MARKETING AND PROCUREMENT NEED TO MAKE A BIG DECISION NOW: #MediaSnack Ep. 21

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 which takes place in two weeks time. Next we discuss that last week CNBC launched in-house agency called Catalyst under the leadership of Max Raven the SVP of CNBC Internatioal. We had a chance to attended the launch event where CNBC also announced a new TV series called "Marketing. Media. Money." which will feature industry leaders discussing current trends and issues of the marketing business. Launches 5 May. Finally, this week we are pleased to hear about a new media agency global network comprising independent agencies into one force. Local Planet is a network of local media agencies. We consider the benefits, opportunity and challenges of such a business and why it's a welcome addition to a heavily consolidated agency landscape.