Simon Daglish, group commercial director at ITV, the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster, has suggested that the use of automated data when planning where advertising should be bought and placed, and removing human interpretation of data, is damaging the long-term value of brands. He thinks a focus on short-term success metrics is also endangering future profits for brand owners.
Speaking last week at a Mediatel event focused on media planning, Daglish said: “The highest aspiration in advertising, in my view, is to change human behaviour but today I fear the highest aspiration is to create a click.
“With the maturing of the Internet and all things digital, we are in danger of being dominated by the short-term. The siren of immediate sales is driving media consideration more than the idea of creating and changing demand. This type of planning will lead to longer-term decline both in relevance for brands and to their audiences and ultimately their profitability.”
Daglish highlighted the rise of the UK supermarkets Aldi and Lidl, which have no FMCG (fast moving consumers goods) brands on their shelves and are instead stocked with own-label products. Inferring that goods without powerful branding are in danger of becoming commoditised, he told the audience: “Their customers see these FMCG brands as having no relevance to them.”
[Aldi’s UK TV campaigns have been led by the idea of customers saying how “I like this one, and I also like this one”, pointing to a branded version of a popular food and then an own-label Aldi version, followed by the graphics catch-line showing how much cheaper the Aldi version is – having presented it as an equal or at least acceptable alternative.]
Daglish said data is brilliant and helps us track and, to some extent, predict human behaviour, but is also historical. “But automated data does not give us the ability to change human behaviour. My concern is that this is not a concern in the media industry.
The drive to automated planning has led brands to very efficiently buy in the short-term while sacrificing their long-term future, believing their business will grow through more cheap and more efficient data but not more effective data.”
Daglish went on to question why ad-blocking is increasing, and what he called a hatred of advertising is growing against a background in which data platform evangelists claim to be delivering more relevant and more targeted media than ever before. “Folks, it is a lie – it is not working,” he claimed.
He then championed the role of humans who interpret data, saying they provide the essential illogical thoughts and the curiosity that deliver the insights that create change.
“It is curiosity that allows us to question and poke, and push through experiments and take risks. The failures may be more spectacular but success is much more likely.
“The curiosity of the [media] planner is an essential ingredient to changing human behaviour. The curiosity of planners will turn data into gold, create change, lead to market innovation and ultimately create brands, and indeed, clicks.”
