The heated industry debate between TV and digital viewing metrics will soon become irrelevant as clients become channel-agnostic in the pursuit of addressable audiences, says Ian Perrin, the leader of Clemenger Group’s new independent media solutions agency Speed.
Perrin, speaking to AdNews about why it made sense to launch a real-time media solutions agency, says the media landscape is being rapidly reshaped by two technological drivers - the digitisation of media and what he describes as the “programmatisation” of buying. His views echo the success Foxtel sales house MCN has had with dynamic trading, with more advertisers buying into audience trading rather than fixed spot selling.
“Increasingly, media will splinter and fragment as it has traditionally and it won’t be so much about channel performance, it will be about audience performance,” Perrin says.
“We need to be able to make sure if someone is watching something on their mobile phone versus whether they are watching it on television it doesn’t actually matter as long as we reach people that way.”
As advertisers focus more on audience rather than channel, addressable advertising across all platforms will become increasingly sought after and Perrin believes the ability to tap into a secific audience is what will ultimately count.
"What side of the [TV vs digital] debate that means I’m on, I don’t know. I think it matters that we can isolate who individually is watching a show," he adds.
Dynamic marketer
Speed is positioned as a real-time media solutions provider that aims to bring creative and media closer together. It was launched by Perrin and Clemenger Group in August.
Perrin says he is in deep discussion with a number of prospects and hopes to announce a foundation client soon.
The “two or three” clients he is targeting are companies that allow access to first party data to facilitate quicker decision-making; including sectors such as technology, banking, insurance and gambling firms.
“If a dynamic marketer who is looking to make a shift and change in their business then that is the marketer we want to talk to, whether they work in a specific category or size of company matters less,” he says.
Perrin describes Speed as a “conductor of an orchestra” that helps find bespoke solutions for client’s as and when they need it. The agency’s core focus is planning and strategy, but is able to draw on the suite of creative expertise across Clemenger Group and media buying services at Omnicom Media Group.
Perrin says many agencies today have become too siloed and specialised when clients are looking for a single port of call that can act quickly, rather than managing a roster of agencies that often operate independently.
“The era of agencies dictating what clients need is falling away. What becomes more interesting now is creating bespoke solutions for clients. Certain clients may not need three or more different agencies, they might only need one,” he says.
“Where our industry needs to go is provide clients with a solution that works for them, not what works for us as a group. Hence why the agility part of the speed model is important.”
See here for Q&A with Ian Perrin: Behind the need for Speed
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