IAPIs Adfx Energiser: Two clients eye views.
O2’s offices played host to a great forum yesterday morning from IAPI on advertising effectiveness. The structure of the session was built around two clients with weighty CVs and authority to speak confidently on the subject - and they definitely did. If you had any questions around what effectiveness means, what role agencies play in this area and how much accountable effectiveness marketing directors now are – this was definitely the event for you.
Tom Kinsella, Group Marketing Director of AIB with 20 years of experience in in Diageo, spoke very openly about what he expects from agencies within this area and what their weaknesses are. When Tanya Banotti of IAPI questioned how can brands expect to have a long term partnership if the agency relationship changes every 2-3 years, Tom very frankly said that there is a need for changing how agencies are remunerated based on effectiveness – making it a win-win for both parties.
Melissa Furze, Head of the Business Information Competency Centre in O2, gave her opinion on the effectiveness landscape in Ireland and Asia (where she worked previously) and acknowledged that her analytical background gave her a data-driven perspectives on advertising and marketing effectiveness.
The morning quickly moved to how best to cultivate an effectiveness culture between clients & agencies with Tom, Melissa and Karen Hand taking questions from the floor. The majority in the audience wanted to understand the thoughts from the podium on best practice, and the consensus was that agency and clients need to prioritise ad effectiveness as it's the basis of a longer term relationship. Melissa offered that having more events like this one bringing everyone together and embracing learning from each other was very beneficial and continuing this culture would be a positive start.
Aside from the ‘how’ of ad effectiveness, the ‘why’ was very clear and mentioned several times throughout the morning – marketing departments are more accountable than they have ever been and marketing budgets are quick to be cut by accountant-heavy boards – justification of marketing spend on the bottom line is no longer wishful thinking it’s essential. We, as an industry, need to ensure that we are armed with the know-how and results to back up and justify our actions – and the only way to do that is start the effectiveness conversation between clients and agencies now not as a by-product of entering adfx awards next year.