Two competitors team up for TV booking

Last week, Publicitas Cinecom announced that it will be working with SRG marketer Publisuisse's Publiplan online booking and processing program from summer 2009. This is good news for media agencies in particular, because most of them have been familiar with Publiplan for a long time: They can use it to book all SRG stations and the TeleNewsCombi online. And now they will soon be joined by the three channels that Publicitas markets exclusively: the advertising and program windows of Sat.1 and Kabel eins, as well as the Swiss private channel 3+. Until now, these had to be booked laboriously by fax or e-mail. The fact that Publicitas now also relies on Publiplan not only makes handling easier for the agencies, it also saves them additional installations and time-consuming training. "Publiplan is our first choice," says Tim Dührkoop, Head of Electronic & Interactive at Publicitas. The system covers all booking, billing and reporting aspects of TV advertising that are relevant from the customer's and marketer's point of view.
But it is astonishing that the dwarf among TV marketers is cooperating in this sensitive area with the TV market leader, of all people. Publicitas will not buy a Publiplan license and install the program on its own server, but the data traffic will run entirely through the Publi¬suisse IT system. Won't Publicitas give its main competitor an insight into sensitive customer data and planning strategies? Dührkoop is no stranger to the subject: "Publisuisse has convincingly explained to us and also contractually assured us with hard commitments that the information in the system will not be accessible outside Publisuisse IT, especially of course not for sales and marketing. That's why we came to the conclusion that we could enter into this cooperation."
That looks like a breath of fresh air at Publicitas. Dührkoop confirms: "Because our new team was not involved in the previous trench warfare among TV marketers, we can tackle such issues without blinkers."
He says this knowing full well that there are also alternatives to Publiplan. For example, Goldbach Media subsidiary IP Multimedia, the number two among TV marketers, also uses Media Pro, an online booking tool that is used by several agencies. Says Dührkoop, "We also looked at the IP tool, but based on our own analyses and feedback from the market, we came to the conclusion that Publiplan is significantly better." In terms of price, there was hardly any difference between the two tools. Incidentally, Publicitas had also looked into developing its own. "But that would have been too expensive. Moreover, it would be presumptuous to believe that we could set standards in the TV market today."
Publicitas' decision to use this tool also sends a message to the radio market. There, booking by fax and e-mail is still common practice, although Publi¬suisse subsidiary Mediasense proved this year that Publiplan also works in the radio market. But because the tool comes from SRG, there has been a lack of trust so far (see below). But because Mediasense now wants to reposition itself and withdraw from active radio marketing, the ice seems to be broken - at least at Publicitas. In any case, it cannot be assumed that Publicitas will entrust Publisuisse with the TV data of its leased stations, but will stick to the old mistrust in the less sensitive radio sector. In addition, Publicitas certainly took the needs of the radio market into account when evaluating the TV tool: For itself, but also for the agencies, a single tool for TV and radio makes work easier than two.
In this respect, Publicitas' decision in favor of Publiplan also signals fundamental support for the new radio market organization à la Mediasense. Neither Publisuisse nor Publicitas will confirm this. Both sides say that the tool cooperation now achieved is limited to the TV sector. Nevertheless, Dührkoop wants to send out a message - "namely that we are now approaching such topics very pragmatically.
Markus Knöpfli

Concrete agreements against mistrust
Goldbach Media has so far offered the most resistance to Publiplan as an industry tool in the radio market. In September, Goldbach CEO Klaus Kappeler said he couldn't do anything with closed systems like the SRG tool. "We don't give our customer data to our competitor MediaSense and thus to Publisuisse, do we?" However, Othmar Stadelmann, deputy director of Publisuisse, denies that this is the case. "Otherwise, Publicitas Cinecom would not have secured the proven functions of Publiplan," he says. Among other things, he says, the following measures are contractually guaranteed: Neither the sales department nor any other division or even the Publisuisse management have access to Publicitas customer data. This is reserved solely for three IT specialists and any external specialists known to Publicitas by name. (mk)
Telenewscombi continues - also via Publiplan
The TeleNewsCombi (TNC), the TV advertising pool of eight private stations, will continue in 2009 with its usual composition and broadcast areas. This is despite the new concession award. "Since nothing will change in the first half of 2009 and, in addition, some appeals have been announced, all TNC members agreed to maintain the status quo," says TNC managing director Andrea Haemmerli when asked. Booking opened on November 10, but little has changed in terms of price; the combination rate has merely been adjusted to reflect the performance values. "Advertising in the news environment tends to be cheaper, SwissDate and Lifestyle have been slightly adjusted," she summarizes. TNC will continue to be marketed jointly by Publicitas and Publisuisse and will also remain bookable via Publiplan. (mk)