| | Media Buyer & Planner Today | | | | | | | | | #1 Consultants Bearing Data Pose Threat to Agencies | | Traditional ad agencies are not just competing with each other, but also with data-rich consulting firms that have been moving in on their turf over the past few years, Digiday reports. A digital media agency executive warns that these consulting firms "pose a clear and present danger" to agencies who will lose clients if they turn a "blind eye" to this new competition. These consultancies have C-level relationships and the money and resources that enable them to participate in new business pitches. The exec, who was not identified, says his own digital agency lost "a very large project" to a consulting firm late last year. He suggests that the large holding companies continue to realign their agencies and services to more effectively compete with the consulting firm interlopers. Meanwhile smaller agencies are vulnerable to being acquired by the larger consulting companies which will then make those consultants even more formidable to steal away larger agency business. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: Traditional agencies have their work cut out for them. Not only are their clients pressuring them to charge less, but these new consulting firm competitors are also undercutting their pricing to win away their clients. The exec's advice to agencies is to keep going after a converging business model where consulting and advertising merge. "There may be pains and bumps along the way, but that's the way forward," he says. | | A Take: Digiday | | | | #2 Dentsu's Isobar, Firstborn to Join Forces | | Dentsu Aegis Network U.S. agency Firstborn has joined the global network of sibling agency Isobar to help expand the breadth and depth of the agencies' digital, design and technolog offerings, Ad Age reports. The agencies will operate under one P&L in order to insure cooperation and joint incentive. They will, however, still pitch as separate agencies and continue to have their own clients. But at times, will also pitch together. Dan La Civita, CEO of Firstborn will also join the Isobar U.S. management team headed by co-CEOs Geoff Cubitt and Jeff Maling. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: It is getting harder and harder for small agencies to compete for new business and hold onto it. LaCivita says it was getting harder for Firstborn to win new business as it was competing against agencies five to 12 times its size. Not that Firstborn has been unsuccessful. Last fall it won the digital creative business for Pepsi following a review. | Two Takes: Ad Age | Media Post
| | | | #3 Amazon, Pinterest Making Inroads in Search | | E-commerce company Amazon isn't about to become a full-fledged consumer search destination but it has been rolling out three different search ad products designed to help people find more things to buy on Amazon.com, The Wall Street Journal reports. Meanwhile Pinterest continues to gain popularity as a location for people to look for home furnishing ideas. And even Trivago, a heavy TV advertiser of late, is drawing viewers to its site when pondering travel plans. Forrester Research analyst Collin Colburn says each search on one of those sites is "taking one more search away, and starting to erode Google's dominance." | | WHY THIS MATTERS: Marketers like choice when it comes to spending their ad dollars and competition can drive down price. Google is still the dominant search engine with roughly 64% of desktop searches in December coming on its platform, according to comScore. But Amazon and Pinterest are gaining popularity among advertisers and ad buyers say they welcome the competition. | | A Take: WSJ | |
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| | 15 | | Number of Top 200 advertisers who have taken media-buying away from their agencies and brought it in-house because of their ability to buy it programmatically, according to a report by Pivotal Research Group. | – Reported by Media Post
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| | 'Making History' Debuts So-So on Fox | by Michael Malone
NBC was tops among broadcasters Sunday, tallying a 1.3 rating and a 5 share. Next up were CBS and Fox, both at 0.9/3. ABC averaged a 0.8/3. In NBC, Little Big Shots did a 2.0, up 18% over its spring finale. Chicago Justice scored a 1.4, down from a previous 1.7, while Shades of Blue returned to a 1.0. The networks were up against the Academy Awards a week before. 60 Minutes did a 1.1 on CBS, up 10%. NCIS: Los Angeles scored a 1.2, up 9%. Madam Secretary booked a 0.8, down a tenth from its last fresh airing, while Elementary did a 0.6, also down a tenth from its most recent new episode. On Fox, a new Bob's Burgers did a 0.8 and The Simpsons a 1.1. The premiere of Making History did a 0.9 before a new Family Guy scored a 1.2 and Last Man on Earth a 1.0. On ABC, America's Funniest Home Videos did a 1.0 and Once Upon a Time returned with a level 0.9, before a Time After Time repeat.
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| | • MIKE PROULX was promoted to the newly created position of chief digital officer at Hill Holliday. In that role, he will be responsible for driving digital innovation and integration for both Hill Holliday and its media agency Trilia Media. He has been with the Boston-based agency since 2008. Proulx was most recently director of digital strategy. Prior to Hill Holliday he was VP, social media marketing at Racepoint Global. | |
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