I\u2019ve been meaning to write about in-housing for weeks \u2013 but then the ISBA \/ PwC report and its implications happened and well \u2026 you know how it goes. Mind you, the ISBA work has implications for how clients handle their media activities, what if anything they do themselves and what they outsource to their agencies, so here we are at last even if by a rather circuitous route.<\/p>\n
In an interview he recently did as part of Kantar Media\u2019s Dimension work, Tom Denford of IDComms made the point that he finds the term \u2018in-housing\u2019 unhelpful. Tom\u2019s point, which I agree with is that it implies that something has been taken away from the agency, whereas the best in-house operations (I\u2019m going to use the term for ease of writing) work alongside and with the agency.<\/p>\n
Steve Pollack, of Nestle in a soon-to-be-released asi podcast interview makes the same point \u2013 in-housing allows clients to use the technology, and their own proprietary data to become involved in and engaged with the media process, to the benefit of the business.<\/p>\n
As with most things these days, the current digital generation think they\u2019ve invented a new phenomenon.<\/p>\n
Way back when the best advertisers, including several I was lucky to work with had media people on the staff. Procter and Gamble had a team led by Dick Johnson and Bernard Balderston; so did Nestle (Roger Hoskins and Gary Brown), Unilever (Neil Welling, although once upon a time they had a whole agency, Lintas), McDonald\u2019s (the estimable Giovanni Fabris, still going strong), Coca-Cola (Kester Fielding, now at Bacardi) and no doubt many others.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s just in the UK and just the ones I dealt with in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s; the USA, with larger budgets and greater resources had many more and had had them for a lot longer.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s changed is what they do \u2013 but then that\u2019s true of all of us. Procter used to negotiate their own deals; Nestle used to monitor and evaluate their agencies\u2019 buying (they too had an agency, Fairfield); McDonald\u2019s made sure that the agency had access to their data for planning purposes, Coke had their media guidelines and principles.<\/p>\n
Nowadays the opportunities for an advertiser to become involved in the whole media process are huge \u2013 with programmatic technologies, all sorts of ways to access and make practical use of proprietary data, the chance to influence their companies\u2019 broader communication policies and so on.<\/p>\n
The agency has a large role to play in that, as a team with the advertiser. Most are delighted to have the opportunity to work with engaged clients.<\/p>\n
The ISBA \/ PwC work has shone a light on the programmatic supply chain. Whatever the headlines, we shouldn\u2019t forget that the underlying message is that advertisers need to engage in the process to ensure the best value from their advertising spend.<\/p>\n
Those that do will almost certainly not be using the 40,000 or 50,000 sites that PwC identified as the average. Those that don\u2019t actively involve themselves will be above that (given that\u2019s how averages work) \u2013 and of course whilst there may be good reasons for that, it\u2019s hard to imagine what those might be.<\/p>\n
Throughout ad history it\u2019s been shown time and time again that advertisers get the advertising they deserve. Those that engage and treat their agencies with respect get the best work. It\u2019s just human nature, we all do better when we\u2019re encouraged to do so; we all do the bare minimum for those who treat us badly.<\/p>\n
Look at the most effective creative campaigns over the years, from Procter to Unilever, from Sony to Audi, from John Lewis to Sainsbury\u2019s, and you\u2019ll find an engaged client.<\/p>\n
And they\u2019re not just the biggest \u2013 to plug BJ&A\u2019s long-time consultancy client Suzuki Autos, winners of an IPA Effectiveness Gold for the work they do with their media agency the7stars in partnership with key media vendors like ITV and Channel 4.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t have to be huge (although Suzuki is a pretty large advertiser these days), you don\u2019t have to be a fast-moving consumer goods brand, but you do have to engage and be involved.<\/p>\n
On the other side look at those who chop and change, who delight in driving fees down regardless, who don\u2019t engage, who never have time to meet with partners and discuss new ideas and you\u2019ll find sub-optimal businesses.<\/p>\n
Whether we\u2019re talking about media or creative, CRM or brand building, online or offline, advertising or broader comms, the fact is \u2018engage and involve\u2019 are character traits that transcend where you sit.<\/p>\n
In or out, there\u2019s no simple rule and there\u2019s no one way.<\/p>\n
That should be one key lesson from the ISBA \/ PwC work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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