Top Ten Issues Confronting Media, Agencies & Advertisers -Complete Report

Originally published May 3, 2010

Privacy and Data Ownership/Value tops my list of the most critical ten issues confronting media companies, advertisers and media agencies for the decade. The issues I focus on in my subscriber-only commentary are not the typical "social media" and "online/mobile video" challenges, which are extensions of established and well-functioning organizational models. Rather, my Top Ten Issues focus on game-changing realities that every company doing business in the media and advertising industry must recognize and consider in their strategic planning. Next week, Jack Myers Media Business Report will publish revised 2010-2012 Spending Forecasts for Media and Marketing.

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Top Ten Issues Confronting Media, Agencies & Advertisers
1.Privacy and Data Ownership/Value
2.Media Marketplaces and Exchanges
3.Who Owns the Media Deal? -Client or Agency or Media Company
4.Deal Transparency & Arbitrage: Inventory & Data
5. Organizational Restructuring
6. Globalization & International Markets
7. In-Store Battleground
8. Hyper-Localism
9. Cause Marketing
10. Where is Management Coming From?

Privacy and Data Ownership/Value
While data privacy concerns are being discussed at length, with the IAB, ANA and 4As taking the lead in implementing industry regulations in the hopes of avoiding government intervention, it seems inevitable that the issue will be politicized with the industry taking it on the chin. As aggressive as the industry has been, government officials are likely to become more aggressive with both Democrats and Republicans seeking the upper hand on consumer protection regulation. More important than privacy issues, however, is the debate over the ownership of data. While traditional Nielsen, Arbitron, MRI and ABC metrics remain the basic currencies for media buying and selling, dozens of competitors are producing high-quality information and insights from set-top boxes, online/mobile digital consumer drill-down, and proprietary research – both custom and proprietary. The currencies of the future will emerge from the landscape of currently available resources, some custom and proprietary and others syndicated. TiVo, TRA, Marketshare Partners, Google Analytics, Omniture, BlueKai, Exelate, Audience Science, Lotame, Media6Degrees, Quantcast, Datran, Jovian, Targus, Expedia. These are just a fraction of the many suppliers who are competing for a share of the data marketplace. WPP has invested heavily in Kantar and has made investments in Invidi and Visible World, which incorporate data rights into their business models. Who owns the rights to data and who will have the rights to arbitrage it? If agencies package and re-organize data, will the costs for each component part be transparent or will the value be in the package and subject to incremental fees? Data providers, media, advertisers, agencies, data manipulators/managers, distributors: who owns the rights to the data and to profit from access to the data? The issue of data ownership is just beginning to be discussed, and it will emerge as an important battleground throughout the next decade.

Media Marketplaces and Exchanges
I could easily spend several issues of Jack MyersMedia Business Report on the issues related to the development and expansion of media marketplaces and exchanges. Each of the leading agency holding companies has established media buying platforms and is investing in Demand Side Platforms. MediaMath, InviteMedia, [x + 1], Turn, Data Xu, Appnexus, Efficient Frontier, Triggit, AdBuyer and others are battling to establish their market and value. At least nine ad exchanges, led by DoubleClick, Right Media and ContextWeb are serving the industry. Eight data exchanges and aggregators; nine major data optimization providers; ten creative optimization enterprises; plus data exchange providers, analytics companies, and ad servers are all in the market and battling for prominence. As media sellers, agencies and marketers align with selected service providers and as these providers align with specific holding companies, competitive battle lines will be drawn.

Who Owns the Media Deal?
Client or Agency or Media Company
In several countries in Europe and Asia, the agency owns the deal/relationship with the media seller. In the United States the advertiser owns the deal with the media company, and the agency is simply a middle man with no proprietary rights to benefit from the deals they negotiate or from their buying clout or marketplace advantages. This issue is directly related to the next major issue confronting media, agencies and marketers:

Deal Transparency & Arbitrage:Inventory & Data
In countries where agencies own the media deal, they typically have rights to keep their media pricing confidential, enabling them to sell the media to their clients at a profit. The United States has the greatest media cost transparency of just about any nation in the world. If agencies are able to negotiate beneficial deals with media based on their clout, market intelligence, unique data assets, relationships or any other competitive advantage in which they have invested, they must share those cost advantages directly with the client and fully disclose all pricing. The client owns the deal – not the agency. Similarly, media sellers are completely free to negotiate special opportunities directly with the advertiser, and the decision to compensate the agency for any work provided is completely at the discretion of the client. This flies in the face of the traditional commission model, in which the agency is compensated through a percentage arrangement (15% discount) directly by the media. Historically, client-direct deals were billed at "gross," and the 15% commission only paid to a qualified agency. While media companies continue to operate on a gross/net basis, the fundamentals of the commission are no longer relevant. On the surface, transparency should be good. However, whether the agency should have more opportunities to own the media relationship directly is an important issue for the future. Agencies add value to media assets, aggregate media, compartmentalize and separate media assets for repackaging, and have multiple opportunities to profit from creativity, knowledge, asset ownership, insights and technological capabilities. In many instances they are prevented from doing this by the requirements of transparency and deal-ownership. Agencies are disincentivized from serving their clients' needs and interests, and are relegated to commoditized buyers of inventory. This is one of the most critical issues that will be debated and will determine the future health of the industry.

As Market Recovers, Media and Advertising Companies Confront Organizational Restructuring

Originally published May 17, 2010

Organizational Restructuring is one of the Top Ten Issues Confronting Media, Agencies and Advertisers identified by Jack MyersMedia Business Report as part of our ongoing research among industry executives. Few medium to large-sized companies are immune from the technology-led convergence of marketing services. Some of the looming restructuring issues are obvious, such as the overlap of media buying responsibilities at traditional and digital media agencies being created by traditional television content extensions across multiple digital screens. Others are less apparent and more complex. This week's Members-Only Media Business Report focuses on two of the issues confronting media and advertising-dependent companies: Organizational Restructuring and Globalization. .

Myers Top Ten Issues Confronting Media, Agencies & Advertisers

1. Privacy and Data Ownership/Value
2. Media Marketplaces and Exchanges
3. Who Owns the Media Deal?
       Client or Agency or Media Company
4. Deal Transparency & Arbitrage: Inventory & Data
5.Organizational Restructuring
6.Globalization & International Markets
7. In-Store Battleground
8. Hyper-Localism
9. Cause Marketing
10. Where is Management Coming From?

Organizational Restructuring
Marketers are finding it necessary to break down the traditional barriers between advertising and sales silos within their organizations. Social media, mobile and online couponing, media tie-ins to consumer and trade promotions, search marketing that drives website traffic, direct-to-consumer commerce, in-store media and consumer-centric (viral) marketing are forcing integration of traditionally-independent corporate activities.

Agencies are exploring the duplication in their hierarchies and multi-agency structures as they respond to expanding client needs and changing interests. Creative, direct marketing, advertising, promotion, event marketing, public relations, cause marketing, merchandising, licensing, and other agency services are increasingly in need of integration. Omnicom has more than 260 individual companies within its Diversified Advertising Services Group, many serving the same clients with overlapping responsibilities. While this model continues to be profitable, as marketers integrate their marketing and sales organizations, they will require agencies do the same.

As organizations confront these needs, half-measures will be difficult. As they envision the future, they will be more likely to alter their traditional organizational models. Media sellers are ultimately in the same boat, as they find it necessary to invest significantly in incremental capabilities and resources that will be required to serve their clients' and agencies' newly integrated and convergent needs.

Media companies such as Meredith Publishing envisioned these changes several years ago, making risky investments in direct marketing agencies and resources. Meredith dramatically outperformed its magazine competitors in 2009 and is poised for several years of growth as a result of their organizational transformation. Sports leagues and media and the music industry have been the most successful in targeting non-advertising marketing budgets. Time Warner has maintained a Marketing Solutions Group, which provides creative and integrated cross-platform marketing solutions. NBC Universal recently hosted an integrated marketing Upfront presentation. Scripps, MTV Networks, Hearst Magazines, Clear Channel and others have dipped their toes in the water and now have both feet in. But few companies are seriously committing to the resources they will most likely require in the future.

Most organizations are holding onto traditional structures and silos until there is overwhelming pressure to change. The pressures they felt as the economy melted in 2009 has been relieved by the nascent recovery. Companies remain reluctant to add teams and capabilities that are not instrumental to their core businesses. Given the choice between a three-person client support team and a new traffic system or three new salespeople, a media company is more likely to opt for the latter. Given the option of retaining established competitive agencies or investing in an integration process, the status quo will usually win out. It's a fundamental choice of priorities. Almost all media, marketing and agency companies will be confronted with the need to determine their relative commitment to:

· maintaining their share of slow-growth core businesses;
· innovating and restructuring to tap into new and potentially high-growth budget streams.

Globalization and International Markets
Even the most local of businesses need to recognize the globalization of media distribution. Unlike traditional print or broadcast media distribution models, even a hyper-local website has instant reach around the world. Corporations and brands are global. Agencies are global, Content is increasingly global. Commerce is global. Few network programs or films survive unless they generate revenues from international distribution. Social media is bringing together consumers with common needs and interests across a spectrum of products and services. Digital connections are creating a new model for corporate communications that knows no borders.

In future reports, Jack Myers Media Business Report will continue the overview of the Top 10 Issues Confronting Media, Marketers and Agencies.

Part 3: Top Ten Issues Confronting Media, Agencies & Advertisers

Originally published on June 1, 2010

The In-Store Media Battleground, Hyper-Localism and Cause Marketing take center stage in this week's chapter on the top ten issues confronting media, agencies and advertisers for the next decade.  As brand managers and chief marketing executives at major advertisers consolidate their marketing budgets and move toward integration of sales marketing budgets with advertising investments, they are actively seeking opportunities to influence their relationships with retailers, distributors and employees through their media advertising investments. Over the next several years, advertising budgets that were once exclusively invested in traditional media will be redeployed into in-store media, cause marketing programs and hyper-local retail connections. In this week's Members-Only Report (below), I share insights on the in-store media battleground, the emerging hyper-local media marketplace and emotionally resonant cause related marketing. In next week's report, I focus on the issue of where the advertising, marketing and media management of the next decade is coming from, with an exclusive interview with Horizon Media CEO and new 4A's media policy committee chairman Bill Koenigsberg.

Top Ten Issues Confronting Media, Agencies and Advertisers

1. Privacy and Data Ownership/Value
2. Media Marketplaces and Exchanges
3. Who Owns the Media Deal
       Client or Agency or Media Company
4. Deal Transparency & Arbitrage
       Inventory & Data
5. Organizational Restructuring
6. Globalization & International Markets
7.In-Store Battleground
8.Hyper-Localism
9.Cause Marketing
10. Where is Management Coming From?

IN-STORE MEDIA BATTLEGROUND
This year, marketers will invest nearly 25% of their total marketing expenditures ($166 billion)* in trade promotion and slotting allowances to drive product distribution. 26.6% ($183.5 billion)* will be their total projected investment in media advertising. In the face of a 1.4% decline in first-quarter comparable year sales, Wal-Mart U.S. CEO Eduardo Castro-Wright recently announced the company was "significantly" increasing its investment in marketing and in-store communications. The recognition of in-store communications as a key part of the consumermarketing investment is important to note.

Organizational silos at most consumer brand marketers separate the executives who have responsibility for implementing and managing trade marketing and consumer advertising investments, but one of the fundamental shifts influencing the advertising business today is the growing acknowledgement that in-store media, historically managed as part of the trade promotion budget, needs to be integrated into the consumer advertising consideration set.

If you have recently visited a Wal-Mart, Best Buy or any large retail store, you've been exposed to an extensive array of advertising via end-aisle displays, video displays, in-store radio, coupons, shopping cart billboards, point-of-purchase displays, overhead signs and more. Wal-Mart's Steven Quinn, SVP of Marketing, has stated that "the new paradigm for retail is that the store is a brand." It's equally appropriate to view the store as a media supplier – one more exposure opportunity for national marketers to communicate a message as close to the point-of-decision as possible. Media consultant Erwin Ephron has long advocated the recency theory of media planning that builds on the concept of reaching consumers with ad messages as close to the purchase decision as possible. Most media planning today follows the recency model, but marketers have historically incorporated in-store advertising as part of their trade promotion budgets, intended to influence retailers' shelf space allocations more than consumers' purchase decisions. Slowly but surely, in-store media buying is being considered as an important component of the consumer communications process and possibly the most important influence. In-store media options are being integrated into the media plan and agencies are grappling with the need to gain expertise in their clients' retail trade relations programs.

A 2005 study conducted by TNS (now Kantar) for Wal-Mart, conducted with over 5,500 Wal-Mart shoppers, reported that customers who had viewed advertising for specific brands on Wal-Mart TV were significantly more likely to:

• Agree with positive statements about those brands (61% agreement) vs. customers who did not see those same advertisements (40% agreement).
• Purchase the advertised product "today" (15% vs. 4%)
• Plan on purchasing the product "in the future" (85% vs. 62%).

The study also found that advertising on Wal-Mart TV drove significantly higher motivation levels than advertising for similar brands on in-home TV. These and similar studies have led more and more retailers to incorporate video displays and advertising presence as part of the shopper experience, resulting in a proliferation of in-store media options and companies investing in building them. The out-of-home advertising role within agencies has become progressively more complex and sophisticated. Traditional media companies, led by CNN, NBC and CBS, are actively expanding their content distribution to include in-store media.

Out-of-home and place based advertising (excluding cinema) is projected* to increase from $6.2 billion in 2009 to $6.8 billion in 2012, gaining market share from 3.4% to 3.6%. As mobile technology advances, delivering GPS-targeted messaging, special offers and coupons directly to consumers as they shop and move from aisle to aisle, in-store consumer marketing tool sets will become even more complex, tactical and influential. As this decade progresses, the in-store media and marketing battleground will emerge as one of the most important for marketers, media companies and agencies to embrace and understand.

HYPER-LOCAL MEDIA
As reported in The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/dec/23/trends-2010-hyperlocal-media), "while the future of local political reporting is at stake, one media trend for 2010 became crystal clear: hyperlocal information is where AOL, CNN and Google have put their business hopes. In 2009 AOL bought two local startups with Patch, which brings local news to communities, and Going, a local event listing platform. AOL's big rival, MSNBC, acquired the hyperlocal aggregator EveryBlock. CNN is investing $7m in the aggregator Outside.in. The Clarity Media Group of billionaire Philip Anschutz, who owns the local news network Examiner.com acquired the citizen journalism site NowPublic. And the eBay founder Pierre Omidyar invests in the creation of a local news service for Hawaii. I guess you can call that a trend."

American Home Network, EveryBlock, Outside.in, Placeblogger, Patch, MeetUp, Blip City… lots of attention lately is being focused on the hyper-local economy. Local shoppers, pennysavers, Harmon Homes, Auto-Trader and local coupon distributors for years have been an influential growth sector of the media economy, and now venture capitalists, equity funds and large media companies are jumping on the bandwagon. Google, Bing, AOL, Facebook and GPS-based mobile services Foursquare and Gowalla are all tapping into the hyper-local marketing trend and advertisers are actively seeking to better understand and adapt to this newly emerging media marketplace. One company, Live Technology, works with many of the leading national marketers to provide the software tools that enable local affiliates, franchisees, agents and retailers to incorporate approved and timely creative assets in their local advertising communications. They have developed and are implementing these tools and metadata search capabilities in a platform that enables local media companies to be the primary "go to" resource for all local advertising -- empowering them to extend their existing local business relationships to other media properties by providing a "white label" search engine with metadata around cars, homes, travel, retail and the top seven local business categories. Google has already deployed a virtually identical platform in the UK and Australia.

Local media, which has been a labor intensive cost center for agencies and a declining media category, is suddenly hot with digital media opportunities leading the way. The hyper-local business focuses on segmenting consumers into the ten to twenty mile radius around major retail shopping areas and years of research, analytics, and marketing interpretation are on the horizon. Over the next decade, the landscape of marketing and advertising will inevitably become increasingly locally focused. Several years ago advertising agency BBDO argued that marketers should "Think Local but Act Global." In the future, marketers, agencies and media companies will need to "think hyper-local and act hyper-local" as well as "thinking globally and acting globally," not to mention regionally, nationally, and right down to the in-store and household-by-household media experience. Consumers, marketplaces and the technologies available to communicate with them are far too complex for BBDO's single simple business mantra of the past.

CAUSE RELATED MARKETING
Wikipedia describes cause-related marketing as "a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a 'for profit' business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit. The term is sometimes used more broadly and generally to refer to any type of marketing effort for social and other charitable causes, including in-house marketing efforts by non-profit organizations. Cause marketing differs from corporate giving (philanthropy) as the latter generally involves a specific donation that is tax deductible, while cause marketing is a marketing relationship generally not based on a donation. According to a report published by onPhilanthropy, cause marketing sponsorship by American businesses is rising at a dramatic rate. Citing an IEG, Inc. study, $1.11 billion was spent in 2005, an estimated $1.34 billion was spent in 2006, with $1.44 billion spent in 2007, $1.52 billion in 2008 and $1.57 billion spent on cause marketing in 2009." Jack MyersMedia Business Report projects that by 2020, marketers will invest nearly $5.0 billion in cause related marketing programs, many in association with media partners. Public relations, social media and word-of-mouth marketing is projected to capture nearly $8.0 billion of marketers' budgets in 2012*, and a growing segment of these investments will be targeted for cause related initiatives.

Even the casual observer can note the number of marketers and media companies that are connecting their consumer communications to cause related efforts. Most notable are the GE Ecomagination and Healthymaginationcampaigns actively integrated (along with Women at NBCU) into GE's NBCU relationship, and Pepsi-Cola's decision to skip its Super Bowl advertising after 23 years to commit instead to its Pepsi Refresh campaign. As reported in Time Magazine (http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1958400,00.html#ixzz0pWWbXf3l), "instead of pouring millions of dollars into a Super Bowl commercial, Pepsi has started a social-media campaign to promote its "Pepsi Refresh" initiative. Pepsi plans to give away $20 million in grant money to fund projects in six categories: health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods and education. People can go to the Pepsi website refresheverything.com to both submit ideas and vote on others they find appealing." Throughout this decade, marketers will progressively shift budgets away from pure reach-based intrusive advertising and they will seek to gain competitive advantages by establishing Emotional Connections™ with their consumers. The most logical opportunity to accomplish this objective while maintaining media exposure will be to connect cause related initiatives through media content companies that offer content that is compatible with relevant causes. MTV Networks have been at the forefront of cause related marketing with Rock the Vote, Save Our Schools and several other initiatives. Lifetime has been an active supporter of causes related to women's issues. Sports leagues have actively engaged with charities for years, but have not typically tied sponsors into the efforts. CNN has incorporated sponsorships into several content specials with cause related connections. Media brands such as National Geographic, Food Network, History,NBC's The Biggest Loser,ABC'sJamie Oliver's Food Revolution, Oprah Winfrey Network, along with many magazines, websites and TV content brands are natural content resources for delivering on marketers' cause related goals.

Other important cause related marketing examples listed by Wikipedia include:

• The partnership of Yoplait's "Save Lids to Save Lives" campaign in support of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The company packages specific products with a pink lid that consumers turn in, and in turn Yoplait donates 10 cents for each lid.
• The American Heart Association's stamp of approval on Cheerios, the popular breakfast cereal. The American Heart food certification program grants use of its "Heart Check" icon and name to dozens of cereals and juices meaning that that product meets the Associations' low-fat, low-cholesterol standards.
• In 2007 Singapore Airlines launched a cause marketing campaign attracting over 35 million unique visitors across 23 countries to bring awareness to Doctors Without Borders.
• Launched in early 2006, Product Red is an example of one the largest cause-related marketing campaigns to date given the number of companies and organizations involved as participants as well as its reach worldwide. It is also an example of a cause marketing campaign that is also a brand on its own. Product Red was created to support The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria (aka "The Global Fund") and includes companies such as Apple Computer, Motorola, Giorgio Armani, and The Gap as participants.

Marketers, agencies and media companies will be challenged throughout this decade to connect the dots between marketing and promotion budgets and the passions and cause related interests of consumers and audiences.

*Source: Jack Myers Media Business Report 2010
(http://media.jackmyers.com/documents/JackMyersSpendingForecast+-May+2010.pdf)
™Emotional Connections is a trademark of Jack Myers for research reports, advertising goals and marketing programs.

Final Chapter: Top Ten Issues Confronting Marketers, Agencies and Media Companies

Originally published June 7, 2010

Today's Report focuses on talent and where the next generation of media and advertising management will come from. While digital media have attracted a pool of young people into the media and advertising business, few of them have any grounding in our rich history or economic realities. Many have little interest in traditional television and print media, which continue to dominate the day-to-day world of advertising. In this final chapter of my four-part series on the Top Ten Issues Confronting Marketers, Agencies and Media Companies in the Next Decade, I focus on perhaps the most critical, Where is Our Industry's Management Coming From? Bill Koenigsberg, founder and CEO of Horizon Media and Chairman of the Media Policy Board for the American Association of Advertising Agencies, points out that "over the past two years a lot of momentum was lost when thousands of jobs were cut in the advertising and media business. It's difficult to hold a banner up when companies have hiring freezes. Now that companies are starting to hire again, there's an opportunity to bring young, motivated and passionate people into the industry. That's one of our most important opportunities." Equally, if not even more important, is preparing our current executive pool -- those who have five to forty years remaining in their careers -- to deal with the extraordinary challenges and prepare for the opportunities ahead. There are some surprising statistical insights into why the new wave of personnel will accelerate the growth of digital media.

The media-focused digital (and beyond) advances of the next decade will surpass the developments during any prior decade in history. Yet, in 2010, online, mobile and other emerging media types will represent only four percent of the $690.6 billion* in total marketing investments. While that percentage is growing, today's "emerging media" will remain dependent on the so-called "traditional media" that can deliver "analog-style scale with digital benefits." Although traditional media remain the workhorses for advertisers, more than 85% of people entering this industry's work force are focusing their time, energy and interest on that digital four-percent. Those born in the same year as the first Internet browser was introduced (Mosaic in 1993), are now 17 years old. They are heading to college. There's a good chance the next Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are among them.

This generation will receive little or no training in the traditional fundamentals of the business of media, advertising and marketing. Agencies continue to deploy huge sums of dollars into traditional media categories on behalf of their clients, but are hard pressed to find smart and talented young people who are willing to spend more than a minimal amount of time working on non-digital media activities. At large creative agencies, it's just the opposite. They have been challenged to develop young creative talent that has more interest in digital execution than in producing :30-second commercials for network TV.

Media agencies are channeling their new recruits into traditional media sectors only to lose them quickly to the digital universe, while the reverse is true on the creative side of the business. As digital and analog practices invariably converge, it will lead to increased collaboration, integration and teamwork between these diversely-focused groups. The upcoming generation of digital-only tech-savvy employees can and should be encouraged and better prepared to understand the diverse growth opportunities that will be available in the media and advertising business.

"There has been no better time in the past 30 years for young people to come into this industry," says 4As' media policy board chair Bill Koenigsberg. "It's a new frontier where everything we all do is changing and there's valuable new real estate up for grabs." Koenigsberg believes that media agencies offer an important training ground and growth opportunity for young people graduating college or considering new careers. "Wall Street is not the darling anymore and we should be able to attract those smart and motivated young people who have been going to Wall Street." "As an industry," he argues, "we can do a better job selling our future. Media agencies are leading in developing and implementing marketing strategies. Digital agencies are taking a leading role in communications planning. As an industry we are far more engaged in technology. A start-up business can do incredibly well. Advertisers are looking for new and innovative solutions, creating huge entrepreneurial opportunities. Creative agencies are looking to redefine their role. This all means enormous opportunities for people and that's really cool." Koenigsberg adds, "The issues we need to consider are: what is the future of all these agencies, who is going to do what work, and where are the leaders and visionaries coming from?"

In the past 36-months, the top management at 11 of the top 15 U.S. media agencies has changed. The top executives at countless media sales organizations have been replaced. ABC's Mike Shaw and MTV Networks' Hank Close, considered the best and brightest among television revenue officers, stepped down voluntarily and have refused offers to re-enter the industry in senior positions. At public companies there is pressure to retain business and put new business on the books – even at low profit margins -- to meet short-term Wall Street expectations. The ability to command premium compensation in return for innovation and leadership requires a client base that is able to capitalize on ideas.

At the top 200 national advertisers, which fund more than 85% of total U.S. advertising investments, the typical chief marketing officer has had, until recently, average job tenure of 22 months. There is some dispute about whether time in the job has shrunk to 18-months or increased slightly, but marketing executives who need to deliver on sales results month after month while confronting tough economic conditions are unlikely to test new waters. "What kind of longer term vision can be formed when top management is being moved in or out and they don't have the luxury of long-term planning," asks Koenigsberg.

As young people dominate the talent pool, they will be more likely to challenge precedent and more likely to move budgets toward digital innovation and integrated marketing platforms.

In this context, Koenigberg argues "there is a bright future in the advertising and media business. We need to leverage the power of everything at our disposal as an industry to wave our collective flags. We have a tremendous amount to offer that we do not promote." Koenigsberg, under the 4As auspices, is hoping to organize an aggressive outreach to college campuses, including events that shine a spotlight on the new generation of industry leaders and several of the companies that are offering opportune entry level positions. One of Koenigsberg's goals is to increase the industry's entry level pay in order to attract the best and brightest. The average entry level media industry job ranges from $24,000 to $33,500.

Change is accelerating even as the traditional media are displaying surprising resiliency. Over the past decade, media agencies – both traditional and digital – have successfully welcomed, evaluated and embraced new media options while validating and reinforcing the value of many traditional media. Once relegated to green eyeshades and the bowels of agency offices, media agencies have emerged out of the shadows into the forefront of the advertising business. The vast majority of breakthrough ad campaigns are defined more by their media strategy than their creative execution. Yet, media agencies continue to struggle with business models and legacy compensation systems that resist change and slow industry growth and innovation. To attract the best and brightest – and keep them from leaving for higher paying jobs -- media agencies will need to restructure client compensation plans that are often defined more by procurement rules than ROI-based measures.

The media business is forward looking. It also has a rich tradition that remains relevant. Both need to be understood and managed by marketers, agencies and media companies. The industry is technology-centric. Job opportunities are diverse and global. NBC, CBS and other media companies engrained themselves in the national psyche within a decade of their birth. Google, Facebook, Apple, eBay, Wikipedia, Amazon and other digital companies became global phenomena within a few short years. The influence of digital-only media such as The Huffington Post, TMZ, The Daily Beast and other news and opinion sources is expanding daily. TiVo, Sony, Boxee, Roku, Motorola, Samsung, Nokia, Apple, Microsoft, HP, Intel and many tech and software companies are offering media-related opportunities unparalleled in history. The young people moving into these companies will become progressively more engaged with media investments, partnerships and relationships. Many of them will segue into becoming the leaders of the advertising and media community. The generation entering college this year and beyond, this digital-only generation, will be attracted to the advertising and media business from many different college majors and many different skill sets.

The advances on the horizon in mobile, 3D, Bluetooth, interactive TV, image recognition, VOD, database and relationship management will make today's HD, iPad, Android, 3D, 3G and interpersonal communications capabilities pale by comparison. Marketers' needs for digitally-advanced consumer and trade communications skills will be a huge entrepreneurial opportunity. But as these digital entrepreneurs gain influence over traditional marketing strategies and decisions, they will require schooling on the traditional fundamentals of the media and advertising business. These executives need to understand the implications of their decisions across the eco-system of both their long-term and their day-to-day business requirements.

Myers Top Ten Issues Confronting Media, Agencies and Advertisers
1. Privacy and Data Ownership/Value
2. Media Marketplaces and Exchanges
3. Who Owns the Media Deal
        Client or Agency or Media Company
4. Deal Transparency & Arbitrage
         Inventory & Data
5. Organizational Restructuring
6. Globalization & International Markets
7. In-Store Battleground
8. Hyper-Localism
9. Cause Marketing
10. Where is Management Coming From?

*Source: Jack Myers Media Business Report, May 2010.