‘Splitting creative and media. It’s the dumbest thing we ever did’
Cummins&Partners global CEO Michael McConville explores why Telstra’s CMO Brent Smart’s remark at MSIX about the separation of media and creativity being “the dumbest thing we’ve ever done” resonates.
That’s a direct quote from one of the most respected figures in Australian marketing who was on stage at last month’s MSIX event.
This person has a wealth of experience in both the agency and marketing sectors, with a reputation for both creativity and impact.
Though we don’t know each other, I hope he won’t mind me sharing this. That person, of course, is Brent Smart.
Great and honest perspective.
The last people I would want controlling my media investment is a cohort who are obsessed with self-aggrandisement in the form of awards, and dismissive of any form of science / measurement.
Every media plan would consist of 90 second TVCs and some 60 sec cutdowns.
Yes, the law of unintended consequences, and yes, for everything that is gained often something is lost. But anyone reminiscing misty eyed about integrated and collaborative sunlit uplands of full service agencies past clearly did not work in their media departments. Channel selection dictated by the creatives? Check. Pitch meeting ran long so just present the flowchart? Check. Apportion large chunks of budget to showcase vanity ad formats? Check (and file the D&AD award submission). Tolerated as second class citizens at best, media was regarded as a discipline akin to accounting, the function to which it was most often seated alongside. Any notion that the past 30-years’ massive investment in media craft tools and software, let alone talent, would have/could have occurred under non-unbundled regimes is pure fantasy. I am not saying that a pendulum swing recalibration is not needed. It most certainly is. However, to do so requires a near-complete overhaul of current client briefing and agency communications development processes. And just how good these days are 99% of clients at briefing? Don’t get me started…
Didn’t Telstra have the opportunity recently to bring creative and media back together under one roof? Does that make Brent Smart really dumb? Or does it just prove he doesn’t really believe it is the right thing to do?
Ok mate.
Could not agree more. I was in the media dept at GP when Zenith was created . We never thought through the unintended consequences of the split – it was accompanied by enormous self interest.
Speaking of breaking up???