Should the TV networks replace ad agencies? That's the question raised by "Media Rules" author Brian Reich (no relation) at a recent New York Media Information Exchange Group session and reported by Advertising Age yesterday.


Brian says the TV and cable networks know what their audience wants, while at the other end are the marketers who know their product best. Why, he asks, do we need to have ad agencies in the middle who (Brian's words) know only half as much about the audience and half as much about the product?
Shouldn't the networks work directly with the advertisers to craft the message, he postulates.
Brian is making some mighty big assumptions when he says the networks know what their audience wants. If they know their audience so well, why are they losing viewers by the millions?
And who will make the decision as to where ads should run to best reach the marketer's target audience? And when they should run, to ensure the message is actually being heard and, ideally, being acted upon? The strategy of messaging and media planning and scheduling is best left to the advertising and/or media agencies, working closely with the marketers. To bring in the media at that strategic point may not work in the best interest of the marketer, since there's a potential conflict of interest. The media, understandably looking at their own bottom line, will be tempted to try to convince the advertiser to "spend it all with us."
And as for the networks doing the creative, it's an interesting idea but how practical is it really? Imagine the confusion for the consumer as you see different ads for the same product on ABC, CBS, TNT or the new ION.
I do agree with Brian that the advertisers and media should have a more symbiotic relationship. In many cases, they already do when the media provide various forms of value added to enhance the reach and impact of an ad. In situations where the ad sales reps are acting as more than order-takers, creative placement often results.
But replace ad agencies with creatives at the networks? The idea will get people talking, for sure, but I don't see it as a practical model.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

After 30+ years in this business, I still look forward to going to work. Rarely are two days the same, and the challenges are varied and stimulating.

My firm, Reich Communications, Inc., handles an interesting range of clients that take me from b2b to consumer publicity, from the world of high-priced art to advocacy for issues including traffic safety and securing mental health resources for survivors of mass violence globally.

Over the years at mid-size and large New York agencies, I’ve served a client roster that reads like a “who’s who” of business – General Electric, Emery, Ryder, Travelers Insurance, Phillips Petroleum, Georgia-Pacific and Jaguar Cars. I’ve also worked with groups like the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association (for their giant New York Auto Show), Syndicated Network Television Association, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Highlights include leading the publicity team that launched L’eggs hosiery, which later became a Harvard B-School case history. I also managed P.R. and community relations for the Metro New York McDonald's Co-op, with more than 250 stores. We won a Marketing Excellence Award for a McDonald's public service program I developed on fire safety. It also won an Emmy for on-air host Dr. Frank Field, health & science editor at media partner WCBS-TV in New York, and it was directly credited by the NYFD for saving several lives. During those years, I also had more than my share of Big Macs.

I have a degree in Industrial Management and an MBA in Public Relations. I live in southern Westchester, 15 miles north of midtown Manhattan, in the same town where I grew up. “Money-earnin’ Mount Vernon” is how the town is now known as a center of hip-hop culture, but it also claims as native sons Denzel Washington, Dick Clark, author e.b. White, Art Carney, Art Buchwald and Sean “P-Diddy” Combs.

I write about marketing, media and public relations at my blog, "my 2 cents" If I ever retire from this crazy business, I'd love to be an all-night jazz deejay.