End of a Year, End of a Cycle

We are coming to the end of a cycle that started with Jon Mandel39s 2015 speech to the American Association of National Advertisers continued with the 2016 ANA report that followed it the subsequent decline in trust in the large agencies and now looks to be ending with the FBI39s enquiry into media buying practicesIn a nutshell it39s the end of the beginningamp160 There39s now a real need for a seachange at the network media agenciesamp160amp160If a large chunk of your revenue comes from someone other than the client and if a significant proportion of that is at best under risk and at worst has simply disappeared then you have a problemFor far too long agencies have spoken in public about their strategic skills their planning expertise and the original insightful research they and only they undertakeamp160 The fact is at the same time they were making their money elsewhereamp160amp160In other words what they saidamp160and what they did were two very different thingsamp160 If you don39t believe me read some of the worthy stuff emerging in the trade press from the largest players then set those pieces against published client concernsamp160 There39s a disconnectIn 2019 agencies have to improve what we can shorthand as their planning capabilitiesamp160 More importantly they need to demonstrate how these skills can genuinely add business benefits to their clients and charge accordinglyamp160amp160That won39t be easy amp160it39s never easy to charge for something you39ve been giving away for free but the skills are there if only the agencies39 managements and sometimes that means in the holding companies encourage the right people to flourishThe key is to demonstrably do something different better worthwhileamp160and to have the confidence that whatever it is has a value that can justifiably command a priceamp160amp160I think we can expect more acquisitions as the big guys add planning specialists and much talk of creative and data integrationamp160amp160Rather oddly the big network guys have to play catchup with the growing and impressive independent sector in terms of client focus creative thinking and fair and honest chargingBut before all of that comes to pass there39s confidence for you may I wish you all a peaceful stressfree Christmasamp160and a happy and prosperous 2019amp160 We will be back with more Cog Blogs in the New YearA version of this post appeared on Mediatel39s Newsline on December 18thClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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End of a Year, End of a Cycle

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Brian Jacobs

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