Page 48 - Internationalist Magazine 2015 75

John Billett Issues a Stern Warning to

Global Marketers about Media Agency

Management

IHe States: ‘The Agencies have become the Media

Owners’

In his autumn address to the Worshipful Company of Marketors in London—see

box for more information, John Billett talks about how media agencies came about,

how they grew so quickly and where they nd themselves today, considering the

dramatic impact for marketers and how they may have lost control of their media.

Here is the opening of his address: recommendations on what I see as the best actions

I have never shied away from the opportunity to take to protect your best interests.

to challenge existing operations, especially when

current practice has failed to keep pace with

Fundamental Change
opportunities to get better nancial returns

from an investment. My media evaluation and “The fundamental change taking place

performance measurement business was never across the marketing services business is that

designed to make enemies, but if along the way the agencies, who for a long time were the

we helped advertisers, but upset some agency agents working on behalf of advertisers acting as

suppliers, that was an acceptable price to pay.
custodians of the advertisers’ best interests, have

Tonight I want to update you on the major now become the media owners.

trends and changes taking place in the trading
An alternative title for this lecture ‘The

of media activity between advertisers and media Agencies have become the Media Owners’ could

vendors via agencies. I will suggest that far too be ‘The Lunatics have taken over the Asylum.’

many advertisers are currently being nancially And whilst hyperbole has entered the equation,

and operationally disadvantaged by being not fully the facts are stranger than most good ction

aware, and in some case just disinterested about writers could have dreamed up.

the way in which their marketing resources are This development is not a sudden eureka

being expended.
phenomenon. It has gradually emerged and

And I shall conclude with observations and
developed over some 15 years or so. But only

46 the internationalist