Each week we will focus on the key news stories from global media.
It’s been quite an interesting week in global media. Firstly we heard how Amazon has now cemented its place as the biggest spending advertiser in the world https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/amazon-biggest-advertiser-earth-adspend-hits-11bn/1672723 and then came the decision by Accenture to wind down its auditing process and begin to increase its efforts to take on the big six holding group with regards to pitching and winning client business https://www.thedrum.com/news/2020/02/04/accenture-close-media-auditing-and-pitching-less-industry-oversight-better-conflict, both of which will have a significant impact on the industry in the short and long term.
Starting with the latter it was obvious for some time that Accenture was going to be doubling down on its efforts to win more global accounts from brands around the world. If the appointment of former OMD EMEA head Nikki Mendonca was not a big enough indicator the number of client pitches the business was putting itself forward for certainly was.
However, and despite a number of critics rejoicing, this week’s announcement is almost a double-edged sword for the industry. On the one hand it makes sense a company whose traditional business was in helping clients choose new agencies, auditing said agencies and providing benchmarks for the sector is then not pitching for said clients’ business too, as a clear conflict of interest could easily be cited. But on the other hand there is a bigger hole in the industry when it comes to measurement and benchmarking, particularly when one of the biggest issues for brands around the world – based on our regular conversations with them – at the moment is understanding measurement and auditing.
What it does do is open the doors for the likes of ID Comms, MediaSense and Flock Associates to have greater opportunities to showcase their skills and abilities in the new world of auditing and benchmarking, which is arguably more efficient and effective for brands in 2020 than it has been before.
In response to the news both MediaSense and ID Comms had very different approaches with the former encouraging those displaced staff from Accenture to get in touch with them and the latter urging clients looking for auditing and pitching services to get in touch with them. What it does represent is a very exciting opportunity for both businesses and for clients to be given the tools to understand and navigate the new media world.
Talking of new world order the duopoly – Google and Facebook – have both been very worried about the impact of Amazon in the media sector, and although it could be argued the online behemoth is merely playing in the space right now, the fact it is spending $11bn a year on advertising while the former number one brand and current number two – P&G – is cutting its ad spend, is a telling sign.
What’s most concerning for every media brand in the industry is that Amazon doesn’t just have data on ‘intent to purchase’ but on ‘what people buy, what they spend, when they spend it and how they buy goods.’ The giants recent move into streaming football is also a sign of where it wants to go and how it wants to create new business streams away from being a pure play online retailer.
Again as with both Google and Facebook, Amazon’s data is protected by a walled garden and this is a subject brands are very keen to learn more about in 2020 and how crucially how measurement works in this space.
Fortunately, we will be covering this and a host of other key subjects in our Festival Intelligence Sessions, which are series of masterclasses for brands only to be held in Milan on Thursday 21st May. If you are a brand wanting to attend for free, please drop us a line at info@festivalofmedia.com.
