Postcodes and clusters; new-age procurement; and Queen Tess

Like Ogilvy’s ill-fated move to Canary Wharf in the 90s, is Publicis Media committing itself to a period of darkness by moving to the wilds of W12, wonders Dominic Mills. Plus: the impact of MGOMD being tipped to win the Government’s media account, and why we are so lucky to have Tess Alps

I expect that the first reaction of many people when they heard that Publicis Media was to move its multiple constituent agencies and 2,000 staff to the old BBC donut building in White City was: ‘WTF?’

And the second: ‘where exactly is White City?’

Let’s deal with these in reverse order. White City is the salubrious W12 postcode, jammed between Shepherds Bush to the south and Kensal Rise to the north.

Local attractions include QPR, the White City housing estate and the A40 flyover. The local Nandos is apparently top-notch – although prone to the odd shooting.

Westfield is a 15-minute walk away, and the nearest tubes are White City (Central Line – next stop west is East Acton) and Wood Lane (Hammersmith and City). Easily accessible it is not.

We’ve been accustomed to the ad industry’s drift away from its original W1 postcode location, driven by rising rents and buildings not fit for modern-day working practices or large enough to match the march of agency consolidation.

Many will say this was a loss. The concentration of agencies in and around Soho exemplified cluster theory, whereby suppliers and ancillary support services move in close. Thus agency-land was also populated by production companies, post-production studios and research and design agencies.

Clusters make for zones rich in cross-fertilisation and expertise. Cluster theory is rooted in history – think of Hatton Garden, lawyers around Holborn, Hollywood, Silicon Valley, the City (now including Canary Wharf) and Wall Street. People like working near their friends, peers and competitors. [advert position=”left”]

But the ad industry is now effectively atomised, with agencies scattered to at least three corners of London, east in Shoreditch (now a digital and ad tech cluster in its own right), and increasingly the London Bridge/Southwark/South Bank area.

You could argue that the process started in the early 90s when Ogilvy moved from its long-time base just off the Strand to Canary Wharf – followed by exactly none of its peers and just a few media owners (the Mirror and the Telegraph, the latter subsequently moving back to the West End). The notion that Canary Wharf might become media-land came to naught and back then public transport links were poor, which didn’t help.

There are those who say that Ogilvy’s move to Canary Wharf knocked the stuffing and the soul out of the agency for 20 years, and it’s only now, back on the South Bank, that it is recovering. Canary Wharf was remote, people didn’t want to work there and clients certainly didn’t want to hike all the way east.

Indeed, so difficult was it to persuade people to go there that Ogilvy even bought its own high-speed river cruiser (named H2O&M – at least it hadn’t lost all its capacity for wit) to ferry visitors in and out.

So is Publicis Media, in moving to the wilds of W12, committing itself to a period of darkness? After all, it’s not long since it moved to the smart and trendily located Turnmills building in Farringdon.

Possibly. But there’s plenty of reason to believe that White City will in time become a creative cluster in which a media agency can thrive – and not just because it is the latest outpost of Soho House.

ITV Studios is located there and will move more staff over time. The BBC will locate production facilities there. Other interesting companies are there or moving in – Yoox Net a Porter and toymaker Jellycat to name but two. You can read more here.

And both Imperial College, a world leader in science, and the Royal College of Art, are also due to open campuses in the area.

So the opportunities for cross-fertilisation are large as the canvases that media agencies paint on – content, e-commerce and tech – widen in scope. The potential then for Publicis Media to feed off a rich environment is very much there.

There is also the plus of getting 2,000 staff from different agencies – many of whom have to work with each other – into one building. The downside is the difficulty of protecting or nurturing the cultures of those individual agencies.

But if I had a concern, it is much more prosaic. Transport. White City is a) not really anywhere and b) a pain in the arse to get to, either by road or public transport. Crossrail will help but many existing employees, who like Farringdon or central London, or may have arranged their lives around working in that part of London, may vote with their feet. Some cynics will say that is part of the plan; a cheap way to dump staff and recruit afresh.

And we hear much about the new era of collaborative working, which for media agencies means, among others, their creative agency sisters as well as media owners. As things currently stand, and leaving aside the TV production arms of the BBC and ITV, there aren’t any of those within shooting distance – the Mail in Kensington perhaps the nearest.

However, over time transport links will improve and the area will attract more like-minded movers. Thus, looking at the move on a spectrum of good idea to brave idea, I’d say it is closer to good.

New-era media procurement

News that Manning Gottlieb OMD has been ‘tipped’ (a nod is as good as a wink etc…) to land the Government’s £140m media account raises the possibility that we are moving to a new era of media procurement.

Now take a seat and prepare yourself: this is an era where media cost could be displaced as the prime factor in the decision. If that happens, then we could see far-reaching changes both in the way media agencies operate and the way budgets are allocated.

The reason: working with consultants PwC, and in line with the revised ISBA media framework agreement, media cost accounts for only 10% of the Government’s decision.

So far, as I understand it, only Barclays has followed a similar pattern, taking its business away from Wavemaker and handing it to Omnicom.

One of the mantras adopted by Tom Corbett, Barclays head of sponsorship and media, is revealing: “the only money I want my agency to make is from our fees.”

But if clients follow, then the rules of the game will change. Of course total cost (i.e. including agency fees) will still be a factor, but other considerations come into play: service, partnership, financial and operational transparency and, not before time, actual business outcomes.

It goes without saying that agencies and clients have talked a good game on this for some years now, but the gap between words and deeds has long been wide and, many would say, been getting wider.

It’s hard to underestimate just how radical this change could be. Current practices could be thrown on their head. Heaven knows, even client procurement teams will have to change the way they behave.

Bring it on.

All hail Queen Tess

I can’t finish this column without acknowledging the Advertising Association’s award of its prestigious Mackintosh Medal to Thinkbox’s Tess Alps.

There is no-one more deserving. Integrity runs through her like a stick of rock, she wears her heart on her sleeve, champions all that is good about the industry and is never frightened to criticise what is bad. And all of this is wrapped up in a package of grace, humility and wit…and always, but always, kind.

By the way, the Mackintosh is no industry bauble, tossed out annually like confetti like so many awards in this business. Tess is only the 10th awardee in 38 years.

That makes the prize all the more worthwhile. We are lucky to have her.