ECI Report issue 8_september 2013

ECI Report, Issue No. 8 - Q3 2013

MEDIA INTELLIGENCE VALUE

ECI – Media Management Experts – managing media pitches in 2013

Report Issue 8 - Q3 2013


“To Pitch or Not To Pitch”

Advertisers’ choice is diminishing!

As the media agency world is currently constituted, advertisers have a choice of 16 global media agency Network brands. Crucially, as we publish this report, these Network brands are controlled by 6 Groups. Assuming the Omnicom/Publicis move goes ahead this choice will reduce to just 5 Groups.

If WPP stimulates a further acquisition (Martin Sorrell has said that further big mergers in the indus-try are “inevitable”) one of the remaining 5 Groups may be swallowed up too. This could very quickly result in just 4 Groups controlling the great majority of Global billings. Global Media billings, according to estimates from WPP, are running at around $500 Billion, across the 75 markets that are measured in their research.

So the stakes are high for media spending corporations. Can any single advertising corporation really hope to run its complex and highly competitive media planning and buying operations without the sup-port of a media agency partner. This is naturally one of the guiding thoughts in this quarter’s ECI Report: whether “To Pitch or Not to Pitch”.

Surely with more than 16 Network brands available, advertisers have more than enough choice!

This may appear self-evident. But is it really that simple? Dominating these 16 Network brands are Trading Groups of arguably greater importance. The media deals and arrangements that these Groups construct are crucial to the day to day workings of these 16 Network brands.

Isn’t that good for clients? In some ways – yes! It means that advertisers can select the specific strategic thinking that matches their business needs, backed up, in theory, by a major trading block in WPP, Omni-com/Publicis, Aegis/Dentsu, IPG or Havas.

– that will be the critical question on many client “To Do” lists as the summer fades and the marketing industry returns to the office.

In recent weeks the dramatic market move by Omnicom and Publicis to merge adds extra spice to the agency relationship landscape.

We should look at the implications of this proposed merger between Omnicom and Publicis, one that will bring (according to RECMA) around 40% of media billings under one controlling group. What happens here could make a profound difference to clients when choosing their media agency partners. It is reasonable to expect some uncertainty leading to increased media pitch activity. Before we discuss those pitch consequences let´s assess the apparent choices available to clients within the media buying world.


So selecting a strategic media buying operation inevitably means pitching your business across a selection of Network brands? Yes - however ECI would urge an ever more watchful eye on the Trading Group landscape and especially the spe-cific connections that control each Network brand.

The first stage in any pitch management project should always focus on the expected pitch outcome. On the face of it this may appear obvious, but often we have found that, while pitching the business externally is the desire, an optimised solution within the existing relationship should also be explored. The option to develop a better structure within the existing relationship could be the best available and would certainly be an efficient solution. It is a simple observation that client agency terms are sometimes best optimised within an existing relationship. It goes without saying that a full-blown media pitch involves extra resource and even at its most efficient, when managed by independent experts, client management time, inevitably is consumed.


Critical to running a professional pitch.

All the so called ‘heavy lifting’ should be managed by the pitch consultant’s team. A pitch that avoids media pricing and performance targets tracked against transparent benchmarks such as market competitive data and sensible year on year criteria, is missing a vital opportunity.

At ECI we always urge clients to agree to price performance guarantees that are market realistic; practical to manage and measure; and above all, adaptable to future strategic development.

Pitch and Relationship management

It is essential to start with a full market landscape appraisal, focused on strategic and trading capabilities. It is fundamental to pay specific attention to the balance of skills you will require and the geographical symmetry of your business. Despite the apparent global reach of the Networks/Trading Groups, none of them have universally distributed strengths. Network expertise is often regionally biased. A full regional analysis should be part of the research used to build the initial pitch selection platform.

The first stage will be a full appraisal of the client requirements balanced against an exhaustive analysis of the Networks and their parent Group credentials – BEFORE any documentation or invitation is extend-ed to the market place.

The next stage is all about the right communication. Reputations count. Clients that are associated with professionally managed pitches not only secure the best available partner, on the best terms, they also enhance their own corporate reputation.

Critical to running a professional pitch.

It’s the detail that makes the difference.

• Secure the right agency team at local and central level and make sure that the stars of the pitch presentation do not fade away once the business has been awarded.

• Guaranteed service KPI’s.

• Solid financial terms.

• Media price performance incentivised.

• Professionally managed renewal and refresh terms.

Establishobjectives and

evaluation criteria

Managethe initial

communication

Evaluation of initial proposals.

Manage pitch presentations

Chair and steer decisions to

appointment

Finalization and implementation


Just a few of the guiding principles that are essential to any pitch solution. They must be identified to ensure a professional and mutually acceptable outcome, capable of support-ing a long term, competitive and inspiring partnership.

ECI - here to support our clients.

The ECI team’s collective experience in managing pitches stretches back over 15 years. We have collec-tively managed pitches, Globally, Regionally and Locally, worth in excess of USD 25 Billion.

Pitch management, must enhance strong relationships and build lasting partnerships. Media buying pro-fessionals in the Global networks have vast call on planning and trading expertise across all media. And Digital media as well as non-linear broadcast TV are an ever growing focus. Digital media is a strategic discipline that we expect will consume more and more client attention especially at Pitch Time.

1 Are your media agency terms transparent and adjusted to your current needs?

2 Do you apply media objectives (frequency-level) based on reach-ing marketing objectives and not just the available budget?

3 Is your media mix aligned with your target group and are your terms with media owners competitive?

4 Are all your media purchases optimised from a cost and quality perspective?

5 Is your media agency´s work process & reporting aligned with your internal planning process?

Questions YouShould Ask Yourself

1 Contract Transparency – ensure that the contract with the network is fully transparent in terms of remuneration for the specific service agreement.

2 Data ownership – the agency contract must clearly stipulate ownership of data; how strategic information will be used in the planning process.

3 Positioning – where does my business rank in the Network/Group hierachy. How will this agreement survive further mergers.

4 Performance management – critical to have performance related agree-ments that optimise outcomes in a rapidly evolving digital, as well as the traditional media landscape.

5 Media Value Transparency – my agreement must ultimately guarantee competitive access to all levels of media values generated by my agency Network/Group partners.

keys to aSuccessful Pitch5


To access ECI’s full pitch credentials and experiences please call or email one of our consultants. We would be delighted to discuss further with you.

Fredrik Kinge CEO +46 (0)704 24 03 70 [email protected]

Joakim Attack Director & Partner +46 (0)705 46 68 06 [email protected]

Ron de Pear Global Development Director +44 (0)77 853 46 776 [email protected]

John FergusonHead of International+44 (0)79 703 79 [email protected]

ECI is the markets fastest growing global media management company, offering services which extend from media auditing to media agency man-agement and pitch consulting.

Ours is a new breed of media auditing and perfor-mance Management Company, leading the change in sophisticated media benchmarking services, delivering significant value and media efficiency improvements to clients globally. We operate in the midst of the dynamic and fast-moving media landscape, helping clients navigate and benchmark their media performance to effectively maximize value from all consumer touch-points.

ECI is one of the Top 3 global operators in our sector. We operate in every major advertising market across the Americas, Europe and Asia. Our clients are some of the world’s largest advertisers and we service them via our network of owned offices and leading affiliates. The business is fo-cused on high level media intelligence and rigorous benchmarking, ultimately providing tools to assist our clients to optimise their advertising spend and agency relationships. By its nature our consulting sector attracts major corporates and therefore ECI is fortunate to include some of the worlds most appreciated and famous brands in the client portfolio.

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ECI Report issue 8_september 2013

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