According to a recent R3 research, media tenders in Europe between January and October 2023 increased by 14.3% in volume but decreased by 6.6% in value. Brands would therefore pitch more but for a lower amount. How can we explain such an inverted trend ?
From media pitch to full-funnel pitch
Brands are all looking for the same Holy Grail: increasing their business performance. To do this, they want to rely on one or more media agencies capable of connecting all the levers of their customer experience (media, e-commerce, data, digital, entertainment, etc.).
This constant search for business performance is de facto leading media agencies to rethink themselves. First, because their clients are no longer the same: whereas historically media agencies had the media director as their only point of contact; they must now meet the expectations not only of the CEO, but also his Executive Committee, and those of the directions of Innovation, CRM, Customer Experience, e-Commerce, Data, etc. This increase in expectations has shifted the value proposition of agencies from media buying experts to strategic and technology partners. Media agencies are now positioning themselves as advisors empowered by technology.
Key players: media agencies are no longer alone, and competition has never been fiercer!
The emergence of 3 major media models
In a context where business performance is the new doxa, the brands that will make the difference tomorrow are not necessarily those who work with the “best” media agency; but those that have been able to build an operational model upstream that serve their business strategy. The media is one of the blocks of the model. Not the model. Media experts are part of the roster. Not the ecosystem. Thus, we see 3 major trends emerging among brands in terms of media model:
The evolution, or even the revolution, of the brands’ media model then raises a key question: that of the remuneration model of their media agencies. Today in France, according to a study carried out by the UDM in 2023, 42% of media agency remuneration models still rely on the traditional combo “fees + commission on media investments”. Will the transformation of brands’ media models and the ensuing proliferation of “full funnel” pitches change these remuneration models? Time will tell.
