Despite All the Disruption, Media Agencies Still Play a Vital Role

The ripple effect from digital transformation has led to significant changes that are specific to CMOs and their agencies Bidon points out amp8220Thereamp8217s a race to firstparty dataamp8221 he says citingamp160Unileveramp8217samp160purchase of Dollar Shave Club as one of many examples Companies such as CPGs that lack firstparty data and donamp8217t have customer data from partners find it challenging to engage in a relevant dialog with their consumers he addsamp160Marketers can buy demographic and behavior data today but it will be harder and harder to acquire it Bidon notes amp8220Withamp160GDPRamp160and CCPA consumers will have to give consentamp8221 he says amp8220And brands will have to prove that when they have customer data they can make the experience more engagingamp8221amp160Consumers are more likely than ever to switch to a competitor if that customer experience doesnamp8217t meet their expectations amp8220Being a CMO is one of the hardest jobs todayamp8221 Bidon says amp8220Growth is hard thereamp8217s no inflation so itamp8217s not going to come from raising pricesamp8221amp160Some big brands are turning to inhousing programmatic to get more from their data as well as get more insight into return on ad spend amp8220Inhousing programmatic is all about dataamp8221 Bidon says But he warns that trying to go it alone can backfire over the long term amp8220You canamp8217t be a specialist at everything with how fast the industry is movingamp8221amp160Thatamp8217s why in spite of the disruption media agencies are facing they still have a vital role to play Bidon asserts One of the benefits of working with an agency is the broader view they have by working with multiple clients Another is the opportunity to work with agenciesamp8217 machine learningAI specialists and data scientists who can be tough for brands to afford attract and recruit amp8220To me the future is more about a hybrid model where agencies are guiding brands on the best ways to get business outcomes from media buyingamp8221 he says amp8220It wonamp8217t be the amp8216all or nothingamp8217 that people in the market are hypingamp8221amp160Bidon says he sees the hybrid model thatamp8217s all about brands learning programmatic and being closer to the process as a longterm trendamp160amp160How can media agencies best serve brands in this environment By helping brands get more ROI from their media investments Bidon advises It can be hard for brands to see ROI because of attribution challenges and other issues such as cost transparency One approach that Bidon recommends to get clearer ROI is to select one online metric to optimize to meet a brandamp8217s goals amp8220If you want to drive people into stores why buy on CMP basis Your metric is disconnected from your goalamp8221 he saysamp160amp160Ikea is one company that uses optimization to show value for its marketing spend The retailer measures footfall and then optimizes return on ad spend versus conversion It incorporated each storeamp8217s GPS coordinates to be able to adjust what itamp8217s willing to spend on media by its proximity to stores which has eliminated massive waste Bidon explains amp8220If a media outlet is not within 10 miles of a store they donamp8217t buy itamp8221 he saysamp160amp160This approach helps with relevancy as well amp8220The next time someone amp8216looks like youamp8217amp8221 he adds amp8220Ikea knows what ad to serveamp8221 amp8212 a picture frame versus a sofa for exampleamp160amp160Bidon also advises brands to take more risks in terms of paying on performance even though procurement is uncomfortable with that Procurement wants to compare costs by knowing measures such asamp160The New York Timesamp8217 CPM he notes instead it should be based on the right audience amp8220This is hard to explain to procurement people who were getting a discount on staples the day beforeamp8221 Bidon saysamp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160Another approach Bidon suggests is to balance creative and data Brands and their agencies have to think about creative too he notes amp8220Brands shouldnamp8217t do all this targeting just to show the same message or serve the same creativeamp8221 he says amp8220Instead they should use dynamic ads to allow for personalized experiencesamp8221amp160In fact Bidon wouldnamp8217t be surprised if creative agencies and media agencies come back together underpinned by technology he predicts that as the agency of the future amp8220If I look at where the industry is and should be going I see that weamp8217re doing a better job of breaking silos between media and creative and yes machine learning and AIamp8221 he says amp8220We need the help of this intelligence to help establish causality Being able to feed that causality back to optimize is where we should be goingamp8221

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Despite All the Disruption, Media Agencies Still Play a Vital Role

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Ginger Conlon

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Despite All the Disruption, Media Agencies Still Play a Vital Role

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