{"id":789,"date":"2016-06-23T08:41:44","date_gmt":"2016-06-23T07:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/?p=789"},"modified":"2016-06-23T08:41:44","modified_gmt":"2016-06-23T07:41:44","slug":"answering-the-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/answering-the-question\/","title":{"rendered":"Answering the Question"},"content":{"rendered":"

Politicians of every persuasion have been popping up all over UK screens for weeks. These appearances have highlighted one reason why they are universally unpopular: they never seem to answer the question they\u2019ve been asked, preferring to answer the question they want to answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

This rather glum thought comes to mind reading some of the press coverage around the ANA report.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Last week\u2019s <\/span>Cog Blog<\/span><\/a> post pointed to GroupM\u2019s Rob Norman\u2019s comments on the ANA. Rob pointed out that the report had failed to comment on the positive investments made by his company into technical innovation.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a perfectly fair point to make, but it\u2019s a bit like saying the ANA report also failed to include a recipe for sponge cake.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>It was not what it was purporting to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Rob\u2019s one-man GroupM charm offensive continues <\/span>this week<\/span><\/a> (you have to admit he\u2019s very good at it) with his \u2018new rules of engagement\u2019 for advertisers. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Before getting on to what he had to say, it\u2019s perhaps worth spending a moment on how the press on both sides of the Atlantic have been covering this story. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Here in full are the \u2018Campaign\u2019 headline and sub-head that went with Rob\u2019s piece.<\/span><\/p>\n

The headline: \u201cGroup M’s Rob Norman offers new rules of engagement after ANA transparency skirmish\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Skirmish? \u2018An episode of irregular or unpremeditated fighting, especially between small or outlying parts of armies or fleets\u2019. (The New Oxford Dictionary of English).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>I\u2019m not sure WPP, GroupM or certainly Rob would say they\u2019re either \u2018small or outlying\u2019. I\u2019m also not sure about \u2018unpremeditated\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The sub-head: \u201cAfter criticising the ANA’s recent transparency report, Group M’s Rob Norman outlines new guidelines for media agencies and their clients\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rob has been careful not to criticise the ANA report. Indeed he said as much on his Facebook page: \u201cI never actually did criticize the report, simply suggested that the issue was a broader one\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The press has been full of this rather aggressive inflammatory language, even the Cog Blog post appeared under a \u2018battle\u2019 headline when it was published in the USA.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>This slant is not helpful \u2013 the agencies and their clients need to collaborate and find a way through this mess. Clients need to be reassured that the agencies have cleaned up their financial act; agencies need to come up with a way of justifying the value they undoubtedly can bring to their clients\u2019 businesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Meantime back at Rob\u2019s guidelines, much of what he says makes sense when it comes to the appointment of a new agency or the reviewing of an existing relationship. Open-ness and transparency are all important, as he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Also important (and acknowledged as such) is the role of third party evaluators, or assessors. Which is a bit weird as Xaxis, a GroupM company used to have a ban on external auditors baked into their contracts. Maybe they\u2019ve changed. Or maybe they will.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Rob\u2019s comments may be perfectly sensible and no doubt they\u2019re meant for a world post ANA (a world I bet the holding companies can\u2019t wait to get to), but despite the press headlines they don\u2019t seek to answer the major issues raised by the ANA. Certainly he\u2019s making a constructive proposal but he\u2019s answering a question that hasn\u2019t been asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>In any event, something to consider alongside the GroupM view of life are the implications of all these shenanigans on the media agency model. ID Comms\u2019 Tom Denford\u2019s <\/span>piece<\/span><\/a> on just that is a good start.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>One of the major and to date unanswered ANA criticisms (that plans are unduly influenced by pre-arranged buys, thus putting an agency\u2019s margin needs ahead of its clients\u2019 business needs) is at the heart of Tom\u2019s suggestions that all sides need to be aware of exactly what model each agency is offering. We shouldn\u2019t mix the \u2018trusted advisor\u2019 model with the \u2018we don\u2019t care where it comes from as long as it\u2019s cheap\u2019 version (Tom puts this rather better than me).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>It would be nice to think that the major agencies are actively discussing how they\u2019re going to change things whilst in Cannes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But then again it would also be nice if a politician answered a question for once.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Politicians of every persuasion have been popping up all over UK screens for weeks. These appearances have highlighted one reason why they are universally unpopular: they never seem to answer the question they\u2019ve been asked, preferring to answer the question they want to answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":790,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789\/revisions\/790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}