Digiday: Confessions of a Media Auditor

Confessing or Changing?

The Pt78 crew always love a good, conspiratorial confession but we were particularly interested to read Digiday’s ‘Confessions of a Media Auditor’ yesterday. http://bit.ly/2meM1Yh  As you, our followers and clients, will know well by now we set up Pt78 last year as a direct response to the feedback we had received from so many of you about your experiences with media audits. 

It’s fair to say that the explosion of new technologies, digital media channels and the ever-changing media landscape has meant that traditional media audit models and practices need to transform with the market.  With change comes the need for ever more change.

Let’s look at just one example to illustrate the point - Programmatic.  All programmatic digital media buys including display, video, social (Facebook and Instagram), PPC  are auction based. Therefore, by its very definition,  bought at the best possible price.  So how can a pool play an effective role here?

A pool may be relevant for a very small percentage of direct buys,  perhaps some HPTOs, direct bought BVOD  but, in reality it’s irrelevant to the largest proportion of your digital spend.

So, what’s the answer? 

The frustration of this challenge or the beauty of this opportunity is that there is no silver bullet here.  Ironically, we’ve found that the broader adoption of technology in marketing execution, originally intended to enhance reporting capabilities, has often resulted in less accountability.  More than ever, marketers need to be sure that their budget is working hard for them.   How to do this?  Focus on outcomes.  Demand KPIs in your media plans that are based on outcomes.  Don’t measure things because they can be measured.  Make sure that your metrics actually mean something in your customer’s journey.

At Pt78, we have 4 core principles that guide our entire business, including our approach to media audits:

Innovation – constant innovation to help you respond to an ever-changing consumer and media environment

Expert – in-depth local market knowledge combined with experience in agency and in-house marketing organisations

Streamlined – streamlined process to save you (and your agency partners) time and money

Maximum positive effect – focus on the big wins and key risks

If in doubt, bring it back to basics.  Your media buy has to drive customer actions.  What are those actions?  How will you measure them?  How is your agency helping you to increase your return on marketing investment?

We’d love to chat to you.  To find out more call us on (01) 556 36 78 or email us at hello@Pt78.ie and we’ll get right back to you.