• by September 27, 2005

Media is more fragmented than ever. On-demand technologies have changed everything. Consumers are in control. There are multiple consumer touchpoints. So what are marketers and media agencies to do?

"The worst thing we can do is limit our understanding of the future to gadgets and technology. Those things will churn constantly, but they comprise one tactical piece of a much bigger puzzle," warned Jack Klues, CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group, in his keynote address entitled "Life After Chaos Scenarios" during Forecast 2006. "People will change; their desires and demands will change. Their options will change. Channels will change. Clients will change. Our model will change."

Klues told Forecast attendees that media agencies should be focused on coming up with more powerful and creative ideas for consumer contact ideas. "We should be mapping out and activating against those ideas in a way that resonates with consumers and reinforces what our clients' brands are all about."

In order to do so, Klues said that SMG is attempting to focus more heavily on cultivating the right skill sets among its managers, and attracting talented young people to the media business. He challenged the industry to "turn to youth...If you haven't done so already, embrace the new thinkers, mavericks, and revolutionaries in your company....Listen to them--give them a platform and the support they need to achieve their goals. Encourage them to attack your ideas, your company. Too often, the upper ranks of a company are occupied by people who think like each other. This is extremely dangerous in our new environment," Klues explained.

SMG, he said, will organize a junior board of directors, populated by what he called "future-friendly challengers."

Klues also stated that media buyers need to be more empowered as "activators," and hailed media buying as the "new black." He said media buyers should not be marginalized, and buying "cannot continue to be commoditized." It's a battle that SMG and other media agencies will continue to face as marketers keep cutting fees. Asked later whether he would join his peer agency CEOs to thwart any further attempts at fee-cutting, he responded affirmatively, but gave little insight into what such a process would entail.

He went on to exhort the industry to "stop counting obsolete things, and gain a better understanding of context. We have to compete and get paid on the power of our people and ideas, not on bargain-basement prices that prohibit us from delivering our promises."

All of these challenges are set against a landscape in which Klues remarks that "consumers don't want to hear our messages anymore. Technology makes our jobs tougher every day. Our clients are demanding the relationship of a small boutique, but the clout of a major provider. Innovation gets harder and harder to deliver."

At SMG, Klues said, the organization knows it has to do things better and differently in the new era of media accountability, and not sit around debating whether the 30-second TV spot is toast, or whether the upfront is viable. Instead, SMG is focused on consumer touchpoints that include wireless, gaming, search, and word-of-mouth marketing.

Klues stopped short of announcing a new product and business model at SMG that would combine a variety of strategic approaches, but hinted that the organization is looking at a model that can incubate new expertise and approaches. "It's something that can incubate new competencies, expertise, and products beyond core brands--attract new clients, and types of engagement with a focus on the emerging digital media landscape." He also said that such a model would encourage new revenue and compensation models.