Pay Attention, Mr. & Ms. Corporate Procurement Officer

amp160Jack I read with interest today your article on The Upfront That Could Have Been or some such thing in which you correctly stated that advertisers are so fixated on cost that they have lost sight of the much more relevant value side of the equation Yes it39s true that financial personnel on the client side ride equipped with more firepower these days and thus the true client strategists are fighting a more difficult uphill battle than ever And the agencies compensated meagerly marginwise for the neverending challenge to excel to deliver the quotbig ideaquot areamp160squeezed between those cost value priorities and in the end it39s not even closeamp8230amp8230cost is the priorityYou realize of course that the model for media and marketing buying hasn39t changed much over 40 or 50 years In fact I believe you stated something to that effect Mindboggling really when one observes that the model was built and worked just fine thank you when there were a couple of dozen choices as to where one might put their message Currently you could probably name 200 choices off the top of your head and then double that given time to think a bit beyond the obvious And research which you also placed in perspective is 50 times maybe even 100 times more accessible relevantamp160and powerful than just 20 years ago wouldn39t you agreeI39m sounding I realize a bit pretentious the guy or girl who plays the game just like everyone else but still feels justified in pointing out the flaws of the game in which he or she is participating Well I39m not a golfer but Iamp160have friends who areamp160and moan endlessly about a particular course the difficulty of this hole or that how the greens are quottricked upquot and yet they still stumble out of bed at 500AM every Saturday for the quotpleasurequot of playing that same course once again Imagine a scenario where one day a few really smart foursomes sitting around the nineteenth hole after a round suddenly collectively say hey let39s change some things And through dogged effort and despite the inevitable uproar of the lemmings perhaps a few trees get removed a couple greens get shifted a bunker gets a facelift the carts actually runNow you39re wondering with justification what39s the point This is the point Jack what makes or breaks a marketing campaign Creative No although it39s been said that great creative can overcome the worst of marketing plans but the inverse is not possible Perhaps it39s true depending on how one measures quotsuccessquot The fact is Jack what makes or breaks a marketing campaign is the answer to one simple question quotwho do I want to talk toquot Who is my best prospect today the person who will be or who will continue to be my best customer amp8211 a heavy user a loyal user someone who influences the purchase decisions of others who need my category of goods or servicesYou get it I39m sure and I39m not trying to bust balls Jack amp8211 certainly not yours but I am using you as the landing strip for pentup frustration Didn39t know I am frustrated Oh Well consider that a nationally marketed product or service will spend hundreds of millions of dollars to purchase platforms for its advertising message and the selection of such platforms will mostly be based on the cost to reach 1000 adults 1849 Or adults 2554 Or my favorite amp8211 adults 35 That is so cool deliver your message to every living adult preferably most of whom are over 35 and then sit back and watch sales soar Ingenious And given the tons of consumer research available today you have to assume Jack that the selected target was the result of a long and arduous process with discussions and focus groups lasting well into many a night What lasted long into the night were discussions on creative on packaging on competitors and their non strategy and on many other subjects most having little to do with the consumer targetThe target today is an afterthought Jack ripped off from last year39s plan and perhaps the same target that has been used year after year for a decade Or the target was recommended by some wellmeaning young agency person who was asked at 6PM to put one on the table by 7PM as the meeting amp8211 well the meeting be tomorrow folksValue and strategy are in no way reflected by a cost per thousand Do you know that Mr or Ms Procurement Do you even want to know that Do you want to throw me under a sixteenwheeler because you39ve never had this much fun in your life and you39re on a roll and it feelsamp8230soamp8230good Damn packaging companies used to have crap tickets and a discount at Jake39s Jumping Jambalaya But advertising We39re talking steak and orchestra seats So you would prefer that I shut the hell up And you want me to understand that39s the way to negotiateSoon amp8211 and it needs to be very soon a small group of marketers will step up and have the bravery to say we39ll pay the 17000 CPM for that multidimensional target rather than the 3000 CPM for the age gender target because we39ve done our homework and we knowamp160it39s the best way to talk to the people who can kickstart our business And keep it prosperous The value differential is not even close amp8211 it39s a nobrainer When that happens and before everyone jumps on the bandwagon note who those people are and the companies that support their actions And then go out and put every dime you can find into long stock options on each of those corporations Those people and their companies will be the heroes who save this industry and quite possibly your job They will be the few foursomes at the nineteenth hole who finally say screw it let39s do the right thing And every one of us sure as hell better thank them when it happensBy Tower Name Withheld by Request

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