Calf biter and good friends
The Publimedia Forum revealed who is keeping a close eye on media planners—and with what tools
Media auditors only play a minor role in Switzerland. However, the market will grow, said Dietmar Kruse at the Publimedia Forum. Kruse is responsible for German-speaking countries and Eastern Europe at Media Audits Ltd. in Hamburg and London. In England, 60 to 70% of all advertising clients already consult a media auditor, in Germany it is 30 to 40% and in Switzerland 10%, said Kruse. His company currently looks after 6 clients in Switzerland and 40 in Germany.
Save on fees - spend on auditing
Nevertheless, Media Audits Ltd. is not the only provider of media controlling in Switzerland. There are around half a dozen companies in this pond, albeit with very different concepts. In addition to Media Audits, the Konnex agency and Frank Baumann's Wörterseh - Second Opinion presented their auditing approaches at the Publimedia Forum.
Only one point remained undisputed: it is necessary for the work of media agencies (MA) to be reviewed in some way. Konnex co-owner Peter Döbeli used an example to show that in Switzerland, too, various MAs choose their strategies according to standard plans or on the basis of kick-back deals rather than according to individual customer needs. To some extent, however, this is understandable, he conceded. After all, many advertising clients would squeeze the fees of the MAs so much that good work was hardly realistic any more. Döbeli criticized the fact that it makes no sense to call in a media auditor because the client would then simply spend the money saved on fees elsewhere.
Nevertheless, Konnex and Media Audits are primarily looking at the MAs, while Baumann tends to focus more on the advertising agencies. "If the quality of the advertising is not right, even media auditing is useless," said Baumann. Kruse countered that "the value of a creative campaign can be destroyed by the wrong strategy".
Guiding valuable cargo through difficult waters
The different approaches: The heart of Media Audits is a database into which data from every media plan reviewed and, if necessary, optimized by the company flows. The analysis of the target groups is included as well as that of the media mix, budget distribution and success. In this way, it is not only possible to call up empirical values by sector or product group. It is also possible to say which MA can plan which medium particularly efficiently.
However, Kruse conceded that this approach is particularly suitable for electronic media and quickly reaches its limits with print or posters - which is probably one of the reasons why media auditing is (still) underdeveloped in Switzerland as a print country. Kruse therefore sees the media auditor as a "pilot who guides large ships with valuable cargo through difficult waters". Thanks to their "market overview", they can help with the selection of the MA, with the briefing thanks to their "experience" and with the planning review thanks to their "neutrality". And the tedious task of checking invoices can also be delegated to Media Audits.
Döbeli contrasted this quantitative approach with his qualitative one: Konnex limits itself to reviewing the strategy proposed by MA. "In our opinion, monitoring objectives and impact takes priority over technocratic analyses such as efficiency rates or CPM optimizations," said Döbeli.
Baumann dismissed all of this as a "hedging strategy for senior executives". He offers himself to his clients more as a "friend next door", he said. He acts "from the gut" as a lateral thinker and gives his second opinion on the way a campaign is implemented.
Kruse and Döbeli agreed that the relationship between media auditor and MA is often a "difficult" one. However, according to Döbeli, the media auditor should not be the calf-biter, but must play a constructive role in the planning: "Nothing works without working together as partners."
Media Audits Ltd.
According to Dietmar Kruse, the company Media Audits is to 51%
in the hands of its own management, and to 49% in those of Barclay. "But we don't work for Barclay," said Kruse. When Media Audits advises several clients from the same industry at the same time, a separate team is put together for each client. Although the threads still come together at Kruse, he claims to be disciplined enough to be able to carry out his work "neutrally". (mk)
