Re: [videoblogging] Media Buying Agencies with their head in the sand, vloggers suffer as a result

2009-03-10 Thread Irina
maybe this is why i can't call
payless shoes and ask them to sponsor my "shoe show?"
lol

i laugh, but its serious.

why do you think they havent thought to reach out to us?



On Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 9:35 AM, Jeffrey Taylor
wrote:

>   I just came across an article from HuffPo about Media Buying Agencies.
> For
> those of you who don't know, Media Buying Agencies are marketing service
> organizations that works with media to sell ad space to clients. This
> service used to be handled by the advertising agency, but in the 80's and
> 90's Media Buying Agencies such as OMD/PHD, Carat and Starcom/Mediavest
> emerged, doing the media buying job cheaper for most clients. While one
> will
> see many traditional Advertising Agencies giving some degree placement
> strategy as part of the overall strategic consulting package, the actual
> buying transactions themselves are done by Media Buying agencies. Media
> Buying services are pitched just like creative services, with good accounts
> bringing in millions. And for the videoblogger intent on working with
> advertisers to make the Meida Buying Agency is THE gatekeeper.
>
> What's always struck me these past years is that the videoblogging
> community
> rarely discusses these agencies, focusing more on brands/clients
> themselves.
> In other words, I see many vloggers going to a brand manager for Acme Soap
> to go for ad dollars, failing to mention their Media Buying agency or Ad
> agency. What's even more alarming is that for-profit vloggers are not
> understanding that strategic planning for media is done up to a year or
> more
> in advance, and that plans that were less flexible due to ever-tightening
> client pending controls (e.g. purchasing department approvals) are
> air-tight
> now due to the economy.
>
> But the ignorance of content creators is just part of the problem. Media
> Buying companies should have been reaching out to us long ago. Instead of
> clinging for dear life to lucrative-but-dwindling 30 second broadcast ads
> and print media buys, Media Buying agencies should have set a rate
> structure
> and a buying system for online video. Anyone in online video should know
> the
> names of these agencies like they would any other big-name service, but it
> seems they don't care to know us, and we don't care to know them. I always
> wondered why, and I think I got my answer this morning: they're in a
> bubble.
>
> In my years doing ad agency work, I had come to the conclusion that
> businesses that do the business of communicating seem to have the worst
> internal and industry communications. Internally, most marketing services
> agencies are miry messes with many opportunities lost. such is the case
> with
> online video. This belief was underlined when I read Jack Meyers' HuffPo
> article (
>
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jack-myers/media-industry-will-be-me_b_173377.html
> )
> this morning. Not only does Meyers state that Media Buying agencies
> are
> just now getting the concept of corporate responsibility and transparency,
> but Meyers also shows that many at a recent association gathering believe
> this economy, rife with systemic problems, will turn around in a matter of
> months. Here's the money quote from the article:
>
> This industry is in crisis, but it would be very difficult to perceive that
> reality if you attended industry gatherings in the past few weeks and
> listened to most of the rhetoric. Companies remain entrenched in the
> security that as bad as things might get in our business, the basic status
> quo will survive. Keep on keeping on, managers seem to believe, and all
> will
> be well. Once the economy turns around in the next few months, most
> executives seem to think, our business will turn around with it. But that
> assumption is as absurd as believing the real estate market will recover
> and
> return to normal in the next few months.
>
> WTF?
>
> I have been constantly amazed that there have been no representation from
> Media Buying agencies engaging with vloggers from the beginning, carving
> out
> a new revenue source for themselves and us. While there may be a few
> contrary examples, the fact that many of us don't know how Media Buying
> agencies fit into the strategic marketing process speaks to their failure
> to
> engage with us. They engage with the revenue streams that they know, and
> dismiss emerging mediums as being too cheap or out of their realm for them
> to deal with. Because of this, both agencies and content creaters are
> finding themselves financially crunched.
>
> Until we leverage our way into the strategic media planning process and
> create industry standards and best practices that include engagement with
> advertising and media buying agencies and their clients during their
> strategic planning process, we can expect the same crumbs from the few
> clients that can move small amounts of unplanned cash to "social media". In
> other words, until we get into their process, independent content cr

[videoblogging] Media Buying Agencies with their head in the sand, vloggers suffer as a result

2009-03-10 Thread Jeffrey Taylor
I just came across an article from HuffPo about Media Buying Agencies. For
those of you who don't know, Media Buying Agencies are marketing service
organizations that works with media to sell ad space to clients. This
service used to be handled by the advertising agency, but in the 80's and
90's Media Buying Agencies such as OMD/PHD, Carat and Starcom/Mediavest
emerged, doing the media buying job cheaper for most clients. While one will
see many traditional Advertising Agencies giving some degree placement
strategy as part of the overall strategic consulting package, the actual
buying transactions themselves are done by Media Buying agencies. Media
Buying services are pitched just like creative services, with good accounts
bringing in millions. And for the videoblogger intent on working with
advertisers to make the Meida Buying Agency is THE gatekeeper.

What's always struck me these past years is that the videoblogging community
rarely discusses these agencies, focusing more on brands/clients themselves.
In other words, I see many vloggers going to a brand manager for Acme Soap
to go for ad dollars, failing to mention their Media Buying agency or Ad
agency. What's even more alarming is that for-profit vloggers are not
understanding that strategic planning for media is done up to a year or more
in advance, and that plans that were less flexible due to ever-tightening
client pending controls (e.g. purchasing department approvals) are air-tight
now due to the economy.

But the ignorance of content creators is just part of the problem. Media
Buying companies should have been reaching out to us long ago. Instead of
clinging for dear life to lucrative-but-dwindling 30 second broadcast ads
and print media buys, Media Buying agencies should have set a rate structure
and a buying system for online video. Anyone in online video should know the
names of these agencies like they would any other big-name service, but it
seems they don't care to know us, and we don't care to know them. I always
wondered why, and I think I got my answer this morning: they're in a bubble.


In my years doing ad agency work, I had come to the conclusion that
businesses that do the business of communicating seem to have the worst
internal and industry communications. Internally, most marketing services
agencies are miry messes with many opportunities lost. such is the case with
online video. This belief was underlined when I read Jack Meyers' HuffPo
article (
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jack-myers/media-industry-will-be-me_b_173377.html)
this morning. Not only does Meyers state that Media Buying agencies
are
just now getting the concept of corporate responsibility and transparency,
but Meyers also shows that many at a recent association gathering believe
this economy, rife with systemic problems, will turn around in a matter of
months. Here's the money quote from the article:

This industry is in crisis, but it would be very difficult to perceive that
reality if you attended industry gatherings in the past few weeks and
listened to most of the rhetoric. Companies remain entrenched in the
security that as bad as things might get in our business, the basic status
quo will survive. Keep on keeping on, managers seem to believe, and all will
be well. Once the economy turns around in the next few months, most
executives seem to think, our business will turn around with it. But that
assumption is as absurd as believing the real estate market will recover and
return to normal in the next few months.

 WTF?

I have been constantly amazed that there have been no representation from
Media Buying agencies engaging with vloggers from the beginning, carving out
a new revenue source for themselves and us. While there may be a few
contrary examples, the fact that many of us don't know how Media Buying
agencies fit into the strategic marketing process speaks to their failure to
engage with us. They engage with the revenue streams that they know, and
dismiss emerging mediums as being too cheap or out of their realm for them
to deal with. Because of this, both agencies and content creaters are
finding themselves financially crunched.

Until we leverage our way into the strategic media planning process and
create industry standards and best practices that include engagement with
advertising and media buying agencies and their clients during their
strategic planning process, we can expect the same crumbs from the few
clients that can move small amounts of unplanned cash to "social media". In
other words, until we get into their process, independent content creators
can expect a laborious route to profitability from ad revenue.

I'm not much of a for-profit vlogger (see the other group mails for the
artistic online video non-profit I am trying to start), but I firmly believe
that for-profit vloggers deserve more legitimacy than the mainstream media
structures have allowed them. So the question to ask is: What are we going
to do? The stakes are too high to not