Smaller Media-Only Reviews On The Rise

July was a good month for media shops seeking midsize new business. Pier One launched a $60 million creative review in June, then last month opened its doors to media shops, because, a rep said, "we're a large company, so we felt we should get two agencies to tackle the work on both ends." Gateway began a full-service review of its $40 million account at the end of July and invited media shops to present as well, independent of creative contenders and without a formal, unbundled second search. And when $20 million advertiser Delta went shop hunting last month, its contact list also included a mix of creative and media agencies, because "their whole resource mix is being assessed across the board," said a source. Small and midsize clients often utilize teams of creative and media shops, of course. Yet the three newest pitches were not undertaken to cut costs or leverage clout but to search for new ideas regardless of discipline. (One contender says Gateway's invitations were based solely on the client's interest in "who presents the best [business] solution.") Smaller-spending advertisers are taking a new look at media specialists and, not coincidentally, helping to make 2004's new-business picture rosy on accounts billing $50 million or less. Big spenders are also reviewing at a robust clip [Adweek, July 19]. Media agencies' business "is now also about messaging, whatever form those messages take," said Arthur Anderson, principal in New York marketing consultancy Morgan Anderson. "Media agencies are becoming much more general. ... They can do everything except creative and production. They have become heir by design or default to understanding the consumer and how to get messages out." "Increasing focus on return on investment" is also a factor for why the "purchase of agency resources on an à la carte basis continues to increase with clients of all sizes," noted Rich Hamilton, CEO of Publicis Groupe's ZenithOptimedia Americas. In 2004, there have been 10 media-only reviews of $50 million or less, according to Adweek reports, a pace that would see the year equal or exceed the total of 19 such contests in 2003. There were only 14 small or midsize media-only reviews in 2002, and only four in 2001. The trend has a way to go before the proportion of smaller reviews that are media-only mirrors that of the top tier (business worth $100 million or over), where the vast majority of accounts are unbundled. Also, the total of 40 media-only reviews of $50 million or less since 2001 trails creative-only searches, of which there were 130.

Brand Marketing

Smaller Media-Only Reviews On The Rise

Jack Feuer

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Jack Feuer