to be following the product around If your business systems were doing the work in the background each partner would be focused on what they do bestNext along the supply chain plans are made for the placement The media outlets use business systems that interact with both the product and descriptions And when I talk about media outlets I mean Broadcasters cable outlets web sites Video on Demand mobile providers and the additional platforms du jour in addition to endless sub platforms to display mediaHere is a bombshell marketers are looking for innovation You can point to added value either through reduced timelines or reduced costs Once that is achieved then we have demonstrated the value of being part of a supply chain and you39ve earned your spot as a valued partnerThe marketing and communications supply chain has become more complex and is all about providing relevant and engaging content to the consumer where and when they want it in other words we are talking about the same content being viewed on multiple screens without the advertising message being intrusive Defining sharing and refining best practices in supply chain excellence that use both bottom up and top down approaches allow for better and timelier data collection aggregation and reporting Ultimately the shift to thinking as a supply chain requires the consideration of decisions not just for the benefit of a particular organization as opposed to an extended enterpriseHarold S Geller is Senior Vice President Cross Industry Workflow American Association of Advertising Agencies 4Aamp8217s and Chief Growth Officer AdID LLC the industry standard for identifying Advertising assets across all media platforms a UPC code for ads which is a joint venture of the 4Aamp8217s and the Association of National Advertisers ANA Harold can be reached at hgelleradidorgRead all Harold39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at AdID The Supply Chain SeriesCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in 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