Commentary

Advertisers, Media Agencies Are Having The Wrong Conversation With Media Owners

by Maarten Albarda , Featured Contributor, December 12, 2016

I spent last week in New York and met with a variety of media owners. I sat with a very large local radio network, a large national outdoor company, a company that sells targeted TV ads, and a digital advertising platform.

These are companies that all operate in very different and distinct verticals. Local radio is a very different “sell” from an outdoor board, which is very different from a targeted TV ad or an ad on a digital platform.

Or so it used to be. What I learned last week was that, thanks to the data that digital creates, these very disparate media offerings are actually capable of many of the same things. And as an industry, we have not adapted very well to this changing offering.

What has the digital evolution of these media forms, and the data they generate, created?

1. The data allows for a much “richer” understanding of the target audience reached. Even for outdoor, the overlay of census and traffic data with, for instance, built-in beacons means that we can target much more precisely. And because the boards are digital as well, we could technically adjust the message to the most prevalent target group by daypart. The same is true for radio or TV: the combination of “regular” audience data mixed with the data garnered from listeners/viewers via digital platforms or set-top boxes mean you can get access to very rich user profile data. Note that I am specifically not talking about niche targeting. Mass reach is the objective, and is typical for these types of media.

2. The digital integration also allows for creating opportunities beyond media delivery. A beacon in an outdoor board can drive actual traffic to a store. TV or radio ads that use digital platforms can deliver direct opportunities for click-and-buy. And digital platforms that offer consumer convenience and high usage can not only deliver all the sorts of direct-to-sales related opportunities one would expect, but also actually deliver reach and frequency.

But here is the difficulty. Our industry has grown up with a siloed approach to media planning and buying. I have written before that the old labels for various media, including media functions, are doing more harm than good. And that is very true for all four companies I had discussions with last week.

Each of these media companies clearly has an offering that today goes well beyond the traditional media offering. Radio is no longer a cheap, additional reach and frequency medium, and targeted TV is not just a “GRP/TRP” offering. Outdoor is no longer just a mass medium capable of reaching large groups of consumers with an awareness message.

However, these media companies are typically pushed into meetings with their siloed counterparts. Radio got a meeting with the guy responsible for radio advertising, outdoor with the woman responsible for out-of-home and digital with the digital team.

What they actually require is a conversation with marketers responsible for sales, retail strategies, geo-targeting and other non-media options, the responsibility of which typically exceeds that of the media agency or the media manager at the advertiser. The people that they SHOULD have the meetings with mostly aren’t even aware of the opportunities that media today delivers beyond media delivery. And that is a real hurdle to growth for many of the new opportunities these media now offer.

advertiser-agency relationship, media, media buying

4 comments about "Advertisers, Media Agencies Are Having The Wrong Conversation With Media Owners".

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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, December 12, 2016 at 5:20 p.m.
Maarten, the problem that many media ad sellers face is mainly about having their medium---not necessarily themselves---get onto the media plan. The media plan---in many cases---is based on the client's preconceived assumptions about which media are "effective" branding instruments in the light of past experience and the standards set for their category by the leaders. So, if a certain large packaged goods conglomerate has decided that radio is not suitable, radio ad sellers can talk to radio time buyers and media planners as well as client media mavens all they want ---and nothing will happen. The plain fact is that most OOH media sellers as well as their radio and print media counterparts are so focused on selling their radio station, or OOH plant or magazine that they forget that the basic sale is for the medium, not individual components. Do that and you will get a fair share of the pie. As for who should lead the charge and how to go about it, that's a more complicated issue and I'll save my comments on that for another time.
Reply

Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, December 12, 2016 at 5:58 p.m.

So advertisers can follow people in every aspect of their lives with no off button to convince them that only one way is the right way to brush you teeth or buy the right car. How Putinesque of them.

Maarten Albarda from Flock Associates (USA) replied, December 12, 2016 at 6:44 p.m.

ED: and that was exactly the challenge that these media owners outlined. They might or might not end up on the schedule, but the "richer" conversation about what additional or value-added opportunities might sway the marketer is not being had because of the siloed, vertical, narrow discussion with the siloed, vertical and narrow org structure agency side, and often client side as well.

These media companies want to discuss options, strategies and investment plans horizontally, while their counterparts are organized vertically.

Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, December 13, 2016 at 7:58 a.m.

Maarten, my point about radio, OOH and magazines is simply that "value added" offers by media sellers generate little interest if they are tied into major ad schedules in media that advertisers have decided---rightly or wrongly----offer little value. Telling a media planner or buyer that radio station X will help the advertiser gain distribution for the product in certain store chains ---or something else along "value added" sales generation/promotional lines get's you no where if the client and, often, the agency creatives don't believe in radio---or haven't given the medium the attention it probably deserves. So, again, I point out that the value of "added value" offers is mainly to act as a tie breaker against rival ad sellers in the same medium---once the advertiser is agreeable to spending for ads in said medium. Failing this, there is a much larger problem to be solved---selling the medium, itself. This is a much more difficult task and it's not realistic to expect individual radio, OOH or magazine sellers to do this job.