Integration is the next media challenge Lara Sinclair
The current demand for media strategy up front and staff shortages mean new staff entering the unbundled media industry need re-integration training.
MEDIA buying and planning is flourishing in this country, if the Media Federation Awards held last week are any indication.
The awards night was held at Star City Ballroom, to a packed house (see B&T Weekly, October 6, for the results). MC of the moment Tony Squires introduced the proceedings in his own inimitable style.It was wall to wall black tie.
In fact, according to Media Federation Awards steering committee president Garth Agius, people had to be turned away.
The support of the big media companies was obvious. It's not often you see the Nine Network indulging in a spot of promotion to the industry.
Possibly the only downer was the entertainment, which included a rabid version of the Three Tenors dressed as Star City wait staff-which might have been funny had it only lasted five minutes or so.
The Media awards have been steadily growing in size, with this year's entry levels equaling that of last year, despite the time-consuming media distraction of the Olympics.
Noticeably, as well, the standard of the winning entries appears to have lifted. Nice to hear that for a change-instead of the usual lament that creative standards have fallen.
Or perhaps it's more that we're all much more familiar with the media strategies themselves these days, given that many of them have already been reported.
Regardless, the profile of media has indisputably lifted, going beyond simple descriptions of the latest agency to "unbundle", as was all the rage three years ago.
With that increased profile, however, comes an increased consciousness amongst marketers of the importance of media planning and buying to their marketing plans.
And with that comes both increased demand for media planning and buying services, and an increased demand for a higher level of service provided.
This is of course at odds with the pressure that has been brought to bear on media margins over the past three years-pressure that has led to rumours of some dumbing down amongst media buying agencies forced to employ more juniors.
It's part and parcel of one of the major dilemmas facing the media planning and buying industry at present-staff shortages. If media continues to increase in importance-and the latest wave of media planning and buying companies to start up is a fair indication that it will-this refrain will only get louder.
Australia must be up to at least its fifth media wave by now?
First, there were the original agency media departments (wave one). Then we had the first media independents in the form of Mitchell's and Merchants (second wave). Then we had the other independents launch (third wave). The Media Palace possibly comprised half a wave on its own, but then almost everyone unbundled (wave four).
Toyota could be classed as another half-wave, with the effective launch of its own media buying shop. But now we've got media directors of the ilk of Gary Hardwick, Steve Allen, and Simon Bellamy and Phil Hayden going out on their own (wave five).
As marketers increasingly demand media up front, the call for more and better-educated media planners and buyers will become a dull roar. Most media directors currently list staff shortages and training as the major issue facing the business today.
The Media Federation is using the profits generated by its awards night to help address this concern.
It's also set to launch a new recruitment campaign targeting university graduates, with the support of media companies to run the ads.
However, the major challenge, according to one media director contacted today, is the re-integration of media with the creative process-a necessity when clients are demanding media strategy up front, but something of a difficulty when you're starting with university graduates who may not ever have worked within a full service agency environment.
