Distrust of Media Focus
Market research Even before the new Media Focus User Commission was launched, the consulting firm Media Audit questioned the Nielsen subsidiary's willingness to cooperate.
Market research Even before the new Media Focus User Commission was launched, the consulting firm Media Audit questioned the Nielsen subsidiary's willingness to cooperate.
On August 29, the time had come: after a lengthy back and forth, the newly formed User Commission (UC) of the market research company Media Focus and the Swiss Advertisers Association (SWA) met. The committee has had a difficult time: the SWA had already called for a UC two years ago, but this was rejected by Media Focus. Until June of this year, when the SWA made public serious shortcomings in the gross advertising statistics compiled by Media Focus following research by the Zug-based consultancy Media Audit. The company, a joint venture of the German market researchers Nielsen and GfK, then suddenly corrected its position. However, before the UC, which is made up of representatives of the media categories, media agencies, the SWA and Media Focus (see box), could begin its work and adopt rules of procedure, Karl-Heinz Müller from Media Audit went public and accused Media Focus of a lack of willingness to cooperate. Due to "repeated experiences with Media Focus", there was no guarantee that the company would make the necessary corrections. In addition, there were "concrete doubts" that the listed deficiencies could be rectified with a user commission alone, as the UC had neither operational nor executive or controlling powers. The suspicion therefore arose that Media Focus wanted to use the SWA as a fig leaf. Müller therefore called on the industry to "seriously consider a possible alternative" to Media Focus.
"Ripped off "When asked, Müller says that he was originally intended to be a UC member, but was then rejected by Nielsen Hamburg. Now he has gone public because he knows how much time is needed for controlling: he needed around 150 hours for his research alone. "That is an amount of time that a UC cannot afford, especially as Media Focus is not prepared to pay anything." The UC had therefore "naively allowed itself to be ripped off". When asked whether the UC members are all naive, Müller says evasively: "I can't judge that."
SWA Director Jürg Siegrist takes a more relaxed view of the matter. He is a UC member at various research companies and knows the opportunities and limitations of such committees, he says when asked. "A UC examines various suggestions, manages their implementation and sets deadlines for this - always in consultation with the relevant institute," he continues. Unlike Müller, he will only form his opinion after the first UC meetings. "But as soon as I get the impression that we are being misused as a fig leaf, the SWA will withdraw - and with a roar," adds the SWA Director. Siegrist has already proven on several occasions that he does not simply back down, most recently in June when he publicly accused the outdoor advertiser Clear Channel Outdoor Plakanda of not keeping its own promises regarding poster research.
At Media Focus, Marketing Manager Kevin Schnell is optimistic about the UC. "We are very happy that we now have this committee, because we want to meet the demands of our customers even more," says Schnell. But how does he react to Karl-Heinz Müller's accusations? "Media Focus strives to make decisions on factual issues and wants the green light for fundamental changes from all affected customer groups. We have absolutely no interest in not implementing decisions that we and our customers make," says Schnell. And should any problems arise during implementation, Media Focus will bring this back to the UC, he promises.
The Media Focus User CommissionThe newly formed Media Focus User Commission met for the first time on August 29 and is composed as follows:
Print: Marcel Tappeiner, Tamedia; Othmar Fischlin, Publimedia
TV: Siri Fischer, IP Multimedia;
Markus Hollenstein, Publisuisse
Outdoor advertising: Roger Moeschler, APG
Media agencies: George Bérard, OMD;
Urs Schneider, MediaSchneider (still uncertain)
SWA: Jürg Siegrist, Director
Media Focus: Kevin Schnell, Marketing Manager
Markus Knöpfli
On August 29, the time had come: after a lengthy back and forth, the newly formed User Commission (UC) of the market research company Media Focus and the Swiss Advertisers Association (SWA) met. The committee has had a difficult time: the SWA had already called for a UC two years ago, but this was rejected by Media Focus. Until June of this year, when the SWA made public serious shortcomings in the gross advertising statistics compiled by Media Focus following research by the Zug-based consultancy Media Audit. The company, a joint venture of the German market researchers Nielsen and GfK, then suddenly corrected its position. However, before the UC, which is made up of representatives of the media categories, media agencies, the SWA and Media Focus (see box), could begin its work and adopt rules of procedure, Karl-Heinz Müller from Media Audit went public and accused Media Focus of a lack of willingness to cooperate. Due to "repeated experiences with Media Focus", there was no guarantee that the company would make the necessary corrections. In addition, there were "concrete doubts" that the listed deficiencies could be rectified with a user commission alone, as the UC had neither operational nor executive or controlling powers. The suspicion therefore arose that Media Focus wanted to use the SWA as a fig leaf. Müller therefore called on the industry to "seriously consider a possible alternative" to Media Focus.
"Ripped off "When asked, Müller says that he was originally intended to be a UC member, but was then rejected by Nielsen Hamburg. Now he has gone public because he knows how much time is needed for controlling: he needed around 150 hours for his research alone. "That is an amount of time that a UC cannot afford, especially as Media Focus is not prepared to pay anything." The UC had therefore "naively allowed itself to be ripped off". When asked whether the UC members are all naive, Müller says evasively: "I can't judge that."
SWA Director Jürg Siegrist takes a more relaxed view of the matter. He is a UC member at various research companies and knows the opportunities and limitations of such committees, he says when asked. "A UC examines various suggestions, manages their implementation and sets deadlines for this - always in consultation with the relevant institute," he continues. Unlike Müller, he will only form his opinion after the first UC meetings. "But as soon as I get the impression that we are being misused as a fig leaf, the SWA will withdraw - and with a roar," adds the SWA Director. Siegrist has already proven on several occasions that he does not simply back down, most recently in June when he publicly accused the outdoor advertiser Clear Channel Outdoor Plakanda of not keeping its own promises regarding poster research.
At Media Focus, Marketing Manager Kevin Schnell is optimistic about the UC. "We are very happy that we now have this committee, because we want to meet the demands of our customers even more," says Schnell. But how does he react to Karl-Heinz Müller's accusations? "Media Focus strives to make decisions on factual issues and wants the green light for fundamental changes from all affected customer groups. We have absolutely no interest in not implementing decisions that we and our customers make," says Schnell. And should any problems arise during implementation, Media Focus will bring this back to the UC, he promises.
The Media Focus User CommissionThe newly formed Media Focus User Commission met for the first time on August 29 and is composed as follows:
Print: Marcel Tappeiner, Tamedia; Othmar Fischlin, Publimedia
TV: Siri Fischer, IP Multimedia;
Markus Hollenstein, Publisuisse
Outdoor advertising: Roger Moeschler, APG
Media agencies: George Bérard, OMD;
Urs Schneider, MediaSchneider (still uncertain)
SWA: Jürg Siegrist, Director
Media Focus: Kevin Schnell, Marketing Manager
Markus Knöpfli
