It all started in the mid to late 1990s. Marketers began viewing advertising media buying as a commodity. Since that time, big brands have partnered with one ad agency for creative development and a separate media-buying conglomerate for their media buying. But all this may be changing.
Last September, Portland creative hot shop Wieden & Kennedy won the TurboTax media-buying business just two months after landing their creative business. Rupal Pareh of Ad Age wrote, “This move could be a sign that scale is growing less important compared with integration.” A recent article by Adam Kleinberg in the same publication entertains the same notion.
“The economies of scale that large buying agencies could provide meant advertisers could get cheaper rates by buying with the big guys,” writes Kleinberg. “But technology is changing the playing field.”
Most marketers today are seeking a less cumbersome approach. Kleinberg’s agency Traction has just added a media department. Other small agencies are toying with the same idea.
So what are the advantages of a less siloed approach to media buying?
Improved Accountability
At the end of the day, when media people and creative people are not on the same team, you open yourself to a “not my job” mentality, quickly followed by a “not my fault” mentality. When everybody is on the same page, finger pointing goes away.
Supply and Demand Pricing
These days, the bots are buying. Programmatic buying is dominating all digital media buying. Experts predict that television will soon be purchased this way as well. The robots go to exchanges to make purchases. The exchanges use supply and demand to determine pricing. In this exchange model, no one gets a major discount for having buying power. The past advantages of the huge media-buying network are simply fading away.
Greater Collaboration
Media planning and buying should never happen in a vacuum. An integrated advertising team combines media, creative and strategy as one coordinated SWAT team that has each other’s back. They bounce ideas back and forth. They craft full-orbed solutions. This doesn’t require everybody being in the same building. Just on the same team.
In Sync Results
When the right hand knows what the left hand is doing, the results are just better. This is a basic truth of pretty much everything in life. From baseball to business, coordination counts.
Looking for a more integrated approach to media, creative and strategy? Call us Toll Free at 866.642.7559.
We are a Dallas Advertising Agency specializing in integrated marketing.
