Are we on a slippery slope to commoditised obscurity? When will we find the holy grail of audience measurement? Will data analytics usurp the sales relationship? Grab tickets to the Media Sales Summit to find out.
These will be among the issues nutted out by a mega-panel of media buyers and media owners at next Wednesday's one-day, fast-track event. The 10 leading industry executives on the panel are:
Mediabrands' Henry Tajer
Bauer Media's Tony Kendall
Mindshare’s James Greet
OMD’s Peter Horgan
Val Morgan’s Damian Keogh
GroupM’s John Steedman
MCN’s Mark Frain
APN Outdoor's Richard Herring
UM’s Mat Baxter
Fairfax Media’s Paul Sigaloff
Media owners and agencies increasingly need to work with each other to devise innovative ways to deliver competitive advantage to their clients. Some of the themes covered by the panel will include:
Commoditisation
Media sellers and media buying are each under enormous pressure. Is there a way out? Where to? Are we on a big, slow demise to commoditised obscurity? Agencies can't get paid enough. Media owner discounting is rampant. What should agency traders and strategists and media sales teams expect for the next five years? Is this the new norm? Or not? Will it turn?
Ideas
Media owners have lamented for years they are doing the heavy lifting for cross-platform ideas development. Will it swing back? Will media sales teams build more expertise or can media agencies somehow invest resource to do more of the value-add? How do agencies fund it?
Programmatic Buying
What is the change in skill sets required for both media owners and media buyers? What percentage of inventory will be traded programmatically in future? Will TV, radio, print and outdoor go the way of online?
Big Data / Data Analytics
How important will it become in media trading and by when? And how do media sales and buyers/traders embrace it? Will it dominate the traditional relationship game?
Audience Measurement
Are we getting closer to the holy grail of which channel contributes what to the long build-up to purchasing intent and conversion? What are the implications?
Creative
If data allows us to know more precisely where audiences are, and when to precisely send messages, and every brand is doing the same in each category, is creative the differentiator in messaging? Do media owners and agencies need closer alliances with creative agencies? Or do they build that capability in-house?
Other speakers on the day include Aussie executive chairman John Symond, who will talk about the need to quickly think, change and adapt. Symond will offer tips on how to survive the rollercoaster of change and how to keep your media brand alive even when you need to "join 'em to beat 'em".
Walker Moult's Tom Moult will discuss the creative-media disconnect, why it's only getting wider, and why the two houses need to get it back together to avoid serious headaches down the line. "One is driven by the medium and one by the message, and they’re too intent on thinking which one has priority – there’s a lack of appreciation of each other’s skills," he says.
Meanwhile, Roy Morgan Research's George Pesutto will present the findings of the AdNews Media Benchmark Study, which will offer a 'health check' of the industry. The study will also reveal the inaugural Media Company and Media Brand of the Year awards. The event's major sponsor is IPG Mediabrands, with supporting sponsors APN Outdoor, ARN, MCN and Fairfax Media.
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