Initiative’s Mat Baxter: ‘The media industry needs to stop being lazy and get off the drug of reach’
The ‘laziness’ of media and advertising agencies could spell the industry’s downfall in the face of consumers’ changing brand expectations, the global CEO of Initiative has said.
Speaking at Mumbrella360 Asia on the role of culture in a consumer-centric world, Mat Baxter suggested that agencies that simply prioritise reach over relevance will be left competing for survival.
Laziness is killing the industry, Initiative global CEO Mat Baxter, suggests
He said brands are realising that a true connection with audiences is more important than vanity metrics that make client reporting easier.
Why can’t you have both?….
Reach is a given , a necessity, it doesn’t matter how relevant you are if nobody sees you. Relevance is necessity because it doesn’t matter how many see you if nobody cares. I’ve never met anybody who doesn’t know this. I’ve also never heard of anyone who thinks reach is all you need. I think Mat is talking about a scenario that doesn’t exist.
Could you please highlight the fact that reach was easier to price for media agencies and most of you senior people have no clue how to price and market relevancy over reach?
The balancing act of reach verse relevancy has always been the goal and placing a value on relevancy the problem.
Matt also said in the same presentation that ” Culture builds the bridge to relevance. You can’t adblock culture”. Like the comment made by Alex on this feed, I’m unsure why Matt is stating the bloody obvious and accepted wisdom in the industry.
Which person working in the industry today would argue that culture isn’t the canvas upon which brands should engage and drive relevance vs. marketing to people via comms?
You often have people giving presentations and speaking at panels in Aus saying the same repetitive drivel so that just drives circular conversation.
I expect the industry to demand more then recycled thinking like this offered by Matt and the like.
Like any communication no matter the media used, you can use reach, GRP,s , CPT , and so on, and every agency /media shop spruik themselves around operating on margins they can’t sustain, and a 20 odd young person ends up processing the schedule the computer told them to. Clients push and push and the now famous purchasing manager who screws everyone else screws media and has not a plaque on the wall to say he/she has the core competencies to do the job. Creative well told is what resonates with Joe Average the 1 that makes the purchase so tell the consumer why they should buy x, tell them in a factual and non stats way, have fun with the brand and see how you go. You might like to test in a focus group so many brands never use. No i don’t own !!!!. I am that old i used to do reach and frequency by hand so how many can go back that far.
The first thing I learned when I started in an agency back in the ’90s was the “3 R’s” – ratings, reach and relevancy.
So how is this news?