• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, March 6, 2009

“There is a trading currency that is always going to be the subject of negotiation. And I for one, don’t like to negotiate that publicly,” GroupM’s Irwin Gotlieb said, adding, “Just because a market currency isn’t based on ROI, doesn’t mean an agency shouldn’t be held accountable for the ROI.”

OMD’s Page Thompson countered that Madison Avenue still needs to try to reset the TV marketplace currency. He noted that agencies already utilize ROI measures for direct response media, and for digital media, pleading, “Why can’t we accelerate this thing.”

And if agencies fail to accelerate it now, when they have “more control” over the marketplace, they may lose their marketplace leverage.

“The currency issue,” Thompson added, “in five years, maybe sooner, it will be electronically traded.”