Is agency management interested in the potential of media systems?

Yesterday’s ‘Would more investment in media systems make us all more profitable?’ breakfast event, in association with Clearcast, illustrated the conundrum agencies (in particular) now find themselves in regarding media process and trading systems.

It is clear that margins could be improved by better, more efficient use of technology and systems, but there remains little appetite at a senior level to engage with the complex issue.

That was the view of panellist Derek Morris, COO at Vivaki, and was later supported by a number of delegates, including Aegis’ Jim Marshall and UKOM’s Douglas McArthur. It was McArthur, who had managed to pull agencies and radio companies together ten years ago as CEO of the RAB, to launch J-ET, radio’s trading system.

And it was not much brighter for media owners. The panel agreed that there is more going on in the systems departments, but still a long way to go and many challenges, especially around online – which is “a huge mess and an administrative nightmare,” according to Jeff Eales, director of systems and development at BSkyB.

Yahoo’s managing director & VP sales, UK and Ireland, James Wildman – only in the post for a couple of months – said: “We are getting there but there is still a long way to go. Online is still very young. We’re trying hard to fix the fundamentals behind the scenes but the pace of change is phenomenal. ”

However, many present did feel more optimistic that there would be some change now, partly driven by the economy and partly by a collective waking up to the scale of the challenge.

There were calls from round the room for an initiative based around the IPA, but Morris admitted the IPA would only be obliged to move this forward by agencies raising it as a priority. “Agencies need to do more – engage, sponsor and make it happen,” Morris said. “There is huge ROI in making a system work.”

Belinda Beeftink, associate director, media research at the IPA, said the IPA needs commitment from agencies to move this forward – “our members need to agree and then we’ll facilitate, but we can’t do it all.”

Marshall said the problem is that systems are not at the heart of agencies, and “they should be… systems are just seen as a helpdesk. They have never had the status or importance that they need – they should be critical to the commercial operation”.