Less is more with radio
Radiotools Media-Agenturen loben zwar Buchungstools für das Medium Radio, primär erwarten sie von der Radioszene aber eine einfache, durchlässige Branchenlösung. Eine genügt.
Radiotools Media agencies praise booking tools for the medium of radio, but primarily they expect a simple, permeable industry solution from the radio scene. On July 1, Publisuisse subsidiary MediaSense entered the radio market. Since then, it has also been offering its Publiplan booking tool as an industry solution to marketers, media agencies and radio stations. This puts it one step ahead of its competitors IP Multimedia and PubliGroupe, who are also planning to launch a tool for the radio industry (see WW 25/07).
The agencies generally welcome these tool efforts. "An electronic booking tool for radio brings real advantages. Until now, you had to first obtain offers for this medium in an almost stone-age manner and then book by fax or e-mail," says Urs Schneider from the MediaSchneider agency. "A booking tool for radio is absolutely positive and definitely in keeping with the times," agrees Peter Hofstetter, owner of Mediaxis-MPG. But there are limits to his delight: "Three tools are too many," he says. Monica Jäggi, co-owner of the Konnex agency, has a similar opinion: "Three different tools? I don't see any advantage there," she says. Schneider even speaks of a "jungle of different booking systems" and points out that things can be done differently elsewhere: the travel industry, for example, manages with just two systems for booking airline tickets - worldwide!
Even if no one says it so clearly: The criticism is primarily directed against the marketers' probable intention to conclude exclusive settlement agreements with pools and individual radio stations: The Swiss Radio Pool (SRP), for example, does not have to be booked via MediaSense, but as of now via Publiplan. This is the agreement between MediaSense and SRP. In concrete terms, this means that anyone who wants to book the SRP and knows how to use Publiplan can book online independently. Otherwise, everything has to go through MediaSense - a classic full lease situation. It will probably be handled similarly at Radio Energy Zürich, except that this station will then have to be booked via IP Multimedia's MediaPro tool. It remains to be seen how other individual radio stations and the few small pools will decide. "But if we have to change the booking tool for every station during the radio planning process, it will be time-consuming," says Andy Lehmann, Managing Director of Aegis Media Group Switzerland. And Monica Jäggi adds: "Why should I book the SRP via Publiplan now? That only makes my work more difficult. I'd rather continue booking everything together by mail via a marketer or intermediary."
Not that the agencies shy away from dealing with the technology - in the TV sector, after all, they also accept different systems. It's just that they have much larger budgets to place there, which is why the training effort and the regular system changes are more worthwhile, they say in unison. In the case of radio, on the other hand, which generated only 2.5 percent of the total advertising pie last year with a gross figure of 96.5 million Swiss francs, three tools would be disproportionate - even if the agents were to make them available to the agencies license-free and pay them an online booking fee on top of that.
Andy Lehmann brings up another aspect: "It looks very much as if the radio marketers want to push us agencies to do the work that they actually have to do," he says. "That could lead to the position of intermediaries like IP or Radiotele being strengthened again, because the agencies don't want to or can't do the work themselves."
Peter Hofstetter also recommends to the radio stations not to enter into any exclusive processing contracts, but to be connected to all tools. He also calls for interfaces from one tool to another. "That's the only way the industry can move forward," he says. "Monopolies make no sense." And further: "We will certainly not install three tools, but decide on one." This must primarily be user-friendly. Urs Schneider takes a similar view: He considers the criteria of "simplicity, security and speed" to be decisive for a tool. He also expects "the radio industry to finally get its act together. Monica Jäggi is on the same wavelength. In a nutshell, she wants "all radios and pools to be bookable via all tools.
Markus Knöpfli
The agencies generally welcome these tool efforts. "An electronic booking tool for radio brings real advantages. Until now, you had to first obtain offers for this medium in an almost stone-age manner and then book by fax or e-mail," says Urs Schneider from the MediaSchneider agency. "A booking tool for radio is absolutely positive and definitely in keeping with the times," agrees Peter Hofstetter, owner of Mediaxis-MPG. But there are limits to his delight: "Three tools are too many," he says. Monica Jäggi, co-owner of the Konnex agency, has a similar opinion: "Three different tools? I don't see any advantage there," she says. Schneider even speaks of a "jungle of different booking systems" and points out that things can be done differently elsewhere: the travel industry, for example, manages with just two systems for booking airline tickets - worldwide!
Even if no one says it so clearly: The criticism is primarily directed against the marketers' probable intention to conclude exclusive settlement agreements with pools and individual radio stations: The Swiss Radio Pool (SRP), for example, does not have to be booked via MediaSense, but as of now via Publiplan. This is the agreement between MediaSense and SRP. In concrete terms, this means that anyone who wants to book the SRP and knows how to use Publiplan can book online independently. Otherwise, everything has to go through MediaSense - a classic full lease situation. It will probably be handled similarly at Radio Energy Zürich, except that this station will then have to be booked via IP Multimedia's MediaPro tool. It remains to be seen how other individual radio stations and the few small pools will decide. "But if we have to change the booking tool for every station during the radio planning process, it will be time-consuming," says Andy Lehmann, Managing Director of Aegis Media Group Switzerland. And Monica Jäggi adds: "Why should I book the SRP via Publiplan now? That only makes my work more difficult. I'd rather continue booking everything together by mail via a marketer or intermediary."
Not that the agencies shy away from dealing with the technology - in the TV sector, after all, they also accept different systems. It's just that they have much larger budgets to place there, which is why the training effort and the regular system changes are more worthwhile, they say in unison. In the case of radio, on the other hand, which generated only 2.5 percent of the total advertising pie last year with a gross figure of 96.5 million Swiss francs, three tools would be disproportionate - even if the agents were to make them available to the agencies license-free and pay them an online booking fee on top of that.
Andy Lehmann brings up another aspect: "It looks very much as if the radio marketers want to push us agencies to do the work that they actually have to do," he says. "That could lead to the position of intermediaries like IP or Radiotele being strengthened again, because the agencies don't want to or can't do the work themselves."
Peter Hofstetter also recommends to the radio stations not to enter into any exclusive processing contracts, but to be connected to all tools. He also calls for interfaces from one tool to another. "That's the only way the industry can move forward," he says. "Monopolies make no sense." And further: "We will certainly not install three tools, but decide on one." This must primarily be user-friendly. Urs Schneider takes a similar view: He considers the criteria of "simplicity, security and speed" to be decisive for a tool. He also expects "the radio industry to finally get its act together. Monica Jäggi is on the same wavelength. In a nutshell, she wants "all radios and pools to be bookable via all tools.
Markus Knöpfli
