MEDIA AGENCIES Some "experts" believe that the media agency is an obsolete model. At least the development of the Swiss advertising market in recent years paints a completely different picture. By Walter Weder, Media.Research.GroupThe number of 750 top advertising clients working with a media agency has risen above the 500 mark for the first time this year. In 2014, there were 457 (60.9%), last year 485 (64.7%) and now, in 2016, there are already 511 (68.1%). Of these, just over half (52.5%) work with a media agency that is part of an international network, 47.5 with a national media agency.The agency rating media agencies, which has been compiled by the Media.Research.Group has been surveying the top 750 clients in the Swiss advertising market since 2003, consists of questions on which all clients are allowed to comment (awareness, overall impression and recommendations) as well as questions on individual agency services (strategy, creativity, consulting and media buying), which can only be answered by those who actually use these services as clients of the agency being assessed. The former express the growth potential of an agency, the latter the satisfaction of clients with their agency.
The best-known media agencies in the Swiss advertising marketIn the question used to determine the awareness of an agency, the respondent can say about each media agency that "they know what this agency stands for", "they know individual works/clients of this agency", "they only know this agency by name" or "they don't know this agency at all".Mediaschneider is still the best-known Swiss media agency, but has lost some of its total superiority. While 91 clients said a year ago that they knew exactly what this agency stood for, 76 still do in 2016. 50 clients said the same about Mediatonic a year ago. The two best-known media agencies in the Swiss advertising market are therefore agencies with no connection to an international network. They are followed in third to sixth place exclusively by network agencies (OMD, Havas Media, ZenithOptimedia, Mindshare).
These are most frequently recommendedThe picture is practically the same when we ask clients which agency they would recommend to a colleague. mediaschneider is most frequently recommended to a colleague. But here, too, it has lost its big lead. Last year, mediaschneider was recommended by 67 clients, in 2016 only by 55. mediatonic is getting closer here too. In 2015, mediatonic received 49 recommendations, now it has 51. All other agencies receive less than half as many recommendations as the two frontrunners.
The overall picture of the assessment is characterized by great stabilityThe average score for the overall impression of all agencies remained absolutely unchanged compared to the previous year at 7.55 points. This is despite the fact that individual agencies were able to make strong gains (PHD +0.56 and Mediakanzlei +0.32), while others had to accept significant losses in some cases. The average scores for the four services strategy, creativity, consulting and media buying also changed very little. The score for strategy is exactly the same as in 2014 (8.37). The score for creativity has fallen minimally, by 0.01 (7.64). Media agencies have made very slight gains in media buying (by 0.04 to 8.63). It is only in the area of consulting that they have had to accept a drop for the second time in a row (by -0.18 to 8.43).
The same agencies are on the podium as last yearAs every time since the first publication of the agency rating for media agencies in 2003, mediaschneider climbs to the top step of the podium this year. The victory is clear, but not as overwhelming as last year. The total score for all 7 grades fell slightly, by 0.31 points, but is still well above the score from 2014 (58.83).Mediatonic, the eternal runner-up, was able to reduce the gap to mediaschneider by 0.8 points, but is still 4.2 points behind. Things get interesting from third place onwards: Havas Media has made up 2.8 points on mediatonic and at the same time increased its lead over fourth-placed Konnex by 2.0 points. The podium therefore appears to be solidified for the near future. The three agencies in first place did not achieve their good ranking because they were only assessed by a few "well-meaning" customers. The opposite is true. They are all among the most frequently rated agencies. At mediatonic, for example, there are 49 customer ratings. 16 media agencies can be identified in the 2016 agency rating. New to the list are mediafactor and PHD. Both have achieved the required minimum number of 10 ratings by their own clients for the first time. Agencies that are not listed here have not met this requirement.Mediaschneider 60.20Mediatonic 55.98Havas Media 53.34Konnex 51.01Mediaplus 50.68ZipMedia 50.32OMD 50.22Mediakanzlei 48.02The Generation Media 47.26Mediafactor 46.92TWMedia 45.83MediaCom 45.61Mindshare 45.19Carat 43.66ZenithOptimedia 42.97PHD 41.65
Mith a balanced sheet of musicBecause mediaschneider's overall score fell by 0.31 points and mediatonic was able to gain 0.5 points at the same time, mediatonic moved slightly closer to mediaschneider again. mediatonic achieved the best score of all media agencies in the overall impression question with 8.89 and is on the podium for each of the four individual services surveyed: strategy, creativity, consulting and media buying. mediatonic has therefore been the "agency with the most satisfied customers" since 2013.Havas Media is the best network agencyThe top duo of the Swiss media agency scene is completed by Havas Media, which is the only one that can keep up with these two. In contrast to them, Havas Media was able to improve its overall score by 3.32 points in 2016. In 2014, Havas Media was still 0.96 points behind Konnex in fifth place. Last year, it made it onto the podium, 0.33 points ahead of ZIP Media. In 2016, it was able to consolidate its place on the podium. Its lead over 4th place is now 2.33 points. As always in recent years, Havas Media is therefore also the best network agency; once again ahead of OMD.Konnex, Mediaplus and ZipMedia - first followersThree more national media agencies follow in places 4-6: Konnex, Mediaplus and ZipMedia. Konnex and ZipMedia have been ranked higher in the past, but this is the first time Mediaplus has been ranked this high. All three have improved their scores, Mediaplus the most (+3.4 points), with Konnex achieving the best score of all agencies for strategy. ZipMedia took first place in two disciplines (consulting and media buying) and also achieved the third-best score for overall impression. Mediaplus made it onto the podium as the third-best agency for consulting, but otherwise achieved its top position thanks to a great balance in all disciplines.OMD with the largest increase in pointsOMD took fourth place in the agency rating in 2013, slipped to 6th place in 2014 and even to 10th place last year. In 2016, it regained its former strength, gaining 4.73 points, the most of any agency, and moved up to 7th place again. It did not achieve this turnaround because fewer customers gave their opinions. On the contrary. OMD was rated by 31 clients (third most of all agencies).National media agencies also in the next four placesFour more national media agencies follow in places 8 to 11: Mediakanzlei, The Generation Media, Mediafactor and TWmedia. Mediakanzlei received the best score for creativity with 8.77 points. This is 1.23 points above the average score for all agencies. The second-best score (8.62 points) for creativity was achieved by mediafactor, which was included in the agency rating for the first time in 2016. The third-best score (8.45 points) went to The Generation Media, which also achieved third place for its media buying.The network agencies are lagging behindWith the exception of Havas Media in third place and OMD in seventh place, the major network agencies are unable to make a name for themselves in this rating. They occupy the lower ranks or did not even fulfill the requirements to be included in the rating. This is not due to their name recognition, as the well-known network agencies are all in the top half of the ranking. This unpleasant situation can be improved primarily by improving one's own performance and communicating it well.352 of the 750 advertising clients surveyed took part in the advertising market study, the sponsor study of the agency rating, in 2016. Of these, 335 answered the agency rating questions. A total of 23 agencies were surveyed. 16 were rated by at least 10 clients and thus fulfilled the requirements for publication of the results. The survey was carried out by the Media.Research.Group between mid-January and the end of February and further results of the advertising market study can be found here: www.mediaresearchgroup.ch
