• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, March 23, 2014

Cross-media measurement, addressable communication and mobile readiness are the three key areas that the 4A’s Media Leadership Council will focus on in the coming months and possibly years ahead. 

That’s according to John Montgomery, COO of GroupM Interaction and chairman of the 4As’ Media Leadership Council, who outlined the council’s priorities at last week’s 4As Transformation Conference in Los Angeles. 

The decision to focus on the three areas came after a canvassing of the 4As’ membership, said Montgomery. The members, he added, identified nearly two dozen potential strategic priorities in the media sector. 

But the council decided to focus on three, he said, “because we want to make a difference, and we feel that the best way to do that is to focus. We know if we tried to be all things to all people, we would probably end up spinning our wheels and getting nowhere fast."

Cross-media measurement is critical, Montgomery said, “because there has never been more pressure on marketers to prove ROI. Cross-platform exposure demands that we understand consumer behavior in this environment.” 

Addressable communication has been a possibility for some time, said Montgomery, noting that TV, radio and out-out-home all have addressable platforms. That said, it’s still an area that “requires much deeper investigation and understanding.” Mobile “has taken off like a rocket, but there are many challenges before we are able to exploit the platform to its full potential.” 

Montgomery was named head of the 4A’s Media Policy committee in May of last year. He succeeded Bill Koenigsberg, founder and CEO of Horizon Media, the incoming 4A’s chairman. 

Montgomery said one of the first things the committee did was change the name to the Media Leadership Council. “We thought this was important because we wanted to get across the idea that we need to lead and to get out in front of the issues in this fast-changing media world.” 

He said the council has adopted a new mission statement, with the primary objective being to “elevate media in all its forms as a crucial component within the advertising industry. It positions media as a key element in the mix of marketing solutions employed by our agencies’ clients.”

According to Montgomery, the council believes that that mission “meets the brief from our clients, the marketers, precisely.”