As we approach the end of 2015 and set our sights firmly on next year, I’ve been thinking about what has happened this year and what I’m looking forward to in 2016.
Let’s get the headlines out of the way. Mediapalooza, transparency issues, TV audience declines, SVOD, programmatic, equality and even drinking cultures (or lack of) within agencies have all generated a good amount of discussion this year.
The volume of pitches is nothing new; it’s what we do. Run well, it’s the best part of the industry and why I love coming to work. A good pitch can be an amazing experience for everyone. Run poorly and you burn your teams out and commit to running accounts at a loss, which leads agencies into the dark art of trying to make money. I’m not going to dwell on this as enough has been written. However for the first time in my career, over the last 18 months I have seen pitches won on a fair margin and agencies remunerated for their time. There is still a way to go but I feel there is hope.
Independent agencies have continued their success this year. Not placing your business into one of the large multinational agencies is now a real option for clients, especially if you’re local. Don’t get me wrong; certain clients (often global) will sometimes need a multinational agency. But if they are allowed to make local market decisions there is now a real alternative to the groups.
We are also seeing the full service model making a comeback, with clients telling us that they don’t have the time (or the budgets) to be dealing with an increasingly large roster of agencies, provided the quality and service they receive is never compromised.
2015 has been the year of SVOD. It appears that Netflix’s dominance came as no surprise to any of us, except the content boss for Stan. Television audiences have taken a bit of a hit with two of last year’s race leaders suffering declines that were very hard to predict. Given the volatility of audiences this year (and potentially 2016) there has never been a greater need to deliver flexibility for clients. Annual fixed agency deals anyone? The positive TV stories this year are Ten, MCN and SBS all performing well. With the Ten/MCN sales team now firmly in place we have a truly competitive market, which has to be better for clients than the duopoly of recent times.
So what have we got to look forward to in 2016?
Everyone is talking up programmatic, data and streaming. Let’s hope that in 2016 we start to actually realise the benefits and at a quicker pace. A major gripe of mine is that agencies and clients get sold the dream at the glitzy upfronts and then the execution is often a letdown or it’s simply not a reality (HBBTV?).What agencies and clients need is an honest roadmap of where products or services are at and what is required to deliver progress. If doesn’t have to work all the time and we are prepared to educated our clients that some things will not work straight away but work with us and be honest about what the outcome may be.
There are still question marks around the stability of TV audiences. The continued competition for eyeballs and the fragmentation of audiences remains a challenge for the industry. It has never been more critical to get your targeting right and ensure that your media is in highly targeted environments and optimised. Again, the need for flexibility to move budgets around within or out of channel is paramount.
I’d like to see the industry come together and draw a line in the sand on viewability and tackle the problem as one. We are all guilty of spending too much time pontificating and not delivering enough action. Brand safety will continue to be a worry for clients and agencies. So let’s set the standards, educate our clients and our people and put budget against it to try and solve a very challenging problem.
Mobile is an area that continues to be underutilized and presents a great opportunity for clients if used correctly. We have delivered great business results for brands such as NIB this year by combining location based mobile with digital out of home.
The Olympics and the Federal Election – both falling in 2016 - should deliver a positive growth story to the market. Both will see more money flow into digital channels, hopefully generating interesting work and good results. Malcolm Turnbull looks set to finally amend the prehistoric media laws, which have held back traditional media owners. This will no doubt lead to further media consolidation and a repackaging of media assets.
I go into Christmas with a feeling of positivity and hope. It’s been a tough but very rewarding year and 2016 is shaping up to be another cracker. Mince pie anyone?
By Bryan Magee, chief investment officer, Ikon Communications