Media Mayhem: Sam Buchanan – ‘A tender that the government rinses and repeats is not suitable for today’
These are interesting times, and the challenges faced by Australian marketing and media are frequently diabolical. There is always opportunity in a crisis, but rarely a single solution that is easy to see. Many are worried, searching for answers, and seeking guidance from our best thinkers. At Mumbrella, we want to interview industry leaders to understand their insights and learn how they handle the challenges and structure for the future. We hope this can help inspire our industry to trade through the storms and deliver the best work on the global stage.
In this week’s Media Mayhem, we chat to the CEO of Independent Media Agencies Australia, Sam Buchanan.
How is the operating environment impacting your team, your clients, and or your partners?
No one can argue that 2024 has been a challenging year. Even the Australian national Dictionary has chosen ‘Colesworth’ as its word of the year, which is not just a reflection of the perceived duopoly of the supermarkets but also a nod to the cost of living pressures felt by everyday Australians and their collective anger at the rising costs being felt on the shelves. It really has dominated the national conversation this year.
There is accompanying pressure on advertising budgets and return on investment which has seen the market focus on performance – often at the expense of brand.
Despite these market conditions, the indie media agency sector is resilient – and growing. In our last indie census survey, 50% of our members said that their business will be up year-on-year, 30% said it would remain the same, while 20% said it would be slightly down (between 0% to 10%).
