#mediasnack

How To Manage Agency Conflict #MediaSnack Ep. 148 by ID Comms

On this week’s #MediaSnack we start with news that GroupM, the world’s largest media buyer and ‘parent’ to four of the world’s leading media agency networks is going to merge two of them, creating a group of three agencies and making room for recent digital agency acquisition Essence to become a more focused part of GroupM service offering to advertisers. We continue our countdown to the one year anniversary of the ANA’s Media Transparency Report , this week looking at Media Trading, that is the buying and paying for media inventory and we consider how that has evolved and what, if anything, might be as a result of the ANA media reports and guidelines. So, firstly, what has actually changed in the world of media buying? The ANA report was really largely about media buying and they drew attention specifically to the WAY media is bought in the US. The ANA report highlights that in some places, agencies might be making additional undisclosed income from vendor side, which was steering media buying decisions. A l

In this episode we discuss the major restructure of Publicis Groupe and how this might impact their media agency brands, we discuss findings from the many new 2016 ad spend predictions and finally close on a fascinating piece of research of C-suite and senior markets (FT readership) which was conducted by agency Maxus with the FT insight team.‬___________Find ID Comms here:Website: http://idcomms.comTwitter: http://twitter.com/idcommsLinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/id-commsG+: https://plus.google.com/b/101836473001605573756/101836473001605573756/postsAbout ID Comms:• ID Comms is a strategic media consulting company, founded in 2009• We act as a trusted media partner to the world's leading advertisers, helping them to navigate the complexities of the changing media landscape.• Media is a very powerful lever for growth for brands, but the landscape is complicated, cluttered and confusing. Making sense of this and knowing what to focus on is a challenge for marketers.• It comes down to having the right kno

In this special episode of MediaSnack, Tom Denford walks through the topline findings from ID Comms’ new 2026 State of Digital Media report, based on a global benchmark study representing over $35B in media spend. This episode—originally recorded as a live webinar—covers key insights for marketers and procurement leaders looking to strengthen governance, transparency, and confidence in digital media. Tom reveals why media confidence still hovers around just 60%, why many brands are stuck in reactive compliance audits rather than performance-driven oversight, and why internal data silos—not fraud or fees—are now seen as the #1 source of media waste. He also unpacks the widening optimism gap between marketers and agencies, what to do about it, and why AI’s transformative power in media won’t be realized unless brands fix their governance foundations first. You’ll hear why 2026 must be the year marketers shift from asking “Did we spend our media budget?” to “Did we waste it?”—and how to close the confidence gap

Never miss your #MediaSnack - subscribe for new episodes every FridayOn this #MediaSnack special we celebrate the 100th episode by looking ahead at some major trends for 2018. First we quickly look back on what’s happened in the last two years and then lay down three big predictions for media in 2018, from a marketers perspective. It goes without saying that a lot has changed in the media industry in the last two years, but we say it anyway. It’s been a challenging time all around in many respects but the major positive that we’ve seen has been that media has risen higher on the corporate agenda. Marketers are taking media more seriously and applying resources internally to manage this last amount of money. Hopefully, more are seeing media as an investment rather than a cost. This has happened for two reasons. Firstly, marketers are seeing the power media has to drive their business outcomes and therefore striving to make it more accountable and more effective. At the same time media has become hugely more co

Never miss your #MediaSnack - subscribe for updates every FridayOn this week's #MediaSnack we look at the challenging past year for Facebook and consider exactly how they can maintain their incredible rate of growth. This is going to be hard for a business for which advertising revenue accounts for over 98% of their total revenues. Their growth continues to be meteoric in spite of their scale, with revenues in 2016 growing over 50% year on year. Monthly average users now exceed 2 billion which makes Facebook one of the most adopted inventions in the history of mankind. Where do they go from here? In the last year, alongside this growth has come some dark clouds on the horizon for Facebook in a few key places:1. Metrics - the almost monthly revelations that Facebook has overstated the effectiveness of their advertising products, often shared in2. Accountability - calls for Facebook to drop the walled garden and stop "marking their own homework" and get MRC accredited. 3. Fake news - Facebook being used to mani

#MediaSnack 116: Sorrell's Legacy And WPP's Future by ID Comms

On this week's #MediaSnack we just think about Chief Marketing Officer, typically the company's most senior marketer.Check out the Harvard Business Review recent paper "Why CMOs never last"https://hbr.org/2017/07/the-trouble-with-cmosAccording to HBR, 80% of CEOs don't trust their CMO - you can see the pressure that a CMO is under when they don't have the trust of the C-Suite and perhaps that's why their tenure is often shorter than anyone else at that level. HBR also clarify different types of CMO and a framework (presumably for CEOs) to identify which type of CMO you might need for your business. Recently Coca-Cola replaced their departing CMO with a Chief Growth Officer which seems to be blending a sales and marketing role with more pointed focus on making marketing investment more accountable. Its also a reflection on the pressures on the businesses to deliver more short term results and growth. With perhaps less focus on long term brand building. Other companies like Colgate, Coty, Mondelez have also mov

On this week's #MediaSnack we continue our countdown to the one year anniversary of the ANA's media transparency report, looking at the significant areas of change in the industry that we believe have been impacted by the ANA's findings. Tom is in San Diego this week attending the ANA's big marketing procurement conference called 'Advertising Financial Management' and reviews some of the early conference sessions. We focus on this episode on Media Terms of Business, specifically around agency payment models. Tom and David review recent reports in this area issued by the Association of National Advertisers, the US marketers trade body, representing 750+ brands, $200bn of media investment and a strong proponent of greater agency accountability. You can download a 7 page summary of the report here:http://www.ana.net/miccontent/show/id/kf-2017-trends-agency-compensationThe findings are equally insightful and puzzling in some key areas:1. Suggests a decline in the use of performance-based models, not sure we agree

Despite all the noise and negativity around programmatic, the narrative is slowly changing. Advertisers understand that programmatic is a marketing technique not a technology. In this week’s #MediaSnack Tom and David discuss three thoughts on the NEXT step for Programmatic:1. It is not going away. Start getting excited about the opportunity of programmatic and believe that it will become simpler, easier and more empowering and inspiring, stop fearing the noise and the complexity, lean-in and be prepared to take some control. 2. Start refining a simple strategy now which will prepare you for success in a simpler programmatic future. We do this in a 4 part framework (Data, Knowledge, KPIs & Culture). This is still a nascent industry, everyone is still in a test and learn loop of continuous improvement and nobody should consider themselves “behind the curve” 3. Consider the barriers and silos internally that are going to hinder your success in programmatic. These could be fundamental, such as aligning market

Ensuring all decision making through a pitch is fair and objective is important. Get organized around these things in advance of a pitch (in the preparation stages) it will save you lots of headaches and potential subjective arguments later on when it comes to selecting which agency is right for you. At ID Comms we run a few simple workshop exercises with our advertiser clients to help them identify the key areas of agency evaluation and get them aligned to a scoring methodology they are happy with. We always want our clients to be making decisions together that they are all happy about. Our key tips:Align on the evaluation criteria at the beginning of the process - and ensure all relevant stakeholders are onboardEnsure the right balance of weighting between strategic and commercial evaluation areasDon’t feel like you need to evaluate everything - focus on the things that will really make a difference between agencies Plus we give some practical examples of how this works during the agency pitch processes we

​On this week's #MediaSnack we ask whether the ANA's report into US media rebate practice, which has become known as #RebateGate has had any effect on Wall Street (and other financial market) valuations of the large marketing services groups like WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, IPG etc. Analyst perspective seems mixed, Morgan Stanley report the removal of the "overhang", whilst Brian Wieser is more cautious. The typical analyst questions to ID Comms have been: is this getting LEGAL? (maybe, unlikely, but not immediately) and will this trigger MediaPolooza 2.0 / Media Tsunami 2.0? (probably, again not immediately, likely to be in 2017 if so)We report on some of the many client calls and meetings we have had in the last 10 days which have tended to involve a calm and considered perspective and focus on immediate and long-term actions. We announced the release of the "Post-K2 Manifesto for Media Change" a simple 6-step practical guide to short and long-term actions which marketers need to consider, links to this are bel

In this week’s #MediaSnack, Tom and David discuss the issue of awards, and more particularly, the challenges of creating media awards that advertisers really care about.The topic has been triggered by conversations in Cannes, where Publicis announced that it wouldn’t enter any awards for a year, saving a reported $20m (on Cannes solely), and where WPP has also mulled a rethink on its approach.http://uk.businessinsider.com/martin-sorrell-says-people-ripped-off-by-the-cannes-lions-2017-6In part, they argue, the awards backlash was really a backlash against the current Cannes environment, which is overblown and overpriced.However, Tom and David say there is a real issue when it comes to media awards. They are notoriously difficult to judge, and where many awards fail to answer the key question: did the media activity deliver a clear business result.David reveals that during his time working at brands there was a reluctance to release such information because it was simply too sensitive. A lot of brands, he argue

A candid conversation with Wendy Clark. What does the new CEO of Dentsu International consider the biggest challenges for the media industry? What is she trying to achieve at Dentsu to meet the future needs of advertisers? And what does she do in her spare time to reflect and recharge? Find out all this and more on the latest episode of #MediaSnack Meets. -----Welcome to #MediaSnack Meets where we meet the individuals and organizations doing great work to inspire success and drive change within the global media and marketing industry. Because the best are short of time, our guests answer only 6 questions in 20 minutesWe get to learn what is behind their success, what it takes to make change in the industry and what the rest of us can learn from that experience.My guest for this episode is Wendy Clark - CEO of Dentsu International one of the world’s largest communications groups. We ask:1. What do you do, and what you are most proud of?2. What is the best thing about working in media?3. What do you think is th

A candid conversation with Uber's Travis Freeman. How did the business have to pivot in 2020?What does the Global Head of Media and Social at Uber consider the biggest challenges for the media industry? How can media directors use their influence as a force for good in the world? And what does Travis do in his spare time to reflect and recharge away from media? Find out all this and more on the latest episode of #MediaSnack Meets. -----Welcome to #MediaSnack Meets where we meet the individuals and organizations doing great work to inspire success and drive change within the global media and marketing industry. Because the best are short of time, our guests answer only 6 questions in 20 minutesWe get to learn what is behind their success, what it takes to make change in the industry and what the rest of us can learn from that experience.My guest for this episode is Travis Freeman, Global Head of Media & Social at Uber. We ask:1. What do you do, and what you are most proud of?2. What is the best thing about

Want to know the SECRET to a productive and long-lasting relationship between advertiser and agency?I’m sure we all know examples of where they go wrong, but what makes the best ones go right?On this week’s #MediaSnack we explore THREE TIPS to help you create and maintain a high-performing advertiser/agency relationship. The best ones become true business partnerships. There’s usually a lot of money (and reputation) at stake, so it's always worth working hard to make it the best it can be.#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.

Think you know marketing procurement? All about cost-savings right? Not any more.The modern media procurement leader is focused on company growth and partners with their marketing colleagues to build long-term value. The role is very different now. Here's the #MediaSnack alternative perspective on what makes a successful media procurement leader plus we share THREE GREAT TIPS from the best media procurement experts on how to succeed in media procurement and how you can work more productively with media procurement. #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 reflect on some more bad news for Publicis Groupe’s media operations in the US after Walmart one of the world’s largest advertisers shifts $900m media billings out of MediaVest without a pitch. Its unclear who will be Walmart’s new media agency. But this represents another big blow for Publicis Groupe as it is in the middle of an expected restructure of its media operations. Pressure is on now to stop the losses and start winning business. Next up we consider the meaning of Media Transparency and argue that the conversation needs to get back to a higher level, with advertisers and agencies committing to rebuild trust. We also announce the launch of the ID Comms 2016 Media Transparency Survey which will seek insights into how marketers view transparency and how important that is to built trust and more meaningful and productive working relationships. Finally, we respond to a viewer's question about how to get into the media industry and we think about where we would want to work i

On this week's ID Comms #MediaSnack things are getting serious in the US as Democrat senators, Mark Warner and Chuck Schemer, have co-written a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asking for clarification on what the FTC is doing to tackle the menace of ad fraud, which is expected to exceed 10% of the US digital market this year. They suggest that means some $7 billion annually is being siphoned off to fund organised crime. No wonder there is now serious political and FBI interest in the advertising industry, the concern is that ad-fraud will be the second largest income stream for organised crime, behind drug trafficking.Tom Denford and David Indo discuss what might be the implications of political interest into ad fraud, and whether this will force a change in the industry. Will this provide the pressure needed to clean up this mess and giant loss of value from client budgets. We also consider what happens when these interested and proactive Senators get round to reading the ANA (Association of Nat

We all crave that feeling of doing something we know is inherently good for society. We all also want to drive a positive ROI in our businesses. But can achieve both in a singular initiative? In this week’s #MediaSnack we talk with the Leadership at SeeHer to understand more about how brands are working harder to accurately portray all women and girls in marketing, advertising, media, and entertainment, so they see themselves as they truly are and in all their potential.