Looking Back on the Year 2017

The question was who amp160Clients knew no better after decades of showing a disgraceful lack of interest in how their money was being spent Planners far too often seen as windowdressing by those agencies that knew exactly how to play the revenue game were told to go out and sell whatever the buyers had decided they should sell amp160A good planner can easily convince even a moderately wellinformed client to choose medium A over medium BThis abusing of plans and ignoring of client objectives was the real story of the Jon Mandel 2015 presentation to the ANA the moment when the first cracks in the wall appeared not so much the fact that there were rebates and kickbacks but that client budgets were being misdirected amp160Mandel caused the wheels on the network agency juggernaut to wobble a little the ANA report loosened the nuts a little more the WFA ISBA and the famous Marc Pritchard speech sent the wheels spinning away from the vehicleThe network agencies39 revenues started to slow as clients demanded transparency in everything justified or not amp160Holding company share prices stalled illustrating what many have long known amp160They have become overdependent upon their media agenciesForget the excuse that the holding companies have been hit by a slowdown in FMCG ad spends amp160As Ebiquity has pointed out marketing expenditure as opposed to traditional ad expenditure is in rude health going into 2018 amp160The real issue faced by the giants is how to reenergize media agency revenues by legitimately charging for excellence in planning amp160That39s very hard to do when you39ve been giving the planning away for free amp160It39s never easy to change the engine at 30000 feetThere have been positive developments on three fronts this year amp160All have come about because of a realization that far too many in the media agency business have been allowed in part by their clients to get away with being less than transparent for years amp1602107 was the year when this became obvious to more than us few geeksOne clients are now much more informed about and involved in all things media ensuring they get the best advice and see it carried through into the buys amp160Credit to the likes of ID Comms Ebiquity Media Sense and others for showing clients the wayTwo some sense of perspective is returning to how we perceive plan and buy online media amp160Yes it can be valuable amp160No it39s not always the answer amp160Yes the massive and largely unnecessary infrastructure built around so much of it is crumbling amp160GDPR will likely give the worst bits a good shove into oblivionFinally true alternatives to the network agencies have emerged amp160Increasingly clients are taking control of aspects of their media placements amp160The management consultancies with their data capabilities and their superior access to client boardrooms are now firmly amongst usGratifyingly the Media Agencies of the Year here have both been independents who place true transparency at the heart of everything they do amp160They live and breathe the concept as opposed to seeing it as a clause on a contract to be worked around amp160All credit the to the7stars and to Goodstuff Disclaimer Iamp160have done work in the past for the7stars amp160Within our small world they39ve shown the way in 2017 amp160The network agencies almost of all of whichamp160are under new leadership should learn from them in 2018Photo by Element5 Digital at UnsplashClick 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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Looking Back on the Year 2017

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Brian Jacobs

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Looking Back on the Year 2017

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