MRG Conference Kicks Off In France
When Martin Sorrell opened the Spring 1997 MRG Conference in Dublin he spoke of his aim that WPP should be able to challenge the likes of McKinseys in offering strategic advice to advertisers.
Agencies are well-qualified to do so, he said, but either not highly enough regarded or simply not geared up to provide such lucrative long-term marketing consultancy. Eighteen months on and nothing much has changed according to United Biscuits International brand director Mark Horgan, opening the 1998 Nice Conference today.
He bemoaned the lack of involvement by agencies in ‘strategic partnerships’ with their clients, a world still dominated by the management consultants. It is at this level that long-term marketing plans are being formulated in a world where regional now means global. “Are you influencing clients at the right level?” he asked a packed MRG conference. “You may influence clients more if you produce more research into effectiveness rather than efficiency.”
Horgan had earlier illustrated these key points with a series of figures showing huge adspend increases by the biggest global brands in Eastern Europe, with money often moved out of the UK to accommodate this. Such decisions were rarely influenced by agencies, he confirmed.
The sense that the media agency may be missing out on client influence was compounded further by Andy Brown, managing director of BMRB, as he related details of a project undertaken between research company BMRB and client Barclaycard. This involved a technique labelled T-modelling, merging TGI data and Barclaycard’s own database of 6.4 million customers. The result was more information (at postcode level) and new opportunities for Barclaycard. No agency involvement in the project. In Brown’s view only New PHD’s Apollo is working on similar database-marketing led strategies for clients.
The conference theme is to consider whether the media strategist has “come of age” – not according to these opening speakers, it would seem.
From the floor, Phil Gullen of Carat and Antony Jones of Optimedia were able to point to client relationships where their companies were getting involved in worldwide advertising strategies – in Carat’s case, alongside McKinseys.