Fifteen Guidelines for the Use of Principal Media

A new ANA white paper quotThe Acceleration of Principal Mediaquot is intended to increase awareness and help educate marketers the background benefits challenges and guidelines so they can make an informed decision about the role of principal media for them The guidelines 15 of them are especially key and are recapped hereMarketers should consider having a formal and detailed process for approving or not approving principal media Marketers should have a crossfunctional understanding of the benefits and potential challenges of principal media The team should establish clear policies on the company39s position on and processes around principal mediaEnsure that the contract with your agency is up to date with clear language to address principal media Refer to section 9 of the ANA Master Media Buying Services Agreement Template Version 30 This is fundamental and likely the most important of these 15 guidelinesThe agency should be required to provide a clear business case detailing why principal media is recommended overall and is consistent with the marketer39s media strategy objectives and buying guidelines and why it is in the best interest of the marketer There should always be options presented that do not consist of principal mediaThere should be clear visibility into the media outlets being used in principal media deals Marketers should know who their business partners areDetermine if your company is comfortable not having transparency on the cost of media to the agency not understanding how much the agency is marking up these purchases and the potential conflicts of interest that may arise from this model Since most principal buys for digital media also require advertisers to accept that all tech platform and data costs will be bundled in the total nontransparent cost decide if your company is also comfortable with thatHave a clear internal approval process for the use of principal media Final approval should be centralized with a single seniorlevel person to coordinate the company39s total ongoing investments in principal media Approvals should be done for each purchase in advance via a separate document or processRequire that principal media be clearly identified on media flowcharts Do not accept vague language such as quotPrincipal media may be includedquot Require specificsIf your company is open to principal media consider having a cap that is it will be no more than X percent of the total budget for a specific period of timeKeep track of your company39s allocation to principal media both the dollar amount and percentage of overall media spending At least quarterly require the agency to report how much principal media is being purchased Every new deal should include the percentage of the overall advertiser spending for the current year that has been committed to principal mediaExcept for not disclosing the price the agency paid to acquire the principal media reporting by the agency should be provided with the same level of granularity as would be expected for agentbased transactions Proof of performance metrics and access to transaction data should be made available for principal media with the same level of detail expected for agencybased buysAuditing of principal media transactions should be allowed in the same way as for regular agencybased transactions The only difference is that the agency would only provide access to the costs charged by the agency to the advertiser instead of the costs paid to the thirdparty vendorsConsider whether commissions or fees that would normally be paid to the agency for the management of agentbased transactions should or should not apply to principal media buys Keep in mind that the agency will be making a profit through markups on these purchasesUnderstand the impact that principal media would have on rebates that otherwise would have been earned under a nonprincipal media buyDon39t allow the savings generated by principal media to be automatically reinvested into buying more media Ask to buy to goals and set a reserve account with your savings Have the agency propose how to reinvest any savings Alternatively return cash savings to the bottom line if needed to meet business goalsWhen running media agency pitches any pricing guarantees provided by the agency should be based only on agentbased transactions If this is not required explicitly at the time of the pitch advertisers may later find out that the agency selected will only deliver against guarantees if principal buying is allowed at the agency39s discretion essentially requiring a blanket optin from the advertiserIt is imperative that marketers have guidelines for the use of principal media and go into such deals with their eyes wide open The ANA paper is available at wwwananetprincipalmediaClick 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 MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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Fifteen Guidelines for the Use of Principal Media

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Bill Duggan

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Fifteen Guidelines for the Use of Principal Media

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