Account-ability, Negotiations & hard-nosed Media Folks
Term 5 has been very good for the Media Management batch at MICA. Far better than Term 4, where Atul Phadnis was the only bright spot. We've had some interesting media sessions in the last 2 weeks. First there was Shripad Kulkarni from Carat, who took us through setting campaign objectives & marketing objectives and then translating them into media objectives & making media plans. It was good to have hands on experience. The sleepless 48 hours were well-spent.
Last week we had Himanshu Shekhar from Mindshare Fulcrum, who facilitated 8 exciting sessions on media buying & negotiations. We had live simulations in class where groups took on roles of agencies, clients & media owners. Apparently, he enjoyed our debates too :-)
Media is one of the most dynamic industries. Non-TV media spends are on the rise, even by advertisers like Levers who were heavily dependant on TV. The battle for the credit card swipe continues.
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Meenakshi Madhvani from Spatial Access was at MICA today, to talk about Media Auditing practices in India. The lecture was alrite - and some of the stuff that she shared was quite alarming.
It was quite cool to talk to her one-on-one. I've heard the media agencies' take on auditing often enough (even at my MICA interview), and yes, the views range from unfavorable to vitriolic. So it was really interesting to hear her side of the story.
I wonder if the big financial auditing firms like E&Y (who have a media & entertainment vertical) will enter media auditing in a big way soon. It is a matter of time until they have enough people with domain knowledge at the decision making level. Then the media agencies & owners will be pushed to follow more transparent processes. And of course, the advertisers will try and think beyond 40% at 4+ and invest in quality spends.
It's disturbing to hear that big media agencies undercut the industry norm of 2.5%, just to win newer clients. And it's even more disturbing to hear that a lot of agencies that flaunt fancy proprietary software, hardly ever use them, apart from making pitch presentations. And it is also interesting to note that though media agencies pay a lot for syndicated research, they hardly ever use them for planning.
Is it lack of talent at the starting level, or the lack of time? The planners & buyers work for 15 hours a day, simply because most agencies have employed only to about 60% capacity.
Understaffed, overworked and underpaid - scary words for a sector that I could be in 5 months from now!!
Last week we had Himanshu Shekhar from Mindshare Fulcrum, who facilitated 8 exciting sessions on media buying & negotiations. We had live simulations in class where groups took on roles of agencies, clients & media owners. Apparently, he enjoyed our debates too :-)
Media is one of the most dynamic industries. Non-TV media spends are on the rise, even by advertisers like Levers who were heavily dependant on TV. The battle for the credit card swipe continues.
***********
Meenakshi Madhvani from Spatial Access was at MICA today, to talk about Media Auditing practices in India. The lecture was alrite - and some of the stuff that she shared was quite alarming.
It was quite cool to talk to her one-on-one. I've heard the media agencies' take on auditing often enough (even at my MICA interview), and yes, the views range from unfavorable to vitriolic. So it was really interesting to hear her side of the story.
I wonder if the big financial auditing firms like E&Y (who have a media & entertainment vertical) will enter media auditing in a big way soon. It is a matter of time until they have enough people with domain knowledge at the decision making level. Then the media agencies & owners will be pushed to follow more transparent processes. And of course, the advertisers will try and think beyond 40% at 4+ and invest in quality spends.
It's disturbing to hear that big media agencies undercut the industry norm of 2.5%, just to win newer clients. And it's even more disturbing to hear that a lot of agencies that flaunt fancy proprietary software, hardly ever use them, apart from making pitch presentations. And it is also interesting to note that though media agencies pay a lot for syndicated research, they hardly ever use them for planning.
Is it lack of talent at the starting level, or the lack of time? The planners & buyers work for 15 hours a day, simply because most agencies have employed only to about 60% capacity.
Understaffed, overworked and underpaid - scary words for a sector that I could be in 5 months from now!!
posted by DeepBlueSea at 05:06
1 Comments:
To those of you who are about to enter the media industry... long hours, sleepless nights and acidity, heartburn, insolent clients, cocky media buyers, temperamental operations guys, mid and senior level managers who'll put the country's politicans (with their politicking) to shame, rocky marriages, indifferent kids, a taxi driver who bares his soul to you on the ride home at 3 am, potbelly, free drinks, and oh yes 24x7 work week with almost no chance of ever seeing real sun shine again ... are all part of the deal.
The reason why I have posted this comment annonymously is bcause every media planner & buyer will identify with at least a couple or more examples.
Cheers!
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