How to Restore Clients' Confidence in Media Agencies

Knowing the basics should be fundamental In our world where does the data we all take for granted come from How is it collected What are the assumptions behind it How can anyone advise anyone to do anything without at least a basic understanding of the tools we all use to make recommendations or spend someone elseamp8217s moneyWe are all asked to do surveys All the time Next time you do one just stop and ask yourself how much thought youamp8217re giving to it how accurate youamp8217re being or how easy or clear the questions are to answerRemember amp8211 someone is taking action or spending money on the basis of what you sayProfessionally itamp8217s never a bad idea to ask if it would be possible to complete the questionnaire or task as a respondent Obviously sometimes it isnamp8217t practical but whenever I have been allowed to do this it is inevitably revealingA few years ago a service appeared that claimed to measure via an online aftertheevent questionnaire all exposures to every piece of branded communication Taking a beer brand as an example the claim was that one study allowed planners to compare the efficacy of beer mats with pump decals TV commercials sponsorships social media OOH All on a likeforlike basis All based around what the respondent claimed to rememberWe asked if everyone at the client plus the agencies could take the questionnaire The research supplier wasnamp8217t overjoyed with the notion but we insisted Our experience allowed us to put the results into context In short to be polite and not to take them too literallyOn the flipside early in my career I sat as an agency representative on the BARB Technical SubCommittee For a technical reason to do with boundary changes some panel homes were going to be dropped by BARB Their data was already being discardedWe were offered the chance to visit a few of these homes to meet some exBARB panel members At this stage they were unaware that their responses were no longer included in the studyWhat struck me was how incredibly seriously these people took their task They believed they had a responsibility for shaping TV for deciding what was recommissioned and what was dropped They were of course to an extent rightWhen faced with a bunch of cynical Londonbased ad people they were shocked to think that we thought they made up the data or didnamp8217t answer the questions they were asked accurately and in a timely fashionIt may be considered nerdy by some to worry about audience measurement data or brand metrics but I donamp8217t see how agencies can do their job properly without understanding where the basics come from and what they meanI also think advertisers should prior to spending any money insist that the people theyamp8217re spending it with have at least some degree of understanding of the data theyamp8217re using to guide their decisions After all financial advisors have to take regular exams to update and keep their qualifications Why arenamp8217t agency media people responsible for investing large sums of money subject to the same scrutinyWe could create a system where different activities like taking an exam completing a course attending a conference all generate points towards a qualification The points would lapse after so many years meaning you need to keep uptodateAn agency would only qualify to handle a clientamp8217s business if they could show they have an aggregate number of points amongst their teams If they so wish agencies can be approved to run regular internal courses thus making the whole thing easier to participate inRight now what weamp8217re doing in spending our clientsamp8217 money is in essence educated guessing what we think likely to work best In fact itamp8217s not even that educated as a lot of the time we donamp8217t really pay much attention to the source of the data weamp8217re usingThe fact that clientsamp8217 trust in agencies has declined is wellknown The growth of inhouse teams and the direct sales efforts of the major vendors threaten agenciesamp8217 very existenceA scheme to ensure a level of understanding in the tools we use would help give clientsamp8217 back their confidence in the professional capabilities of media agencies Raising professional standards in understanding would positively impact all aspects of the media industryPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick 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 MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

How to Restore Clients' Confidence in Media Agencies

Author

Publish date

Channel

Archived in

Brian Jacobs

Up & Comer Jeanette St. Amant: An Outside-the-Box Finance Role at Sinclair Offers New Opportunities (VIDEO) - By Krista Van Lewen

More Videos:

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

How to Restore Clients' Confidence in Media Agencies

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Brian Jacobs

Stay in the know with more from MediaVillage

TAGS:

Up & Comer Jeanette St. Amant: An Outside-the-Box Finance Role at Sinclair Offers New Opportunities (VIDEO) - By Krista Van Lewen

Cookies