Where is this global media cost focus taking us?

Buying media used to be about finding great ways to connect with consumers; now it’s about how to get ads aired cheapest. This race to the bottom makes Eric Faulkner ask: how is this global focus on cost-cutting affecting the industry? His experience in Asia-Pacific is relevant the world over.

There was a mood of apprehension and false bravado in the room. We were presenting the year’s media results to an Australian client; the results were not good and – worse – not entirely unexpected. Earlier in the year, the marketing team had faced a mandate from head office to cut media costs, and the media agency planned their buy based on stringent cost targets. The smaller budget reduced their bargaining clout, and they were only able to negotiate poor performance programming. Other quality areas like environment and position in break had fallen dramatically too. It became clear that few of the brand’s core consumers saw the ad. After the meeting, one of the media planners took the team aside.  “If it hadn’t been for that cost target,” she said, “we wouldn’t have recommended anything on that planhttp://blog.ebiquity.com/2014/03/where-is-this-global-media-cost-focus-taking-us