When any media house sells their channel on the value of the market that they are potentially able to reach in terms of what my clients’ needs are, they have my attention.
If that same media house can do that, together with showing the depth of insight into my clients brand, this would have me in euphoria.
As agencies and clients we find ourselves in an era of immensely tight advertising budgets, demand for increased measurability, the multitude of social media platforms and constant consumer evolution, it has therefore become increasingly difficult to get increased share of budget for advertising and marketing purposes.
What the media owners are now doing in these “tough economic times” with their ever increasing targets and greater competition in the media space is this: Selling two-for-one deals and bundling traditional media offerings with online advertising as added value. This is no longer enough. The question this then poses is, how do media owners make their platforms more attractive? It all comes down to consumer offering and insight. Insight is vital – more often than not people want to rush into simply “doing something” before really understanding what the clients need really is. What is most urgently needed when this happens, is calmness. Take the time to analyse, understand and develop a truly actionable insight as this will aid in delivering a far better solution rather than a knee jerk reaction.
Richard Lord, associate media director at The MediaShop, noted that “not only are they (media houses) in possession of vital information about the consumers that we want to tap into, and about how best to utilise their media to ensure maximum noting, visibility and response – but in many cases they have vital information about our clients too.”
What has been seen is that currently not enough media houses sell their market and insights effectively. The IP on the channel is most certainly there, however they do not provide consumer insight that aligns their platforms with what brand’s need.
Many people question why advertising campaigns are being run on a variety of niche often premium platforms, which offer less reach. The reason this is happening more and more, is those platforms provide far more compelling insight which reassures the media planner and brand that their platform delivers the targeted consumer that is aligned with clients’ needs and will deliver on clients objectives. It goes beyond reach, this platform is able to provide in-depth data on how the platform’s consumer interacts with clients’ product, brand or service, as well as showing how this channel will deliver results in terms of the preset objectives.
There is no-one who knows the media platform as well as the media house does. Whilst advertising agencies are well equipped with a number of media management tools, there are simply not enough hours in the day to thoroughly research every platform out there. A platform which simply sells on rate card, and highlighting circulation numbers, LSM’s and upcoming features, is actually of little to no use to an agency. But media houses have a host of rich information about their product and audience at their fingertips - it’s time for them to start actively start using this as a USP – and stop selling of rate card, circulation numbers, LSM’s and upcoming features and start selling the consumer and their lifestyle in relation to the brand’s needs.
Crafted by Chris Midgley