In this episode of #MediaSnack Meets, Tom Denford sits down with DJ Perera, Chief Media Officer at the Ad Council, the nonprofit behind some of the most iconic social impact campaigns in the U.S. With a background in both agency and corporate media, DJ brings a unique perspective to what it takes to build high-impact, message-driven campaigns in today’s evolving media environment. She shares insights on navigating the shift from commercial to purpose-driven media, how to drive results with donated inventory, and what media leaders can learn from the nonprofit world. DJ also reflects on the launch of Love Your Mind World—an innovative mental health campaign on Roblox—and offers thoughtful advice on leadership, change, and finding joy in the work. 

00:00 - DJ’s Role at the Ad Council

02:14 - Career Highlights and Big Wins 

03:55 - Challenges in the Media Industry 

05:23 - Leadership and Career Advice 

06:46 - Outside the Office 

07:32 - Looking Ahead 

#MediaSnack is presented by ID Comms, the global media consultancy helping brands achieve better media results. 

You can find DJ Perera on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/djperera 

Learn more about the Ad Council: https://www.adcouncil.org/ 

Want to stay ahead in media? Visit https://www.idcomms.com/ 

Follow ID Comms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/id-comms/

In this episode of #MediaSnack Winners, Tom Denford sits down with Terence “Terry” Kawaja, Founder & CEO of LUMA Partners, the digital media M&A advisory firm famous for the LUMAscape. With over $300 billion in deal experience, Terry shares how he built a category-defining business at the intersection of media, marketing, and technology—offering strategic advice with a blend of deep industry insight and sharp humor.

They explore the three-tier landscape of AI adoption, the return of M&A activity after a three-year trough, and what separates successful companies from the pretenders. Terry also shares why psychology matters more than finance in dealmaking, how to spot real innovation in a sea of hype, and why America’s “innovation flywheel” is its biggest comparative advantage.

#MediaSnack is presented by ID Comms, the global media consultancy helping brands achieve better media results.

Find Terry Kawaja on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terencekawaja/

Learn more about LUMA Partners: https://www.lumapartners.com/

Want to stay ahead in media? Visit https://www.idcomms.com

Follow ID Comms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/id-comms/

#MediaSnack Ep. 71: The DOOM And GLOOM Episode by ID Comms

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.

My guest for this #MediaSnackMeets episode is Anthony Martinez, SVP of Media and Growth Marketing at Serta Simmons Bedding.

Find out:
- What is Anthony's role at Serta Simmons and what is he most proud of professionally?
- What does he see are the industry's biggest challenges and how we might address them?
- What does he do to unwind and recharge?
- Plus Anthony's best industry leadership tips and more!

You can find Anthony here: linkedin.com/in/anthonypmartinez/

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#MediaSnack​ Meets is a regular interview with the curious media professionals who are reshaping the global industry.

Thanks for watching, if you enjoy #MediaSnack​ Meets please give us a thumbs up (it really helps) and do share links and tell others. Subscribe to our channel to stay updated.  

Marketer? 
For tips, guides & other amazing free resources for marketers, get started at: www.idcomms.com

On this week's #MediaSnack we start with a consideration of the impact of Donald Trump's election this week as President-elect of the USA. Our friend Brian Wieser, senior analyst from Pivotal Research Group was the first off the block with his thoughts on how the global advertising industry could be affected. Brian posted his analyst perspectives at 3am NY time as the election result was just becoming clear - which means he'd devoted his evening to shaping thoughts, well done Brian. His main observations were based on the economic, political and regulatory uncertainty, but also covered the impact of potential immigration restrictions especially for multi-national media companies such as media agency networks and ad platforms such as Google and Facebook. He also acknowledged the important role that Twitter plays in these type of global events, although they perhaps weren’t able to commercialise it fully yet.We note the learnings that will surely come from Donald Trump’s unexpected triumph, notably with far less of a campaign war chest compared to the well-funded Hilary Clinton. A Bloomberg Politics report estimates Hilary’s funding exceeded $1bn whilst Trump managed a mere $512m - yet Trump dominated media coverage by a vast margin. Whether by accident or design Trump managed to leverage not just social media power (as Obama had done to huge success in 2012) but dominated mainstream media with his provocative narrative. Estimates are that Donald Trump generated over $2bn value of earned media in his race for POTUS.Continuing the Trump theme, we refer to a piece written by Dominic Mills for Mediatel which made a parallel between Donald Trump’s “blusterous” style (in an attempt to avoid addressing difficult subjects) and comments made by GroupM Global Chairman Irwin Gotlieb at a recent conference in New York. At the Video Everywhere Summit on 28th October Irwin Gotlieb was asked about the media transparency reporting published this year by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA). The ANA Media Transparency report highlighted a rift between advertiser and media agency and pushed trust between the two to new lows. But rather than try to bring parties together, which is what Irwin had called for back in 2015 and which Tom reported on from the ANA’s Advertising Financial Management Conference in Florida, he instead took the opportunity of his platform to further undermine the credibility of the ANA’s initiative. “I’m going to be really harsh,” Gotlieb said candidly. “The entire effort was a biz-dev effort. … The ANA allowed themselves to be part of a third-party’s business development.”Irwin is typically very careful with his words and would not have said such inflammatory things on a public stage in naivety. This was an intentional act designed to further undermine the credibility of a report designed for and funded by America’s largest advertisers, to benefit them. Dominic Mill’s comparison to Trump is not just timely, it's accurate. Brian Jacobs also wrote excellently about this on his recent Cog Blog, link below. Finally, we bring news that Toyota, the car manufacturer who you will remember was recently at the centre of a dramatic over-billing scandal by their Japanese agency Dentsu, have (in unrelated matters) shifted their entire $300m media and creative business away from Publicis Groups agencies and into WPP without a pitch. The comments from Toyota suggest a client with a clarity of vision to create a blueprint for agency resources, as we’ve spoken many times about on #MediaSnack previously.

ID Comms talks to Marla Skiko, Global Head of Media at Ford Motor Company, about the ANA’s Media Transparency report and its lasting impact.

The report helped underpin a process that the company had already begun, reviewing its relationships with agency partners and the level of transparency it wanted, says Marla.

“The transparency report really just gave us some more things to think about. There were some more talking points. It was just more information and background that helped inform conversations that were already right underway,” she says.

Marla, who was working at Publicis Media when the report was originally published and joined Ford in January 2020, says there were issues for Ford around standards, brand safety and metrics that all needed roadmaps for internal and partner use to ensure nothing was left to chance.

“We also changed the makeup of some of we, we thought about, you know, who do we need to have internally so that we have accountability on ourselves. Do we have the right people in the right roles who have the right understanding of how data and technology work and how that's associated with our media spending so that we can then partner with our agencies. It should be, you know, equal on both sides,” she says.

And, she adds, it’s a collaborative process. “The ANA has been really helpful in that and bringing marketers together so that we can benchmark off each other. We can compare notes and as we define what this should be, we then have more of a holistic nature of looking at this. You don't just see it from your angle, but you hear what other people are talking about,” she says.

On this week’s #MediaSnack Tom and David look at some new research suggesting that half of US advertisers are not engaging with their media agency over the findings of the ANA’s Media Transparency report, even though it is nearly 5 months since it was published. This seems to reflect the different stages of reaction that ID Comms has experienced from a wide spectrum of advertisers; some took immediate action back, some are still considering the best course of action and some are seemingly unaware or unconcerned by the ANA's report.The typical response (largely correctly in our view) is that advertisers should have scrutinized their own circumstances by looking at their existing media agency contracts and we helped them quickly establish the level of protection or exposure they face in the areas of “non-transparent practices” detailed by the ANA report. Once we have helped the advertiser establish a point of view of their current situation, then they need to make plans to correct or improve the contract. It is very easy to update contract terms, far harder to actually implement a contract which wholly protects your interests, especially in a complex market like the global media landscape. This is taking time for some advertisers, some are electing to review their contracts as part of a larger tendering process, consider that their scope of work for an agency, their preferred payment model, their media mix, their resource needs may have all changed in the 3 or 4 years since they last pitched. Not to mention the rapid change of the media landscape each year.As a result, we are anticipating a busy 2017 pitch market as many advertisers, kicked into action following the ANA Transparency Report have spent some months reviewing contracts, conducting audits where they can and now shaping plans for their future media agency needs. It still seems possible that some advertisers might elect to pursue legal routes against their media agencies, there are still faint rumblings of an SEC investigation which won't go away just yet and that’s going to keep the US media industry on its toes for the foreseeable months.We anticipate very few advertisers would take this ‘nuclear’ option, fearing that it would actually create larger problems than it might resolve and cause a massive distraction from business as usual (which incumbent agency is going to maintain passion for a client who is publicly suing them for claw-back of millions of dollars?). It presents a huge risk for advertisers considering legal routes. Alternatively, we expect the majority of advertisers will want to re-design and re-engineer their relationship with the media agency. This has to be driven by a clear vision and a common ambition. It is the only sensible route to re-build the missing trust in the industry and set a path for a more productive and transparent and accountable media industry for the future.We are helping brands define this future and we are designing ways for marketers to get back around the table with their agency leadership to design for trust. It won't happen without engineering, it won't happen by accident - the most ambitious brands know they have to make this happen.

My guest for this episode is Hermann Hassenstein, Senior Head of Marketing Operations at Puma.

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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. 

You’ve hopefully already read the facts. Programmatic is still a MESS.

But there are people, companies, behaviors and practices behind all this mess that we have yet to fully understand. Until now…

On this #MediaSnack LIVE we were joined by the expert team from Kroll, the investigative firm that conducted the qualitative parts of the ANA’s study.

In case you missed it, earlier this year The Association of National Advertisers published the 'first look' of their study into the programmatic media supply chain.
As part of the study Kroll was tasked with “illuminating, clarifying, and demystifying the U.S-based programmatic media supply chain”

In other words, getting to understand the dominant behaviors and practices that exist behind programmatic today.

In particular, Kroll sought to gain insights into the following key areas:
1️⃣ The flow of dollars from advertiser to publisher
2️⃣ The value exchanged for those dollars at each link in the chain
3️⃣ Whether any nontransparent practices or behaviors exist that have the potential to create unnecessary cost or waste for advertisers

Kroll’s part of the report, ‘ANA Programmatic Media Supply Chain Transparency Study - Qualitative Insights’ has just been released and is available for free download at www.ana.net/kroll

If you care about understanding programmatic and maybe making it better, you won't want to miss this podcast.

Joining me as special guests on this extended edition of #MediaSnack LIVE:
Richard Plansky - Regional Managing Director, North America, Forensic Investigations and Intelligence, Kroll
Sherine Ebadi - Managing Director, Forensic Investigations & Intelligence, Kroll
Kelley Elizabeth Train - Programmatic Consultant and Advisor

We gave listeners some tips on different routes you can take to improve your programmatic performance and reduce waste, tailored to the specific programmatic investment profile that best describes you as an advertiser. Listen in to find out more.

At ID Comms, we believe that Brands Deserve Better Media. 📈
Find out more at www.idcomms.com

The biggest media deal in a decade is here—Omnicom’s proposed $13 billion acquisition of IPG—and it’s set to reshape the industry. In this episode of #MediaSnack, Tom Denford and David Indo break down what this consolidation means for advertisers, agencies, and media buying power. With exclusive insights from a private meeting with Omnicom and IPG leadership, they unpack the risks, opportunities, and strategies advertisers should consider as the industry braces for change. Plus, in our #MediaSnack Meets segment, marketing legend Mark Ritson shares his no-BS take on why marketers are addicted to change, why it’s hurting them, and what they should do instead.

01:15 - How Not to Lose

    -What the Omnicom-IPG merger means for advertisers and media buying power
    -Key regulatory hurdles and potential industry ripple effects
    -What non-Omnicom/IPG clients should be doing right now

12:50 - How to Win

    -How brands can leverage industry consolidation for better deals
    -Key negotiation strategies in a competitive agency landscape
   - Why now is the time to stress-test agency capabilities

20:39 - #MediaSnack Meets: Mark Ritson

   - The state of media and advertising today—and why marketers are getting it wrong
   - The power of consistency and why sticking with what works beats chasing the new
  -  Why too much change is killing marketing effectiveness

#MediaSnack is presented by ID Comms, the global media consultancy helping brands achieve better media results.

    -What the Omnicom-IPG Merger Means for Advertisers: https://www.idcomms.com/blog/what-the-omnicom-ipg-merger-means-for-advertisers
    -Winning the Digital Pitch https://www.idcomms.com/blog/winning-the-digital-pitch
    -20 Must-Ask Questions for Digital Media Pitches: https://www.idcomms.com/20-must-ask-questions-for-digital-media-pitches
    -Mark Ritson Mini MBA: https://mba.marketingweek.com/?cmpid=251_se_go_res_tx_nonbrk&utm_medium=search_paid&creative=718241472628&keyword=ritson%20mini%20mba&matchtype=e&network=g&device=c&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAw5W-BhAhEiwApv4goDF1xYqVWC59gfNIqb5OGxwknHUzV3DxlTw8i1zzveKrCWgAXNj3LhoC6e0QAvD_BwE

Want to stay ahead in media? Visit https://www.idcomms.com/
Follow ID Comms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/id-comms/

Can Programmatic spend be audited?
Yes! And it must be given the size of spend. 
Focus on the link between price, quality and outcomes. Define thresholds to mitigate risks. Strive for operational excellence and insist on clear alignment at the setup phase. 

Programmatic done well can generate significant advantage for advertisers. But few companies are realizing the full benefits this channel has to offer.

Marketers need to collaborate with FBI: #MediaSnack 137 by ID Comms

On this week’s #MediaSnack we can’t stop talking about the Publicis Groupe restructure (see Episode 4 [link] for a back story to all this). We spent some time last week with a delegation of institutional investors in the media sector at a special ID Comms Q&A lunch at Nomura Bank in London. Their questions were fascinating but lots of attention and focus was paid to Publicis Groupe, their restructure and their ability to reverse recent fortunes and find organic growth and grow margins. In today’s episode we delve further into these questions. We pick up on news that ITV, the UK’s largest terrestrial broadcaster has started an investigation into one of the UK’s largest media buying agencies (Dentsu-Aegis Network) for failing to meet their trading commitments (ITV suggest that the agency didn’t spend enough of its clients money with them). We discuss the merits and challenges with these kinds of big agency trading deals and wonder what the real benefit might be to brands when they seem to fail like these with increasingly regularity. Finally, Tom has a little moan about the poor standards of agency marketing collateral and what might be done to improve this. 

#MediaSnack 119: The FUTURE of Media Conferences by ID Comms

My guest for this episode is Adam Benaroya, Director, Global Media Capabilities & Operations at Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health.

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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. 

#MediaSnack 111: TRADING: The Media Action Plan for 2018 by ID Comms

#MediaSnack 109: TERMS OF BUSINESS: The Media Action Plan for 2018 by ID Comms

On this week’s rather meaty #MediaSnack we review 3 big stories each likely to have a significant impact on the global media industry.First off we can't escape the Brexit UK referendum decision and its potential impact on the UK marketing scene and how it might affect marketers behaviours in the coming months. We try not to get caught up in the general negativity and whilst managing Brexit certainly has its challenges from a political perspective, if its going ahead then agile and ambitious companies will already be figuring out their best next moves to make the most of the opportunities. Those opportunities in media are likely to be significant, the rejection of the political status quo by UK citizens could set some precedent for marketers’ rejection of the status quo when it comes to the current media landscape and ways of working. There was already some appetite for change and re-invention in the media industry, which we have discussed before, but perhaps this may accelerate somewhat with the referendum decision. David and Tom consider how different kinds of marketers might react and hope their reaction will be largely proactive, optimistic and brave. This is the time to adopt a challenger mindset, think in leaner and more agile ways and consider how positive disruption might benefit your marketing organisation. Things are going to be tough, we all need to plan to survive and then flourish, to make change and innovation better than the status quo. Next we report on a fascinating story coming out of the US, the Chase retail bank has launched a deep audit of their media agency Zenith in the US and have hired corporate investigations firm K2 Intelligence and media auditor Ebiquity Firm Decisions to execute this. You will recall that these are the same two firms who have also provided the analysis for the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) recent investigation into media rebate practice in the US. The fact that the CMO of Chase sits on the board of the ANA could suggest that this might be just the tip of the iceberg and we may see other ANA members follow suit with big audits of their media agency practices. Finally, Firm Decisions is in the news again, this time they are being taken to the High Court by the world’s biggest media buyer GroupM. The claim lodged by the agency group accuses Firm Decisions of potentially misusing privileged data sent to them by mistake. Firm Decisions is yet to respond to the claim. We have reviewed the court papers and GroupM’s requests seem logical and reasonable, to request Firm Decisions prove they have deleted materials and account for how they came into possession of them. The alarming element is that this has ended up in court in public view, its very rare for agency and auditor to end up in court and is not reassuring for advertisers at a time of uncertainty to have the integrity of a leading auditor called into question. All at the same time Ebiquity Firm Decision are imminently about to publish their part of the ANA report into media rebate practices in the US….All of today’s stories are just the beginning, all will run much further so we will keep an eye on their progress in the coming weeks.

#MediaSnack Ep. 19: Q&A On Media, Brands & How To Design A Media Agency by ID Comms

On this week’s Episode of #MediaSnack Tom and David discuss the value of Cannes and review the most bizarre media pitch that they have ever seen.They start off by sharing some observations from their trip to the Cannes Lions, also known as the Festival of Creativity. Every year, pretty much the entire global advertising industry travels to the south of France to celebrate but actually it’s a good place to meet a lot of clients, outside of the office environment and have some really interesting conversations.David points out that it was very rare that there were any conversations about pitches or about agency structures. Most of the conversations, he says reflected each client’s internal operational requirements; “How should they look to design their own internal structures and ways of working to get the most of out media.”Tom and David argue that these conversations, in one way or another, have been provoked by last year’s ANA report, which encouraged marketers to take control of their media. And that’s exactly what’s happening because those are the questions being asked by CMOs, Marketing/ Media directors responsible for media investments. They realise that it’s not a question of changing the scope of the agency immediately nor about changing agencies/running pitches. They are now focused on the internal operating model and ways of working around media.And that’s where the biggest challenge of all lies, because smart marketers are also considering how to organise themselves better to get the most out of media. They are thinking about ways of taking greater control before thinking about agency rosters. The most important question is: “How should we be operating and where do we start?”Tom and David argue that marketers have to understand the strengths and weakness of their current operating structure and the way that they manage media now. This will help them to identify both the easy wins and the greater opportunities for improvement. Whatever the structure/framework you have, you need to understand where you currently stand, identify they key areas for improvement and then develop a roadmap. Only then can they can go to market and identify the right marketing services, solutions and agency solution but getting that structure properly designed internally is vital. Despite this, we still see advertisers who launch media reviews driven by an opportunity to save money solely and without necessarily strategic ambition. The recent pitch by Sainsbury’s, a UK large supermarket/retail/grocer is a good example. Sainsbury’s has now reversed their decision and will no longer be working with m/SIX (the agency that won the account in Q1). Instead they will be going back to PHD, the incumbent agency that had the account for over 20 years. Tom and David suggest that, perhaps, due to the recent purchase of the Home Retail Group, Sainsbury’s wanted to immediately realise some synergy savings.It is a common situation, which we see a lot when big mergers happen. We often decline such pitch projects because we know it’s going to become a race to the bottom on cost without defined strategic ambition. In the last few years we’ve just seen a whole number of these where the internal operating model, the structure, the actual requirements of a media agency have not been defined at all. Our approach is always to go back to the client and offer to help them get their own internal house in order. If you’re going to pitch media, prepare, get some advice, do it properly and involve your stakeholders throughout the business.

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.

My guest for this #MediaSnackMeets episode, is Amy Williams, Founder and CEO at Good-Loop

Find out:
- What is Amy's role at Good-Loop and what is she most proud of professionally?
- What does she see are the industry's biggest challenges and how we might address them?
- What does she do to unwind and recharge?
- Plus Amy's best industry leadership tips and more!

You can find Amy here: linkedin.com/in/amy-williams-
And more about Good-Loop here: good-loop.com

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#MediaSnack​ Meets is a regular interview with the curious media professionals who are reshaping the global industry.

Thanks for watching, if you enjoy #MediaSnack​ Meets please give us a thumbs up (it really helps) and do share links and tell others. Subscribe to our channel to stay updated.  

Marketer? 
For tips, guides & other amazing free resources for marketers, get started at: www.idcomms.com

My guest for this episode is Belinda Smith, Global Head of Marketing Intelligence at EA (Electronic Arts) one of the world’s largest video game and entertainment companies. 

For the last couple of years, before she moved into her new Marketing Intelligence role, Belinda was the Global Media Director of EA and to those in the know, she has been one of the real pioneers of what has become called “the in-housing of media”. And you will learn in this episode why she detests that phrase, as do I. 

I first met Belinda a few years ago at an excellent ANA Media conference where she was speaking  about EA’s plans to build their internal media capabilities. This was in 2017 and up to that point I had not heard someone talk about in-housing (that word) with such a clarity of vision and so articulately. Since then, Belinda and her team at EA went on a fascinating journey which she details in this episode, some things worked, some did not and needed refining. It really is a masterclass for anyone thinking about how to approach in-housing of their own media operations.

If you pay any attention to the media industry then you have probably either seen Belinda at an event or you have read something she has written about media. She has also become an important voice for diversity in the industry, in 2019 being named the Diversity Ambassador for the World Federation of Advertiser and she still sits on their global media board.

I always appreciate Belinda’s view of what we all do because, in these often divided and confrontational times she approaches the industry with more humanity than I think I see in anyone else. She wastes no time dwelling on negatives and always seems to have an optimistic and pragmatic view forward. 

On this week’s #MediaSnack Tom and David are reflecting on some of ID Comms experiences in recent media pitches. Compared to the last year’s pitch market, 2016 was relatively quest. However, the quality of media of agency performances in major reviews this year increased significantly, and Tom and David explain how this has led to an impressive level of commitment from participating agencies. As a result of this, the advertisers found it very hard to make a final decision in most cases, which is the sign of a great pitch process because agencies are hungry, competitive and committed to win. There is a clear correlation between those advertisers who make good pitch preparation including a clear vision for the role of their media agencies and the level of commitment from participating agencies. Agency CEO’s will tell you that they compete hardest for the best-prepared pitch briefs because they lay out a vision the agency can hang on to and work towards. These are far more fulfilling than a complex spreadsheet simply asking for cheaper media prices. Nobody enjoys a race to the bottom because ultimately nobody actually wants to win it. Recent research in US suggests that 64% of US media spend is going to be reviewed next year. We question the maths on that: This means that over $120bn of media spend is going to be in review. When compared to the $30bn that formed the MediaPalooza from 2015 you can see this is an extreme scenario and one which would terrify agency CEO’s. Tom and David also look into The Guardian’s recent experiment with its own inventory, that led to some fascinating results. The press reported that The Guardian set up an experiment to purchase its own inventory in order to follow the supply chain. This allowed them to see how much money as a publisher they get from the investment they made as an advertiser. The results of this experiment were fascinating, as according to their new Chief Revenue Officer, The Guardian was receiving only 30% from the initial investment in a worse case scenario. #MediaSnack encourages more media vendors and media publishers to conduct similar experiments as this gives as greater insights into media supply chain for all advertisers. Finally, the guys review some great comments made by Ben Jankowski, global media director of MasterCard at Advertising Week. Ben strongly advocates that brands should invest in senior media talent.Links from the episode:AdAge researchhttp://adage.com/article/agencies/thi...Guardian story:http://mediatel.co.uk/newsline/2016/1...Ben Jankowski at Advertising Week NY:http://digiday.com/brands/mastercards...

Tom and David map the future of the global media agency landscape, asking a provocative question: who will survive the coming consolidation? With Omnicom poised to acquire IPG and Accenture lurking in the shadows, the industry is entering what they call a “red ocean”—an era of brutal competition, strategic mergers, and existential decisions.

In this special episode of MediaSnack, they dissect the business models of the Big Three (Omnicom, WPP, Publicis), challenge the strategic positioning of smaller players like Stagwell and Havas, and predict whether Accenture might make a bold acquisition play that reshapes the category entirely. From platform power plays to exclusive content deals with brands like NFL and Netflix, Tom and David make sharp predictions for the next 12 months—and the next five years.

In this conversation, you’ll hear:

• What the Omnicom–IPG deal signals about agency consolidation
• Why WPP may be undervalued—and a prime target
• How principal-based buying is reshaping agency business models
• What smaller holding companies must do to survive
• Why Accenture could emerge as a fourth force—and redefine transparency

With the sharks circling, marketers and procurement leaders need to rethink how they plan and buy media—and who they trust to do it.

Subscribe and follow MediaSnack on YouTube and your favorite podcast platform

#MediaSnack is presented by ID Comms, the global media consultancy helping brands achieve better media results.

Want to stay ahead in media? Visit https://www.idcomms.com
Follow ID Comms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/id-comms/

What DOES it take to write the perfect media brief? We were inspired to focus on agency briefing by a piece of recent research issued by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) the global marketing trade body. The research asked leading marketing and agency professionals to rate the quality of briefing. It was a revisit from the same study in 2014 and shows a small but positive improvement in sentiment around the quality of briefings. You can read the full research in a blog post by WFA Head of Marketing Capabilities Rob Dreblow here:http://www.wfanet.org/blog/knowledge/how-does-your-agency-rate-your-brief/It prompted Tom and David to consider what is required to succeed in briefing agencies, especially in media which, as a marketing discipline, has got way more complex. They suggest that writing briefs according to a good template and format itself is not the major challenge and is just the tip of the pyramid. The real challenge is engineering an agency (or a roster of agencies) to be properly set up for success. This involves defining a clear scope of work, setting realistic KPIs and paying for agencies based on performance and delivering against KPIs. For example, if a media agency is just scoped to buy media and is paid on commission and the only KPI is a good audit result, then they won't be able to respond appropriately to an integrated brief or even a more progressive media brief. These governance elements form the 'base' of the pyramid and enable good quality briefing to produce the best work. Writing an integrated brief is easy, running an integrated roster of agencies is hard and takes a lot of work to set up for success. Once you have all these elements in place, you then need to be able to properly evaluate the work coming back from the agency or agencies. An integrated brief requires you to provide direction without being prescriptive, you are giving your agencies permission to recommend solutions and so you have to be capable of making decisions. We find that often, especially regarding media, this is a gap in capabilities within marketing teams, having the depth of media knowledge to be able to decipher media strategies and plans and make the right investment decisions. It all starts with a commitment to brief better and understand the value that can be unlocked by briefing properly. It takes some work to be great at briefing, it's more than a template.

#MediaSnack 125: BLOCKCHAIN: 4 things marketers will do - by ID Comms

Marketing Procurement For Business Growth: #MediaSnack 151 by ID Comms

Never miss your #MediaSnack - subscribe for updates every FridayOn this week's #MediaSnack we take a look at what it takes to market successfully in China and how the landscape is increasingly dominated by platform giants such as Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu. These three giants are frequently compared to the famous Western (American) platforms like Google, Facebook and Amazon but there lies the challenge. China is a major consideration for most global marketers, not least because it represents still a significant growth opportunity, averaging 7% GDP growth per year and with the total spending power of middle class growing even faster still. Goldman Sachs estimate that China's online retail market will more than double in size by 2020 - to $1.7trn so for western marketers this growth is too good not to take seriously, but for China the same rules of digital marketing do not apply largely because the platforms you need to use are different in China that most Western markets. We consider what's commonly referred to as BAT:Baidu - web services (search engine / video / translations/ mapping) - valued $64.7 billionAlibaba -E-commerce - c2c + b2b + b2c - valued $424 billionTencent - investment holding corp (social networks/ gaming/ e-commerce/ web portals) - valued $469 billionThe 3 Chinese tech giants are broader business than their Western counterparts, notably perhaps because they face less internal competition, largely because the Western brands themselves (particularly Google, Facebook are not active in China). For example, Tencent's business splits out into many other operations including:Social NetworksPaymentEntertainmentInformationUtilitiesPlatformsArtificial IntelligenceThe other main differentiator is their scale, Alibaba dwarfs Amazon in so many metrics:Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce group, handles more transactions each year than do eBay and Amazon combined 2016 Prime Day vs. Singles Day = $1 billion rev vs. $17.8 billionAdding revenues from Prime day + Black Friday + Cyber Monday = 43% of Singles' Day revenueFurther reading:https://www.warc.com/NewsAndOpinion/News/Alibaba_takes_on_Amazon/39449https://digiday.com/marketing/chinese-tech-companies-venture-unmanned-convenience-stores/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=171023https://www.ft.com/content/d5397a08-4667-11e7-8d27-59b4dd6296b8?mhq5j=e7http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/world/china-watch/technology/new-technology-giants/http://www.campaignasia.com/article/alibaba-looks-to-cross-border-orders-as-next-avenue-of-singles-day-growth/440730Good Week:It's a great week for media transparency in the UK - https://gcs.civilservice.gov.uk/news/media-buying-framework-update-draft-framework-agreement-shared/Bad Week:A bad week for you digital evangelists, prophets or whatever you tiresome echo-chamber dwellers call yourselves now. Watch out you crazy kids, Professor Byron Sharp has you firmly in his sights. In an awesome paper Prof Sharp and friends dispel some of the myths you’ve been spouting on conferences stages and in agency pitches for years. Including ACTUAL FACTS! Read this and hang your well-gelled heads https://www.marketingscience.info/are-big-brands-dying/

In this episode of #MediaSnack we are joined by Bill Duggan, Group EVP at the ANA, to hear more about the recent report, ANA Procurement 2022: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Bill shares how this year's report highlights changes in marketing procurement since the last report in 2010 and how advertisers can use these findings to continue improving procurement processes.

Download the report here: https://www.ana.net/miccontent/show/i...

#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.

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Welcome to #MediaSnack, if you are new to the channel it's great to have you join us!

#MediaSnack is a LIVE weekly show where we unpack questions you all have about media, agencies, marketing, and more.  

Please subscribe above to get alerts of all upcoming weekly episodes.
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#MediaSnack 123: Will DoJ investigate US media? by ID Comms

How To Evaluate Media Agency Performance #MediaSnack Ep. 150 by ID Comms

In this special #MediaSnack episode, Tom Denford and David Indo revisit one of their boldest predictions: the WPP 2.0 Playbook. Originally recorded when Mark Read stepped in as CEO, the episode laid out a proposed restructure of WPP’s sprawling agency network. Now, with major changes finally underway—including the retirement of the GroupM brand—Tom and David break down what they got right, where they missed, and what it all means for media leaders today. It’s a rare moment of reflection in an industry that’s always sprinting forward—plus insight into how the same themes now shape the Omnicom-IPG merger and the future of agency holding companies.

Watch the original WPP 2.0 Playbook episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSdrpMylNrE

How to Navigate Media Chaos and Come Out Ahead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXT0eLAI4KA

Why a Renegotiation Might Be Your Next Winning Move: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWR5nZkgndM

#MediaSnack is presented by ID Comms, the global media consultancy helping brands achieve better media results.

Explore more: https://www.idcomms.com
Follow ID Comms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/id-comms/

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.

My guest for this #MediaSnackMeets episode is Florian Adamski, Global CEO of Omnicom Media Group.

Find out:
- What is Florian's experience in the industry?
- What he sees are the industry's biggest challenges and how we might address them?
- What does he do to unwind and recharge?
- Plus best industry leadership tips and more!

You can find Florian here.

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#MediaSnack​ Meets is a regular interview with the curious media professionals who are reshaping the global industry.

Thanks for listening, if you enjoy #MediaSnack​ Meets please give us a thumbs up (it really helps) and do share links and tell others. Subscribe to our channel to stay updated.  

Marketer? 
For tips, guides & other amazing free resources for marketers, get started at: www.idcomms.com

One of the most successful and well-connected media operators in the US, Bill Wise's shares his fascinating experiences growing some of the most well-known companies in digital advertising. 

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.

My guest for this episode is Bill Wise, CEO of Mediaocean.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/billwise/

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Because the best are short of time, our guests answer only 6 questions in 20 minutes

We 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.

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 the biggest challenge for the industry right now?
4. What is your favorite piece of business/leadership advice?
5. What is your passion outside of media?
6. Your hopes for the year ahead?

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#MediaSnack​ Meets is a regular interview with the curious media professionals who are reshaping the global industry.

Thanks for watching, if you enjoy #MediaSnack​ Meets please give us a thumbs up (it really helps) and do share links and tell others. Subscribe to our channel to stay updated.  

Marketer? 
For tips, guides & other amazing free resources for marketers, get started at: www.IDComms.com/GROWTH

Media For Business Growth: Media Operations #MediaSnack 161 by ID Comms

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.

My guest for this #MediaSnackMeets episode is Freddie Liversidge, VP of Global Media at HP

Find out:
- What is Freddie's experience in the industry?
- What he sees are the industry's biggest challenges and how we might address them?
- What does he do to unwind and recharge?
- Plus best industry leadership tips and more!

You can find Freddie here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/freddie-l...

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#MediaSnack​ Meets is a regular interview with the curious media professionals who are reshaping the global industry.

Thanks for watching, if you enjoy #MediaSnack​ Meets please give us a thumbs up (it really helps) and do share links and tell others. Subscribe to our channel to stay updated.  

Marketer? 
For tips, guides & other amazing free resources for marketers, get started at: www.idcomms.com

Never miss your #MediaSnack - subscribe for updates every FridayOn this week's #MediaSnack we look at the gathering rumours (and plausible evidence) that one of the major advertising holding companies will be an acquisition target by one of the big consultant or audit firms. These whispers first became acknowledged in Cannes this year when a few people were suggesting a WPP / Accenture merger was being discussed, which WPP quickly refuted. We take a look at two companies that might be in the mix of acquisition talk, Accenture Interactive the 'agency'-like division which has been on an acquisition spree in recent years, most notably buying some creative agencies like Karmarama outright.We compare the relative sizes of Accenture and Publicis to highlight that the consulting giant does indeed dwarf the French marketing services group both in revenues and headcount by more than 4 times. The fortunes of the company are equally different, Accenture has seen a progressive rise in share price over recent years in a straight line that has seen 70% growth, whilst Publicis is at the same level today as it was two years ago. Publicis is likely to be one of the major holding companies which are best positioned to sell, or be bought. The challenge and arguments over leadership which caused 2013's failed Publicis Omnicom merger would seem to be removed with the departure this year of long-standing CEO Maurice Lévy. His successor Arthur Sadoun, who has continued Levy's restructure of the group and is understood to be readying the business for a leaner future, is less likely to be an obstacle to a merger or acquisition. The due diligence prepared ahead of the failed Omnicom deal from 2013 would have given Publicis Groupe a good insight into their business, its strengths and weaknesses and synergies of integration. They will know that the consulting groups still covet Sapient their digital consulting business and would also be keen to acquire stellar agency brand names like Saatchi, BBH and Burnett. We would anticipate a deal like this within the next 6-12 months. But if Accenture is the most likely to buy and Publicis the most likely to sell then is this the perfect marriage? Cultural alignment could be a barrier, although the fact that Accenture has a French CEO might alleviate Publicis shareholder concerns. An alternative might be for Accenture to look at fellow American IPG, whilst the French consultancy Cap Gemini has made noises of their interest in a future acquisition and so might make a better suitor for Publicis. On this week's Good Week Bad Week we celebrate the fact that its a good week for the eager next generation of media agency leadership as 4 agency CEO's announced their departures in the same week leaving gaps for fresh new ideas and new leaders. It has been a bad week for Dentsu-Aegis Network in the UK as their largest client, and one of the UK's largest advertisers, the UK Government announced a review of the contract and a £140m buying pitch planned to start in February next year. The government's lead marketer Alex Aitken has laid out a bold agenda to drive greater transparency this time around and focus on greater value creation from media buying not cost price reduction. ID Comms attended the initial agency briefing on Thursday at HM Treasury with leaders of the UK's major networks agencies and independents, we were pleased to see the government open to a more collaborative approach, setting up a process which will seek input from agencies on the process itself in advance. Question of the Week: Who will Accenture buy next? Publicis, IPG, Whatever.... Please vote. Check back for the results next Friday.

The Top 10 Review Of The Year 2018 #MediaSnack 141 by ID Comms

Back from the Croisette, Tom shares his first-hand takeaways from Cannes Lions 2025 with David. While the festival had all the usual glamor and platform presence, this year’s true themes came down to three A’s: Appreciation for the power of community, a renewed focus on Agencies and their evolving role, and the real-world applications (and noise) surrounding AI. Together, they unpack what stood out, what fell flat, and what media leaders should really be paying attention to as the second half of the year kicks off.

00:00 – Setting the Stage: Why Cannes Still Matters
03:32 – Appreciation: The Role of Creativity and Craft
07:29 – Agencies: Still Central to Media’s Future
13:48 – AI: From Sizzle to Substance
18:15 – Final Reflections and What Comes Next

#MediaSnack is presented by ID Comms, the global media consultancy helping brands achieve better media results.

Related links:

The New Vibe: Cannes 2025 and the Evolving Landscape of Agency and AI https://www.idcomms.com/blog/the-new-vibe-cannes-2025-and-the-evolving-landscape-of-agency-ai

Want to stay ahead in media? Visit https://www.idcomms.com
Follow ID Comms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/id-comms/

On this week's #MediaSnack we consider how strategy is more important these days than media buying in determining success and giving a competitive advantage to marketers. As we continue our theme of looking at the key areas of change a year after the ANA's Media Transparency Report, this week we focus on 'Media Thinking', which includes a strategic approach to media, the quality and process of good strategy and planning and what actually drives business success for marketers. For the last decade, the media industry has been on a race to the bottom, obsessed about lowering the price of media and treating it more like a commodity rather than a lever for growth. The entire media industry has been largely engineered around this concept: Giant media buying agencies, giant media selling companies and giant media auditing companies. This has created an asymmetric marketplace with far more many advertisers on the 'buy' side than there are agencies and vendors (who have largely consolidated into a handful of dominant players and in some places may operate more like a cartel than an open market). This asymmetry is about to change. What's changing all that is technology: Tech which is empowering marketers with access to information and the tools to take a more active role in media decision making, and forcing a more transparent marketplace to evolve (we are still some way of that, give it a few years). We consider if, once a marketer is empowered with data and analytics, that they become the smartest component of an asymmetric system, they become the ultimate decision maker (its their money after all) and therefore will be able to control more media buying decisions, ultimately setting the price of media based on how they value it. This requires a fully open and democratic marketplace, but that's just a matter of time before the legacy conflict of interest and resistance from the larger players in the supply chain to be eroded. Next up, we consider a report from EACA (the European Association of Communications Agencies) which has just published a report into the standards of media auditing, calling for anyone in the broad space of advising advertisers (media audits, contract compliance, price benchmarking, pitch management and other advisory services). You can access the full report here and its well worth a read. http://eaca.eu/media-auditing-report/Next, and somewhat related to thoughts about media audit practice, we read a great thought piece by Dan Gilbert, CEO of BrainLabs written in The Drum about how TV will actually become fully able to be bought programmatically. This has been a lingering question and for many an indication of how Programmatic might only be 'one' way that media will be bought. Dan shares our perspective that ALL media will be bought programmatically at some point soon. His piece is an excellent case for HOW the world's biggest and richest media (yes, that's TV) will shift to a fully programmatic model soon. Well worth a read. Tom and David consider how this will completely change the media auditing business, because when all media is traded in an auction style, then there is zero need for pool benchmarking of media pricing (actually it becomes impossible to do) and little need for historic media performance audits. So what happens to the media auditors then? Well, like everyone else they adapt or die. http://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2017/0...Finally, we are off to Cannes next week, see you on the beach.

In this episode of #MediaSnack WINNERS, Tom Denford is joined by Fredrik Borestrom, President of the International Advertising Association (IAA) and a trusted voice in the global media and marketing community. With over 25 years of leadership experience, Fredrik brings a sharp, international perspective on the future of marketing.

Tom and Fredrik explore what the rest of the world can learn from Nordic markets — some of the most tech-forward and transparent media landscapes anywhere. They also dig into the gaps in measurement and why trust in the agency model is eroding. Fredrik shares his vision for developing the next generation of industry leaders and why local insights still matter more than ever, even in an AI-driven, global marketplace.

Learn more about IAA Global: https://iaaglobal.org
Want to stay ahead in media? Visit https://www.idcomms.com
Follow ID Comms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/id-comms/

Never miss your #MediaSnack - subscribe for updates every Friday"It is the media mess that is distracting marketers from being great marketers" - that is the hypothesis of this week's #MediaSnack episode.We discuss a hypothesis of how media mess keeps distracting marketers. Over the past couple of years, we've seen a significant decrease in the quality of advertising. Recent reports from publishers, content companies and other ad-funded businesses show that they are now struggling to hit their financial targets. The latest report from GroupM called 'The State of Video' suggests that we are now becoming more intolerant towards advertising. And the biggest indicator if this is the raise of ad-blocking technology. Ad blocker usage surged 30% in 2016, according to a new report from PageFair, a company that helps publishers regain revenue lost to the software. There were 615 million devices blocking ads worldwide by the end of 2016, 62% (308 million) of those mobile. Desktop ad blocker usage grew 17% year-on-year to 236 million. The other interesting piece of research from Harvard Business School shows a negative trends in the audience's attention to TV advertising. The report highlights that the percentage of ads considered fully viewed and getting high attention has decreased dramatically, from 97% in the early 1990s to less than 20% 2012 and so the trend continues. And the trend continues nowadays, as the viewers now have an ability to skip commercials on smart TVs and other devices.The desire to escape from advertising by fast-forwarding commercials and installing ad-blocking software is perhaps a symptom of the poor quality and viewer experience of ads today. Many content businesses have seen the opportunity in offering ad-free experience and built their business models around that. People subscribe to the premium version of Amazon, or get Netflix accounts and watch their favourite shows without ads. A large number of mobile games are also offering ad-free experience in exchange for paid version of the apps.Spotify was also a pioneer in an ad-funded versus a subscription model. Last week, AdAge published an article suggesting that Amazon is developing a free, ad-supported complement to its Prime streaming video service, according to people familiar with its plans. After publication, an Amazon spokeswoman said the company has no plans to create a free, ad-supported version of Prime Video. But if not Amazon then we expect that one of the OTT TV companies will offer an advertising funded free version. This brings to life the concept by Prof. Scott Galloway that "advertising is a tax that only poor people will pay" and you can see how that becomes the reality in this situation. That clearly defines advertising as an irritant to be avoided if you can, which is a damning indictment on the global commutations industry. What has lead us there? The crappy media supply chain is likely the guilty party and has distracted marketers and encouraged then to be lazy in reducing the quality of the advertising experience but targeting more closely, expecting the same results. People accept good quality advertising, what if the deal was, whatever you wanted to do, watch a movie, login to Facebook, play a game that there would always be one great advert? We think that would be a good model and puts the onus on the advert and the placement to be more relevant and of better quality. Next year, following P&Gs lead, more company CMOs will want to stop being distracted by media mess and allow their organisations to focus back on the craft of advertising.

On this week’s #MediaSnack, Tom and David take an opportunity to look back across 2016 as a landmark year and indulge in looking ahead to 2017 in what they believe is likely to see a pivotal change in the future of the media industry. They review their experiences this year, notably the ongoing impact of the ANA’s media transparency investigation, which is still causing after-shocks around the world (see last week’s #MediaSnack for details of the latest media transparency scandal, this time from Japan). The full results of the ANA shining a light on “non-transparent practices” are still to be seen, but ID Comms can feel the wind of change about to sweep the industry, driven largely by a mindset change amongst some major advertisers. Brands that may have been neglecting their media investment and not providing sufficient oversight and governance have been woken sharply by the ANA findings and global press coverage, and now they are starting to think differently. This is apparent in the number of brands taking time to properly consider their future requirements for media, at a strategic level. If you consider that many advertisers contract with agencies might be 3 or 4 years old, and they are starting to look 3 or 4 years in to the future, the media landscape has changed, and will change dramatically. So has consumer behaviour. So has the relationship between advertiser and their media agencies. So has the shape and design of marketing organisations themselves. Its all change and its gathering pace. Just look at recent news that P&G have hired Gerry D’Angelo as global head of media, the closest thing to a Chief Media Officer that you’re likely to find. Brands are investing in media management again and are taking it seriously. Perhaps as brands start to look ahead and consider their future needs for media with a more strategic approach, so too are they rethinking their requirements from a media agency. Change in the media agency landscape has been happening this year, just look at Publicis Media's restructure, IPG’s media resurgence, Omnicom’s recent new business triumphs with innovative agency models. Tom and David expect this disruption and innovation to pick up even more pace into 2017 as more and more marketers make demands of a new kind of media agency service. One fit for a post-#RebateGate world. One thing that may be a good illustration of this change in strategy is the recent news that GroupM have changed their global CEO, Kelly Clarke taken the reigns from Dominic Proctor. Is this indicative of a changing of the guard at the top positions of media agency groups? Perhaps we’ll see more of this in the next 12 months. Future leaders of media agencies are going to have a different set of challenges in the next five years to those faced across the last five years, not least in defending their businesses from the onslaught from management consultancies, AdTech companies and now from marketers looking to fundamentally re-design the agency resources.Advertisers are going to be more forthright in their demands of agency resource and the terms of business, which will be somewhat painful for agencies to adjust to but ultimately will help them grow their businesses in new and exciting ways. The first part of this will be advertisers pushing to closer align their agencies to company business outcomes and incentivise them financially on some shared goals. This will (in time) flush concerns over transparency and conflict of interest out of the systems and leave us with a media agency landscape more in tune with advertisers requirements.Change is coming. We’ve got to all move away from obsessing about cheaper pricing, bigger discounts and more (and more!) auditing as being what media is all about. Instead, the fear of the complexity of media must be replaced by the excitement in the opportunity of media. Let’s hope so.

Our most anticipated episode every year! We review 2022's top 10 standout moments in media and advertising. What were the most interesting stories of the year? Stay with us to the end where we name #MediaSnack's person of the year and we look ahead to 2023.

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Episode links:
#MediaSnack Meets with Wendy Clark:    • Wendy Clark, CEO ... 

Rob Rakowitz Festival of Media 2019:    • Media Sustainabil... 

About GARM: https://wfanet.org/leadership/garm/ab...

GARM, Twitter accelerated brand safety agenda: https://wfanet.org/knowledge/item/202...

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#MediaSnack is a show for curious media professionals who are shaping the global media industry today. Each episode, we invite you to join in the conversation as we discuss various topics and trends in media and advertising. We keep our positive, can-do attitude while facilitating a lively discussion, all with the hope of making the industry a little better for generations to come.

#MediaSnack is hosted by Tom Denford and David Indo, Co-Founders ID Comms where we help brands get the media they deserve.

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https://www.idcomms.com/
#mediaforgrowth
#bettermedia

#MediaSnack 104: How to write an ACTION PLAN for media by ID Comms

#MediaSnack Ep. 26: She OWNS A Cool Media Agency by ID Comms

How can you make your company the best at media?

What is the roadmap and actions you need to take to transform the complex media operations of a major company?

How do you inspire success and drive change within a giant global marketing organization like Mars Incorporated?

These are just some of the amazing insights shared in this #MediaSnack Meets with Rob Rakowitz the Global Media Director of Mars, one of the world's largest advertisers. 

We get tips from Rob on:

• The role of the global media director
• How to prioritize your time to be most effective
• The importance of having CMO who is interested in media
• How to align support across a large company to drive change
• Finding motivation for successful teamwork 

Rob also shares his huge passion for promoting 'Media Sustainability' to protect the long term health of the global advertising industry.


Episode Links:

Rob Rakowitz LinkedIn

Rob Rakowitz Twitter

The Global Alliance for Responsible Media

Truth, Lies & Advertising by Jon Steel

Hooked by Nir Eyal

Space Race by Jim Taylor

Bob Hoffman, aka The AdContrarian

Scott Galloway 'The FOUR'

Rob Norman Twitter

Never miss your #MediaSnack - subscribe for updates every FridayOn this week's #MediaSnack we look at the giant opportunity ahead of Amazon to bust the much-feared 'duopoly' of Google and Facebook. So-called because of their dominance of digital marketing spend, the duopoly has accounted for almost all growth in digital media spend in recent years and looked unstoppable. Some have speculated that Snapchat would be the company to break this up but it is becoming clear that Amazon is taking their advertising business seriously at last and have seen rapid growth, albeit from a small base. We look at the comparative sizes of these three tech giants and compare their ad revenue businesses, their opportunities and predict their respective fortunes across the coming 3 years. In short, we predict that Amazon's advertising business will overtake that of Facebook in revenue terms in 2020 and take a huge chunk out of Google's search revenues in the process. Why? Because they have all the pieces of the puzzle ready: They watch and learn before they disrupt and they will have learned a lot in the last couple of years as Google and Facebook have been subject to far greater scrutiny from advertisers. Amazon has secured a share of promotional budgets (rather than advertising budgets) and have permission over user purchase data which is highly valuable to many advertisers. They are beginning to dominate product search in some markets and this will grow through the growth of the Alexa network. Important for many marketers will be Amazon's reassurance over brand safe environments and controls on ad placements. Finally, and probably the winning ingredient is Amazon's total commitment to market orientation (that is being wholly customer focused) which means reinvesting all profits back into products which delight customers (in this case the advertisers) so we expect full transparency and market leading people, service and tools. On this week's Good Week Bad Week we celebrate the latest update from UK marketing trade body ISBA who have revealed that a large cohort of their members have implemented their rigorous media agency contract template and many more are expecting to do so soon. A very bad week for mobile agency Fetch (owned by Dentsu) who have been subject to a lawsuit filed in San Francisco claiming breach of contract. The claim list is brutal, accusing the agency of fraudulent practice and demanding damages to be set by jury trial. If this goes to trial it may expose some of the intricacies and methods employed by agencies to deliver results for advertisers. Whether this goes to trial or not, it looks to be highly damaging for Fetch's reputation unless they can fully and quickly address the claims in public. Good Week:http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/isba-claims-brands-using-tougher-agency-contract-review-6bn-media-spend/1444971Bad Week:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-18/uber-goes-on-rare-legal-offensive-suing-dentsu-unit-for-fraudhttp://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/uber-sues-dentsus-fetch-media-fake-clicks/1444941http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/fetch-strikes-back-uber-lawsuit-claims-non-payment/1444989https://digiday.com/marketing/industrial-complex-uber-fetch-lawsuit-wont-change-anything/Question of the Week: Will Amazon build the biggest ad revenue business in the world? Yes, No, Whatever.... Please vote. Check back for the results next Friday.