We at Campaign are in a privileged position. Like anyone in the
industry, we see the dramatic changes that are taking place within the
business. Unlike anyone else, we are talking about these changes
continually with those who run agencies, with clients and with media
owners.
’Are things boring or is it just us?’ is a question that is occupying
some of the best brains in agency boardrooms all over town. Where a few
years ago the talk would have been of who’s about to launch the next
(creative) agency, who’s about to buy which (creative) agency or who’s
doing the most ground-breaking work on which (creative) account, the
focus has moved to media. The concentration of monopoly media power,
digital TV, the growth of media independents, the setting up of buying
clubs between competitive agencies and the emergence of media
strategists to nip at the heels of the big media-buying points - all
indicate that media is taking the high ground at the expense of creative
issues.
While both media and creative disciplines have faced the same challenge
to their effectiveness and their margins, media has embraced the
uncertainty surrounding the quality of traditional methods of audience
measurement and the disintegration of television audiences by media
fragmentation and turned it into an opportunity.
In fact, it’s not the creative agencies or even the fancy-footwork
operators on the media-buying and selling stage that are setting the
pace. It’s the more entrepreneurial global powerhouses, such as Murdoch
and Disney, that are really in a position to develop and exploit
communications in the broadest sense.
So, next time an agency chief asks a Campaign reporter ’Is the agency
world boring or is it me?’ they’ll get the honest answer - ’You’re not
boring, exactly, it’s just that media is where the action is. And if you
don’t watch out, you’ll find yourself marginalised.’
