Sunday, March 1, 2009
more transparency zzzzzz
just a thought but if there was any transparency in the media market publishers would have had to actually offer quality to compete and sell magazines / papers etc rather than just bulk free distributing the detritus out there and therefore the subscription revenue would compensate for the huge loss in advertising revnue and therefore there would be significantly less redundancies as basically good quality media will survive and the bad will die. genius....
Sunday, November 2, 2008
As things get tough for ad revenue in Dubai it was heartening recently to do a tour of the top 5 agencies in Dubai to assess this quarters potential revnue. To be fair this was done a couple of weeks ago and therefore before Dubai began to accept that it is 100% in the global meltdown now.
Each of the five said that as we dont pay AVR we wont be used at all as they need to hit the next level of thie AVR target to get the incsreased kick back as ad spend is going to be tought to find certainly based on current trading conditions.
Upon reaching for one of our inside pockets (for a pen), one of them almost leapt out of his skin asking if we were recording the conversation....having just held his hands above his head rubbing thumb, fore and middle fingers together saying 'this is what its about, you know what this is...?' classy.
Anyway having personally had about $250,000 of cancellations in the last 4 weeks our targets wont be hit anyway which is heartening as mine have just been raised 28% mid way through the targeted period by management....which is pleasant...and that from one of the very very few 'decent' media owners here.
Great....
Each of the five said that as we dont pay AVR we wont be used at all as they need to hit the next level of thie AVR target to get the incsreased kick back as ad spend is going to be tought to find certainly based on current trading conditions.
Upon reaching for one of our inside pockets (for a pen), one of them almost leapt out of his skin asking if we were recording the conversation....having just held his hands above his head rubbing thumb, fore and middle fingers together saying 'this is what its about, you know what this is...?' classy.
Anyway having personally had about $250,000 of cancellations in the last 4 weeks our targets wont be hit anyway which is heartening as mine have just been raised 28% mid way through the targeted period by management....which is pleasant...and that from one of the very very few 'decent' media owners here.
Great....
Sunday, August 24, 2008
audits...
if its any help i promise i spend a significant amount of each meeting i do with clients and agencies talking about audits, the difference between paid for and bulk free distribution, avr, quality media, transparency, accountability and strangely itp is the best example of shoddy publishing e.g. arabian business 4%paid for.... i have done this since i arrived 2 years ago and will continue to do so. transparency and accountability will drive quality in media and the avr/brown envelope way of doing things will change slowly. i have no problem telling clients that unless they instruct omd to use certain titles they wont as itp do the big avr deals and rip of clients - and yes most publishing houses do this. i have several large clients auditing their agencies behaviour and why not. leb scum on the one hand and itp scum on the other. love it!
Monday, August 18, 2008
avr
upon visiting an agency recently we asked why we were significantly down yr on yr (it turns out my new boss with whom i am working didnt actually know the volumes and infact we have nothing this year) and out lebanese friend said 'you dont pay me avr, why should i bother?' nice. my new boss buried her head in the sand and nothing was resolved.
two points. one avr is quite openly talked about obviously although many agencies pretend it doesnt exist, and secondly we arent going to change the industry if the avr situation is not addressed or discussed. as anyone who has worked at a decent level in a developed market knows there is avr and avr. you dont have to give over a brown envolope or offer to pay for someones wedding in beirut or delhi but offer incentives on volume or discount. the ft does this so perhaps its fairplay.
footnote - i forced my new boss to go back into the office to address this with my new sales director and he claimed he never said this and refused to discuss it. the hand was stuck back into the sand and nothing is resolved still..........5 months on. i have told the client tho.....and why not. stand on the side of honesty and fact and you cant go wrong right.....i'll be getting my marching orders soon back to rainy blighty. anyway its all good fun. the industry sleeps at the mo so no major stresses...
two points. one avr is quite openly talked about obviously although many agencies pretend it doesnt exist, and secondly we arent going to change the industry if the avr situation is not addressed or discussed. as anyone who has worked at a decent level in a developed market knows there is avr and avr. you dont have to give over a brown envolope or offer to pay for someones wedding in beirut or delhi but offer incentives on volume or discount. the ft does this so perhaps its fairplay.
footnote - i forced my new boss to go back into the office to address this with my new sales director and he claimed he never said this and refused to discuss it. the hand was stuck back into the sand and nothing is resolved still..........5 months on. i have told the client tho.....and why not. stand on the side of honesty and fact and you cant go wrong right.....i'll be getting my marching orders soon back to rainy blighty. anyway its all good fun. the industry sleeps at the mo so no major stresses...
Sunday, June 29, 2008
lack of transparency
media in the middle east is obviously corrupt.
the media owners wont audit their media and when they do its pretty much always free users. media agencies avoid measurement as they cant justify their plans. both sides are on the take and they arent taking due to quality media, they are taking because they lie. why do they lie, because theyre hiding the truth and lining their pockets.....
avr is the raison d'etre of the agencies. and the media owners pay it and do deals all over the place.
without transparent media measurement the media will not evolve as is seen by the general poor quality and lack of online offerings.
if you dont pay avr the agencies rarely use you. do the big guys who run the global networks know this and turn a blind eye?
the lack of freedom of speach in the media does not affect the lack of measurement on spend.
its not good for the consumers at the end of the day nor honest hardworkers. who is to blame, the media agencies or the media owners? are the marketeers also to blame other than simply lack of ability? can nielsen etc do anything about it? will we ever get an ebrs, ems, tgi or nrs style industry standard and can you effect this from the bottom up or does it have to come from the top?
the media owners wont audit their media and when they do its pretty much always free users. media agencies avoid measurement as they cant justify their plans. both sides are on the take and they arent taking due to quality media, they are taking because they lie. why do they lie, because theyre hiding the truth and lining their pockets.....
avr is the raison d'etre of the agencies. and the media owners pay it and do deals all over the place.
without transparent media measurement the media will not evolve as is seen by the general poor quality and lack of online offerings.
if you dont pay avr the agencies rarely use you. do the big guys who run the global networks know this and turn a blind eye?
the lack of freedom of speach in the media does not affect the lack of measurement on spend.
its not good for the consumers at the end of the day nor honest hardworkers. who is to blame, the media agencies or the media owners? are the marketeers also to blame other than simply lack of ability? can nielsen etc do anything about it? will we ever get an ebrs, ems, tgi or nrs style industry standard and can you effect this from the bottom up or does it have to come from the top?
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