• by Peter Gombert , February 11, 2008

There is an affliction among media agencies that many are unaware of, or would prefer to ignore. It's called "Corporate Amnesia." Once you hear the symptoms, you'll recognize that you have it. Corporate amnesia is the tendency of a media agency to quickly and permanently forget all of the specific data, details, pricing and contact info around a given media plan immediately after that plan is executed. An organization that does not adequately save and share historical data is doomed to repeat the process with every new assignment.

What causes media agency corporate amnesia?

Joking aside, corporate amnesia is a serious issue for many media agencies--especially in today's high-pressure industry when clients are demanding ever more complex multichannel campaigns, and the media landscape continues to evolve and fragment so rapidly it seems nearly impossible to keep up. These disruptive industry conditions can be addressed with new approaches and tools to improve the efficiency of the media-buying process and preserve institutional memory. But before we get to the cure, let's take a look at the root causes for corporate amnesia.

High Turnover Rates - Media buyers who understand the changing dynamics of the ad market are in high demand. According to the Bureau of Labor Department statistics, media-buying agency staffing has remaining consistent at 40,000-48,000 since the pre-bubble highs of 2000, showing a steady employment for buyers. Ad agencies shed 17,000 jobs over the same period. These statistics demonstrate that it is literally a "buyers" market--meaning that media buyers with a strong performance record hold the cards when it comes to trading up for a bigger salary with another firm. When that happens in organizations afflicted by corporate amnesia, media buyers take your institutional knowledge along with their contacts and relationships to the highest bidder.

Silos - Media buyers are still learning to operate with multiple channels because they often have a specialized focus and expertise. This "silo" mentality limits the collaboration and sharing of information needed to map out an integrated campaign. Clients want to see a road map of activities across multiple channels--they don't want to see competing fiefdoms in conflict. Internal silos lead to one-dimensional skill-sets that don't transfer knowledge across the organization.

Lack of "memory" tools - Most agencies have built some sort of ad-hoc tool or in-house database to save information; however, these are often based on very old technology and are ineffective or underutilized. In most cases, media agencies are unaware of tools that are available to improve planning, collaboration and record-keeping.

How can media-buying organizations cure corporate amnesia?

To prosper in these conditions, organizations need to look internally at their media-buying processes and systems in order to better understand what's working and which new efficiency tools can be replicated across the enterprise.

Breaking the silo mentality is an important first step that many companies can take by developing cross-functional media-buying teams armed with the tools for capturing knowledge and sharing information. As always, the buyer needs to be compensated for the connections they bring and the strategic campaigns they build. If they are able to work as cross-channel media-buying teams, integrated campaigns can function as an outgrowth--a win-win approach that recognizes individual media buyers while also improving efficiencies across the organization.

A new breed of media-buying tools and collaboration technologies have emerged that are helping media buyers research, discover and submit RFPs across multiple media channels while also capturing the plans and corporate knowledge for the organization as a whole. In addition to helping to break the silo mentality, with this approach, media-buying staff can move on without the media agency losing the creative planning and strategic details that have gone into previous campaigns.

Media buyers are juggling a lot--tracking the expanding media space, dealing, buying and reporting results. They need all the help they can get to keep track of it all. And media agencies can no longer afford to suffer from corporate amnesia. It's too costly and damaging in an increasingly competitive and swiftly evolving industry.

The good news is that the cure for corporate amnesia has arrived in the form of advanced media-buying tools and collaboration technologies. These tools provide two crucial benefits that media agencies sorely need today --a toolkit that helps media agency staff do their jobs better than ever before while preserving an agency record of best practices, sales tips, best contacts and available deals for all client projects and campaigns.