#mediasnack

This week on #MediaSnack we'll be devoting the whole episode to consider one of the most significant and famous media events of the year. It's a #SuperBowl special!With the big game just a few weeks away we will consider :- why the Super Bowl is still considered such a powerful advertising opportunity for brands in the digital age?- how does the Super Bowl work from a media perspective?- what does it cost to buy a spot in the Super Bowl?- who are the major Super Bowl advertisers this year?- we consider why do brands prize Super Bowl spots so highly?- how have brands used digital and social channels like YouTube and Facebook to extend the impacts and views of their Super Bowl commercials? We will meet Stephan Schwarz, Business Analyst at ID Comms who gives us some of the social media numbers and trends behind the Super Bowl advertising.Finally, we look at the good and bad of Super Bowl advertising and consider why this is such a one off event and not something which raises the bar of brand communications consi

On this episode of #MediaSnack WINNERS, Tom Denford sits down with Gordana Buccisano, Global Brand Comms Strategy Director at Reckitt, to explore how brands can stay meaningfully connected to consumers amid rising complexity. A seasoned strategist with decades of experience across agencies, platforms, and now the brand side, Gordana shares why comms planning deserves a seat at the center of marketing—and why more brands should own their strategy internally rather than outsourcing it entirely. They discuss the evolving role of brand communication in a fragmented media landscape, the importance of bringing consumer voices inside the business, and how internal comms leadership can unlock more effective collaboration with external partners. Gordana also shares her candid thoughts on mentorship, resilience, and why embracing discomfort is essential for growth—especially for women navigating leadership in marketing. Learn more about ID Comms: https://www.idcomms.comFollow ID Comms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.

#MediaSnack 106: THINKING: The Media Action Plan for 2018 by ID Comms

Never miss your #MediaSnack - subscribe for updates every FridayOn this week's #MediaSnack we look at the phenomenon of British Christmas TV ads, kickstarted by John Lewis, now a dozen or so retailers are investing large sums in building anthemic, must-see TV adverts focused on brands rather than products. We discuss how the Christmas TV advertising market is starting to show similar behaviours from both advertisers and consumers as that of the Superbowl in the US. Some brands have begun teasing their ads before release and people are searching for Christmas ads on YouTube before they are even released. We are agreed that the Christmas TV excitement shows that good advertising works and gets people excited, remembering ads and talking about them. John Lewis has shown how this drives business success. The heightened competition amongst brands creates pressure with produces amazing work. Perhaps this can spread further across the year and improve quality of advertising generally.Here are some of the best worth

After more than five years and over 200 #MediaSnack episodes on YouTube, we are migrating the show to LinkedIn. Now you can all participate in every show!Over the years we have really enjoyed getting live questions from viewers during the show, in fact its really our favorite part of #MediaSnack so we wanted to change the format and open up the show to be more inclusive and discursive.The global media industry has faced innumerable challenges, many of which we have documented and discussed on #MediaSnack over the years.Now the industry is at an inflection point, new ideas are emerging, new leaders, new companies, new techniques. We believe we can all build a better media industry and a better media solution for the brands we all love.Our focus for each show will be an angle or trend on the media industry, always with a positive and optimistic spirit. We keep our can-do attitude, driven by a belief that we can all be doing things a little better, improving the industry for the next generations.#MediaSnack on L

We start this weeks episode with news that Tom was included in a new documentary film, commissioned by Campaign magazine, about trust and transparency in the advertising industry. Tom appears alongside industry leaders including Martin Sorrell CEO of WPP, Cindy Gallop, Claire Beale editor in chief of Campaign, Keith Weed, the CMO of Unilever, and many others. The documentary explores the theme of trust, why it's needed and where it's missing. It's well worth a watch. Getting into this week's #MediaSnack episode we discuss news from America that investigations firm K2 Intelligence as well as media auditor Ebiquity we have launched media contract services specialist companies following their collaboration on the ANA media transparency report published in June. For K2 specifically this is a very new service, and makes sense for them to leverage their knowledge and insights gained from the ANA #rebategate work. For Ebiquity, they are partnering with lawyers Reed Smith to offer a contract management service. We as

Are remote agency pitches here to stay? They've been a necessity over the last year, but savvy advertisers are seeing many benefits, so will we ever have in-person pitches again?Here's the #MediaSnack alternative perspective on how the best remote pitches work plus we share THREE GREAT TIPS for advertisers on how to plan the most effective agency pitch, based on our recent experiences (good and bad) designing and managing agency pitches for some of the world's leading advertisers. #MediaForGrowth#MediaSnack is brought to you by ID Comms, the award-winning growth consultancy specializing in media and advertising. Advisors to the world's most ambitious brands.

On this week's #MediaSnack we kick off with some more troubling transparency news from the US, where the Wall St Journal reports that the Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into major US creative agencies, which it accuses of "bid-rigging" on creative production. A similar investigation years ago ended up with agency people in jail, so standby. Why is this on a media vlog? Well, the DoJ launched their investigation following receipt of information from K2 Intelligence, which the intelligence firm had discovered during their reporting earlier this year on behalf of the trade body Association of National Advertisers (ANA) into Media Transparency. The evidence on the potential rigging of production costs (bid rigging is in violation of US anti-trust laws and wholly illegal) was not included in the ANA's final report. But now the DoJ are following up and have announced this latest scrutiny over agency behaviours. They have, according to WSJ issued, K2 with a subpoena to collect relevant i

Think you know what the modern media director's role is? You might be surprised. The job has changed a lot in recent years.Here's the #MediaSnack alternative perspective on what makes a successful media director plus we share THREE GREAT TIPS on how to be a star media director and some insights about how you can work more productively with a media director. #MediaForGrowth#MediaSnack is brought to you by ID Comms, the award-winning growth consultancy specializing in media and advertising. Advisors to the world's most ambitious brands.

On this week's #MediaSnack we are talking about training, knowledge and skills in media. In the last of 7 episodes dedicated to looking at the impact of the 2016 Media Transparency Report from the ANA we pick up on one of the ANA's biggest recommendations: Advertisers should plug gaps in media knowledge. Tom and David discuss the types of training they have been delivering to major advertisers and members of the major advertising trade bodies. We've seen some good progress in this area, especially amongst procurement stakeholders keen to better understand the processes around media, where the opportunities are for improvement and particularly the technical language and concepts of media. Tom has just completed learning of his own on the Marketing MBA with Prof Mark Ritson and shares that it highlights a big gap across the industry that many in the more executional (and more modern) disciplines like Social and programmatic often don't have basic understanding of strategic marketing principles. ID Comms publish

#MediaSnack 124: 500 words that will change an advertising industry by ID Comms

We are on YouTube. Is anyone still there....? So, on this weeks’ #MediaSnack (not that anyone in adland will see it having decided to boycott of YouTube), Tom and David sink their teeth into the big juicy story that won't go away, the ‘scandal’ of Google allowing advertisers to be placed against extremist and unsavory content. So, who is actually to blame? Well, its marketers of course. Really. We will explain why and what can be done about it.

On this week's #MediaSnack - we review The Wall Street Journal reporting that the hotly anticipated report by the ANA into US media rebate practice will be published "imminently". On this week's #MediaSnack - we review The Wall Street Journal reporting that the hotly anticipated report by the ANA into US media rebate practice will be published "imminently". We discuss the likely fall out and some implications of the report. We share what we think US Media Directors should be thinking and preparing for including carefully managing the message internally and seeking a mandate from their boards on a considered and strategic view on how to apply better governance to media investments in the future. Next we review Tom's perspectives of the Media360 conference which touched on many of the same themes, notably Media Transparency, media agency business models and the so-called "Talent Tsunami". One of the highlights of the conference was a panel which debated the pros and cons of splitting media planning duties from

Media For Business Growth - #MediaSnack 160 by ID Comms

On this week's #MediaSnack we first discuss a fascinating "confession" made on Digiday.com by an unnamed CEO of an agency about the state of the digital display market. His or her claim is that display is a waste of money and advertisers generally have been spending in display for years without seeing any meaningful results. It's an explosive admission / confession in itself and worth a read, just for entertainment purposes even if you don't believe the statement. This is part of a long "confessions" series by Digiday. Next up we review a new campaign by Pre-roll superstars Geico.com - you may recall their "Unskippable" activity from last year which won awards everywhere, notably at Cannes. To raise the bar further they've come out with a new format called Fast-Forward which shows more intelligent use of YouTube's TrueView functionality. Links below to watch the films, great insight really well executed. It shows a brand and agency (The Martin Agency) really on their game and understanding how content, contex

On this week's #MediaSnack we meet with Pete Mitchell who is amongst the world’s most experienced and well-traveled media professionals. For the last couple of years, Pete has been part of Mondelez' highly respected global media team under the stewardship of Chief Media Officer Bonin Bough (now departed to a new career as a TV presenter) and the legendary CMO Dana Anderson. Pete has been based in Europe, Asia and the US over the years but is now back in London. We got together to discuss three main themes:What does Pete think about the much discussed Chief Media Officer role, what does it look like, what skills are needed to succeed?How likely are brands going to be bringing media capabilities into their organisation, what talent and resources is going to be required within brands? And how does this potentially change brands' relationships with media agencies?What is required for brands to move to a content rather than paid media strategy and is it realistic to aim to monetize brand content, making marketing

All agencies are complaining of a 'TALENT CRISIS' So what's causing this and how is it affecting advertisers?Here's the #MediaSnack alternative perspective on the causes and implications plus we share THREE GREAT TIPS for advertisers on how to protect your best agency talent and keep your competitive advantage. #MediaForGrowth#MediaSnack is brought to you by ID Comms, the award-winning growth consultancy specializing in media and advertising. Advisors to the world's most ambitious brands.

In this week’s #Mediasnack Tom and David discuss the rise of the consultants and ask where do they go next in the battle against the holding companies.They look at the latest Ad Age analysis of the advertising market. The figures show the speed at which the management consultants have gained revenue from marketing services. In just five years, they have moved from 0.6% share to a 12% share.The management consultancies are also growing significantly faster than the holding companies so would expect to continue to gain share in the year to come.Tom and David point out that this growth comes entirely from strategic thinking and creativity, arguably commercialising an area where the holding companies have failed.These numbers come out at the same time as the big holding companies announce their Q1 results. By contrast, they are a mixed bag with an average 1.7% organic growth year on year. Sir Martin Sorrell warned that competitors had been making commitments to advertisers that were unrealistic.The next step for

On this week's #MediaSnack we get rather excited by Alexandra Bruell’s most recent article from AdAge in New York. In it she brings attention to principal-based media buying approaches, its well worth reading if you currently (or ever intend to) invest any money in media in the US. The piece highlights (the perfectly legitimate and legal) practices by media agency groups buying media inventory at their own risk, in advance of client requirements and then selling it on to clients for an undisclosed profit. The client has to typically sign away rights of transparency in order to gain potentially cheaper media inventory. We consider the implications of this practice, how it blurs the lines further of what an agency is (as per Irwin Gottlieb’s comments at ANA’s Advertising Financial Management Conference in 2015) and how it might lead to significant changes within agencies as they decide how transparent they are going to be for clients. We look ahead to this year’s Advertising Financial Management Conference whic