Media ACE’17: Sam Balsara suggests better symbiotic relations between industry and media planners

When P&G's Marc Pritchard made ‘derogatory’ comments about media agencies at Cannes, it made Sam Balsara, Chairman and Managing Director at Madison World, take notice. “He was complaining about the complex structure of media agencies and their ‘non-transparent’ ways. With that as a peg, let’s understand the concept of simplicity in a slightly broader context of business,” he said.

At exchange4media’s 3rd edition of the Media ACE Awards, a panel discussion on the simplicity of the media game was held in Mumbai. It was moderated by Balsara, and the other panellists were Madhav Nene, Sr. GM Marketing Services - Automobile Division at Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, Kashyap Vadapalli, CMO at Pepperfry, Vidhyadhar Kale, Agency Head at Facebook, Krishna Menon, CMO at Sakal Media Group and Nandini Dias, CEO at Lodestar UM.

Balsara said that he is a believer of simplification in business. “Almost all business building ideas have emerged from a problem that a product can solve. A simple idea is not so easy to stumble upon. To get that simple idea, it calls for certain mastery of the subject,” he said.

Nene spoke about the crucial aspect of data in today’s complex and competitive world across all verticals. He stressed on the need to comprehend the data by marketers which isn’t the scenario otherwise. He pointed out that simplification is also required in measurement with softwares like BARC and RAM helping to some extent. “Everyone has a different definition of universe and household. Can we have one such system which simplifies the process for everyone and has a unique and same understanding across? Can we also have one measurement that simplifies and gives better understanding of the customer?” he asked.

Vadapalli agreed with Nene. He also observed that with horizontals like Flipkart and Amazon trying to target everybody and conduct mass selling, it only brings complexity to the ecosystem. He noticed another issue which was the dependence on data. “The dependence on data, systems and the output has become more important because we are dealing with complex businesses that are serving multiple verticals, different types of consumers and geographies. That’s when thinking fundamentally becomes difficult and everybody tries to shift the decision making responsibility to data.”

He suggested that a simple, well thought out business will help bring some sanity to the complex world of data. “The structure of how you sell to consumers will determine all the decisions you will take down the line. Large businesses have a reason to exist but they need to break it down to simpler formats when they are interacting with their agency partners and marketing teams,” he said. He also mentioned that they are feeling challenged by the buyer’s lack of single view across online mediums and what they are looking for.

Balsara moved the discussion to Kale stating that Facebook’s offers to advertisers have become complicated over time by creating multiple offers and in turn complex situations. Kale defended Facebook saying that they work on a self-serve model with advertisers and agencies. “Our interpretation of simplicity is self-serve where the market defines it,” he said.

On evaluation, Kale added, “We are over-indexed on efficiency. It is crucial but it can’t be the be-all and end-all to everything. We would rather stay focused on delivering business results.”

Menon talked about being present across print, digital and TV mediums and asked if there is a measurement criterion available which can look at the effectiveness of all three mediums together in a particular market. “End of the day, mediums would try and complement each other. So, if I am doing a campaign, can I break it with print, continue with television and probably get sustainability through digital?” he asked.

Balsara suggested the CPT model. Menon agreed adding, “Every agency needs to go to the market with the brand and understand what the consumer wants.”

At this stage, the discussion moved towards Pritchard’s accusation with Balsara asking Dias her viewpoint. She replied, “Media planners are geniuses. We have 800 channels, 36,000 publications expected to predict ratings to the sixth decimal, get the pre and post-correct to the deviation of 2 or 4 per cent and we deliver it all the time. We are simplifying it. We have made it simple through techniques and tools.”

She also suggested that, “We need to simplify the sheer operational processes which are tedious. We, as an industry, need to get together, use technology and create processes that allow our people to think and implement.”

Balsara added, “Our fears and concerns about confidentiality and deals have made media agencies and our relationship with both advertisers and publishers a little complicated. There are so many issues holding up many simplification measures that are on the anvil. We should put away our fears and concerns and take a broader view of the industry, take simplification as a major project with all industry bodies and move forward.”