The K2 Intelligence Report: A History of “It’s Just Media”

While few inside the advertising supply chain will admit it, media has always been the industry’s bottom feeder. Creative drives the bus, media buys the gas. According to salary.com the median salary for an Art Director was $90,469 as of May 31, 2016. For a Media Planner, that number was $50,981. It has always been thus. After all, it’s just media, you know. Back in the day of the full service agency, a client firing an agency for media reasons was unheard of. It probably happened, but who can remember, it was so rare. Even media’s seat at the new business presentation table was always at the end -- literally and figuratively. If the presentation went too long, cut media. It was usually last on the agenda anyway. After all, “it's just media.”