To some media integration is a buzzword. To others media integration is the Holy Grail. To me media integration is a poor substitute for collaboration. Let me explain.

Media companies and agency networks tell people the digital space is just another media channel – it isn’t. The digital space is about participation, ecommerce and community. It can’t be sold or planned as just another channel. Agency networks tend to try to turn digital into a commodity – and lets face it, sooner or later this will not work for clients.

When digital is turned into a commodity it is managed through integration. When digital is recognized as more than a media channel it is managed through collaboration.  

Having spent my formative years in advertising working for a large global network I can appreciate the benefits of  integration. As the steward of my clients media budgets I would happily report on the cost efficiencies realized by pooling offline and online budgets. I relished the opportunity to broker cross media agreements – that elusive target audience would not stand a chance - print, outdoor, television and online. However I quickly realized the large agency that employed me, as well as my clients operated in functional silos. Without the appropriate organizational structure, internal culture and accountability, integration will turn digital into a commodity.

Dave Morgan, evp, global advertising strategy at AOL, said media shops have a faltering business model, with armies of comparatively low-paid digital media buyers propping up a layer of high-priced executives from the traditional side of the aisle. The inefficiencies created by this approach are no longer tenable, and current trends will yield “leaner” agencies well versed in using digital-buying platforms.

Sir Martin Sorrell, the chairman of WPP, one of the “cradles of integration”, points to the need of a new agency structure. “The agency of the future will reclaim upstream marketing consultancy work by delivering a seamless service; one that starts with the most fundamental of market analysis and ends with the finished creative artefacts.” 

Forrester Research paints a grim view of the current state of advertising, which it believes is in “a world of hurt” because consumers are tuning out the messages the industry is predicated on producing. Instead, it believes shops need to be organized around communities, not disciplines.

While not as sexy or grand as integration, collaboration works for us and our clients. At the heart of collaboration is the idea that digital extends beyond media. Digital becomes a “hub” at the heart of our clients organization, bringing together revenue management, customer service and marketing teams. Through collaboration we become consultants to our clients, partnering with non digital specialists of their choice. Through collaboration we have to listen as opposed to dictate an approach towards integration. 

More importantly, through collaboration, digital is not tied to media outcomes but to ideas and tangible returns.

webliquid  media integration martin sorrell

About Alain Portmann

My job is simple. To inspire staff, clients and consumers.

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