KL MotoPark

Brilliant Observation

Before I register my comments, I will provide some information on my background. This will allow any reader of my comments to make a more accurate appraisal on the value of my words. I am complete virgin in the advertising/media landscape. When compared to many of the readers here, I am nothing more then a sperm still swimming in some anonymous gonad, so forgive me if I sound naive.

I stumbled into the media landscape approximately a year ago. Prior to that I was doing absolutely nothing, and I was quite happy doing absolutely nothing. Due to a series of events, culminating in me being thrown out of my parent’s home, I was forced to fend for myself. I place no blame in my parents though, since my only contribution to the household was bodily hair and flatulence. Anyway, to cut another long story short, within a couple of months, I found myself running a small company that was contracted to a GLC which was dabbling in a new media project. I was managing a small team and we were contracted as media reps and sales agents with the straightforward objective of securing sales revenue for an ill conceived product they termed ‘airtime’. Unfortunately all I ever saw was hot ‘air’.

It wasn’t very long before I witnessed firsthand the creative techniques GLC managers deployed in wasting our tax contributions to the government. Compliments should be accorded where it is due; many of these managers have elevated the process of capital depletion to an art. As you might have already assumed, my romantic engagement with this GLC ended in an ugly breakup. Unfortunately it is not polite to kiss and tell, at least not in a public forum.

Anyway, to get to the point, during my affair with this GLC, I obviously had to deal with the numerous media specialist firms around. And naturally I have developed some strong views about this bunch. I am sure that media experts are a necessary component in the advertising ecosystem. Media purchasing and planning is an important tactical effort that can make or break a campaign even with the best creative. This is the theoretical premise for the continued existence of these constituents in the advertising sphere.

The practical reality though, specifically from my viewpoint is rather uncomplimentary. The entire industry seems contrived. And the industry top dogs have flung so much turd on themselves, they have created a foul-smelling protective crust that keeps the curious away. Naturally, this crust also affords them an air of mysteriousness which they have been milking, and they maintain this aura by awarding themselves superfluous titles like ‘specialists’. Who dares question the mysterious specialist? Their clients? Not enough clients subject these media specialists to critical evaluation; rather they prefer to concur with the mysterious deductions of these magical specialists whom come armed with a multitude of proprietary ‘tools’ which they supposedly use to plan, assess and measure media strategy and effectiveness.

Herein lays one of the major flaws in the entire industry set up. The specialists have the clients believing in their fairy-tale, and then they use this influence to blackmail the media owners. Being cock blocked from directly accessing potential clients, most media owners have no choice but to succumb to whatever these dung flinger’s desire. This might be the standard 15% commission, 5% more if they are one of the super duper specialists like the OOH guys, maybe a contribution to the company kitty, and Rolex for the account manager. Some specialist managers even suggest that media owners should provide more incentives by organizing ‘buying tournaments’ so that the best team of buyers within an agency with the highest billings should win a trip or something similar in value paid for by the media owner. Sounds like a really fun job. And if they procured the client on a 0% commission structure, it is no matter, because there is another magical word called ‘rebates’ that will bring them the same quantum of earnings. With all the fun ‘tournaments’ and ‘rebate’ celebrations, it seems more likely then not that media specialists have forgotten the very premise of their existence. Anyway, let me breakdown my grievances in clearly demarcated territories.

1. Commission v Consultation
If we allowed common sense to prevail, we will see that the remuneration structure based on commissions is a funny contradiction. Media specialists whom are supposed to generate more bang for their clients buck, actually stand to earn further by spending more of their client’s money. So instead of carrying out negotiations with media owners to drop prices so that the media spend can be stretched further, they actually prefer media owners to maintain really high published rates. I have been told quite unashamedly by many buyers that they will not consider purchasing any ‘airtime’ from us unless we increase our published rates (obviously while maintaining the initial sale price to them). They claim it is just not worth planning and making a suggestion to a client if the commission earned from the purchase is so tiny. This seems contradictory to what I assumed the functions of these specialists were. But then again, I might be missing something here. Maybe clients actually want their media campaigns to be determined by factors outside purely tactical elements such as effectiveness, efficacy, novelty in application, and creativity in deployment. I’m sure the profit potential of the specialist is an important factor that clients must consider as well. Just don’t ask me why. And since I don’t know the answer, I am inclined to discount that possibility. I also believe that there is a better remuneration model which is based on a consultation fee rather then commissions. And if all goes according to plan, I will be applying this model to my own little media consulting startup.

2. Inertia
We live in a digital world. Pick any media or advertising journal and you will discover countless articles on the wonders of the digital revolution. Attend any media conference and you are bound to hear about the plethora of possibilities technology will unleash in media deployment. If you are in the advertising industry, and you have not come across somebody somewhere commenting on the increasing fragmentation of media consumption, you need to wake up from your deep slumber, or get a new job. The bottom Line is that the media landscape has just gotten more vibrant and exciting. It has also gotten more complex and confusing.

Somebody just forgot to inform the media specialists about this. Instead of driving the industry forward into this digital wonderland, the specialist are doing everything they can to restrain ad spend from flowing into newer mediums. Why you ask? To answer this question I will assume the role of a hypothetical CEO of a media specialist agency. Obviously as a hypothetical CEO looking down, will discover that the vast majority of my employees have a creative quotient that is equivalent to that of a brick wall. They have been trained in a broadcast environment by third rate local institutions. Their understanding of metrics is restricted to CPM’s, frequency, reach, and everything else from the broadcast era. As a CEO I realize it is almost impossible for me to retrain this portion of my workforce to adapt to the digital world. Therefore, from a purely human resource standpoint, I am disposed towards maintaining the status quo.

From a business standpoint as well, I will am forced to ensure that the current spending pattern is maintained. This is because new media is highly complex, with many different fragments. And each and every fragment has a corresponding pricing structure with measurement metrics which are confusing. It is a simple choice really, why have my team slog over recommending a campaign on multiple internet sites, a number of digital signage networks, and some experimental mobile model when I can just push my client towards taking up a number of full page ads on a local daily. We will earn the same amount of commission for so much less work.

That is the smart business choice. But basically it leaves proponents of new media frustrated since the ad dollars are not flowing into their mediums, suffocating this nascent industry. As a hypothetical CEO of a large media agency I cannot ignore the fact that the future will be different, but I have to ensure my bottom line is not affected by an ambitious foray into this new domain. So what I will do is predictable and hypocritical. I will talk up the wonder that is the digital revolution and describe the brilliant changes it will effect in the media landscape, but I will do everything I can to delay it from happening. When advising my clients, I will state that the new media sector is still in a state of flux and it is not an advisable media strategy. The truth is the media specialists are the ones keeping this industry in flux by withholding the nourishment it badly needs. They will use every trick available to maintain their archaic spending patterns. But the levee will break one day. Of that I’m sure.

There are few more points for contention, but as it is, I have written enough. This is supposed to be merely a comment, but it is close to overtaking the blog itself in size. Although the industry is quite depressing and the majority of the player massive A-holes, I will not be discouraged. Creativity is not limited to creative agencies alone. Creativity should begin with the medium itself. But there is no point just talking about it, so I have grouped together a few more passionate sperms just like me, and we are preparing for an ejaculation into unknown territory.

We are passionate about media, we do not subscribe to the status quo, and we have our own business model that we believe is devoid of the ironies above. Plus we don’t have a lust for money. We have a lust for life, and we want to do something we can truly enjoy. The big guns will almost definitely hide all the genetically superior eggs (rich clients), but we hope our passion will somehow lead us to one receptive client somewhere, and together we will fertilize our ideas and create life in this decaying industry.

Anyway, the views above are mine personally.

debo'nair