Page 49 - Internationalist Magazine 2015 75

COMMENTARY

recently has the matter reached such proportions that

it’s dif cult to see how things can be reversed.”

I shall attempt to identify the trends, chart the

evolution and changing nature of advertising media

trading between advertisers, agencies and media owners

and pick up on the radical implications for future media

buying and selling.

It would be good to focus on the future and not

spend too much time charting the history of how we got

to where we are. But some brief historical perspective

will be useful.

John Billett has a long history in the advertising

industry in the UK and throughout the world.

The Advertising Agency and 15% Media Owner He also enjoys a well-deserved reputation

Commission
for being both a creative media thinker and
challenger to convention. He started in the

Perhaps it’s hard to imagine. But the very rst ad agency business in 1966 and continues as

“agents” were just media buyers, regulated by the an active participant in media and marketing

communications today. Working rst in the
media owners to act on advertisers’ behalf just to buy
Unilever Media Department and then in a top10
the space. The astute media buyers realised they could
advertising agency, he became the industry’s
make more money by offering to create the ads and ll rst media agency media director under the age

of 30.
the space. This evolution brought about the birth of the
Most people know John Billett from the
full-service advertising agency,
creation of Billett’s-- launched as an alternative
Today, the business has come full circle.
and distinctive media auditing business, which
grew to have of ces across Europe, and then
The agency’s nancial probity and professional
expanded to bring media auditing practices
expertise was assessed and when proved satisfactory
to the US. Billett’s was founded on media
were rewarded by payment of a 15% discount for their
evaluation, as well as marketing effectiveness

services by the media owners. The media owners validation. Under his chairmanship, the
company grew to become the largest
preferred to deal with a number of agencies acting on
benchmarking media business worldwide.
behalf of several advertisers both to reduce the number
He sold the company in 2007, and it now

of contact points and to regulate and operate common continues as the rebranded Ebiquity. Today

professional standard.
he serves as the Chairman of ID Comms,
a value-based media consulting company

which provides rst-class media expertise,

Here are a few key highlights from his address:
consulting and resources to brands. Neither

an auditor nor accounting rm, ID Comms

• “The fundamental change taking place across the has the freedom to consider the value of
communications-- not just the price.

marketing services business is that the agencies,

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