“You can buy Bloomberg at $4.40CPM. Who will put it on the schedule at $4.40? They will more likely put it on the schedule at $16 because when you compare it to Fairfax at $30CPM is still looks good value.”
So says one independent trading desk owner in today's print issue of AdNews. Off the record, ironically, because it's hard to get people to talk about transparency.
But suspicion is on the rise. What's really going on under those media agency trading desks. How prolific is online fraud. How bad is publisher audience theft by advertisers and media agencies. And why is it ok for Silicon Valley to make a killing out the the advertising business but nobody else is allowed?
And therein lies the rub. Media agency bosses say they are not making the kind of 250% mark-ups implied by the Bloomberg-Fairfax example. But they don't want to say they are making healthy double digit margins. They won't put a figure on it. Because procurement-driven clients, used to suppliers at least on the face of it taking a lean, low single digit cut from their ad spend, will only then force that cut in the same direction as everything else.
Programmatic technology platforms can use that lack of transparency as a marketing tool to sell their wares directly to clients. But they are making healthy margins themselves, and not all are as transparent as they claim.
Get the current issue in print or iPad, for a spray and wipe on the trading desks, audience theft, click fraud, campaign effectiveness and the bots. Thanks to GPY&R Brisbane for the cover. Phil McDonald runs a tight ship.
Sticking with the programmatic theme, you'll also get the lowdown on Yahoo7's programmatic native ad plans. It's building a marketplace and Paul Sigaloff sees adverts created on the fly and placed into the news feed as the future of mobile advertising.
Another digital advertising aficionado, IAB boss Alice Manners also weighs in on banner blindness, click fraud and transparency.
Buy this digitally-themed issue in paper here or digitally here.
In non-transparency and non-programmatic news, ING marketing and customer honchos Chris Kenny and John Arnott tell Sarah Homewood about their plans to take customers from the 'big four' banks. ING is actually way bigger than any of them, but it has its work cut out to catch them locally. It's ditching ATM fees in a bid to get people to switch. Maybe its next campaign will be SwitchING themed.
Rosie Baker looks at direct marketing. Salesforce's Derek Laney, Tagly's David May, Oracle's Paul Cross are the math men. OgilvyOne's Jason Hill, Wunderman's Anna Karena, 303 Lowe's Phil Watkins and Lavender's Marco Eychenne are the mad men and women. Lida's Andrew Newell and Christine Gardner are the hybrids.
Some of the best admen in the business tell Candide McDonald about the ad that changed everything for them. IdeaWorks Tom Hoskins, Tribal's Darwin Tomlinson, The Monkeys Scott Nowell, BWM's Murray White and DDB New Zealand man Andy Fackrell on when their dad discovered they were an ideas man, when Steven Soderberg believed in them, and milking Gary.
Clemenger Melbourne's Mike Derepas drills down into brand loyalty. No salesman or negative review is strong enough to stop him buying that DeWalt. Bram Williams thinks SXSW could be usurped by Detroit and become NXNE, if it can pull off the mother of all comebacks.
Moon's Clinton Duncan and GPY&R's Bart Pawlak run a just rule over ads for Wotif, Mastercard, Bonds, Chemist Warehouse, Appliances Online and eHarmony. They want Pat Rafter in those undies, but will live with Kyrgios.
Some say Subservient Chicken was the world's first truly viral marketing campaign. Not so, says M&C Saatchi's Andy Flemming.The Mitsubishi E from the nineties innit.
And with the Icebucket Challenge starting to thaw, we've rated the efforts of Sean Cummins (magnificant Sean, magnificent), Henry Tajer, John Sintras, Peter Horgan, Kathy O'Connor et al against universally accepted metrics.
Lastly, Bauer's Tony Kendall is under the pump. Well, adjacent to it. You'll see.
Buy it in print or iPad. Thanks.
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