Media Buying Briefing: How to retain and empower agency talent when there’s more work than ever

Client demand only continues to grow, according to Agency Futures’ research. Six in 10 clients have shortened deadlines on projects, and the average timeline of a client’s expectation has shrunk from more than a month to 2-4 weeks, while projects now outweigh retainer business by 55% to 45%. While budgets are going up for 45% of clients, and 65% of agencies have increased staffs, the work is intensifying in ways that put pressure on people. 

This reality comes amidst the Great Resignation, when more employees are leaving the agency world than ever before. So what’s a media agency, or any agency for that matter, to do to ensure they’ve got the personnel to deliver on that growth without burning them out? 

“From new business to M&A, agencies’ value is more determined by talent and cohesion than ever,” said Agency Futures CEO Doug Baxter. “Independent agencies are resurging, and they need to create exemplary work environments to sustain the momentum.”

One broad, if somewhat obvious, answer revolves around making the environment for those remaining employees as positive and supportive as possible. There are many ways these efforts take shape, from offering financial rewards and guidance to mental wellness counseling, to increased freedom to balance life and work duties.

From a holding company POV, Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun recently announced anyone in the holding company is free to work anywhere else in the world. And Baxter pointed to Red Havas’ “very strenuous” efforts to foster flexibility among employees about where they want to work, taking up charitable causes, finding time for their own work and seeking deeper training. 

A lot of more granular efforts are shaping up among independent agencies, thanks to their smaller size and greater flexibility. John Harris, CEO of Worldwide Partners, pointed to several examples within that federation of agencies that reinvent classic molds of employee support:

• China-based digital and media agency Hylink connects employees with personal financial consultants so they can continuously adapt retirement plans to their individual needs. 
• U.S.-based food and agriculture agency Curious Plot has established three core working hours where teams stay online to collaborate in real time, with the rest of the day spent completely at employees’ discretion. 
• U.K. full-service agency Ardmore gives employees and their families 24/7 access to counseling via a free wellness app. 
• Scotland-based digital and media agency Union allows one employee to work for three months at any other Worldwide Partners agency in another part of the world.

“There’s something in the notion of the power of community in driving culture versus culture defining the community,” said Harris.  

Other independents are finding their own ways to empower their people. Media by Mother offers financial incentives for junior staffers who want to broaden their skill sets. For each new course they take, said Media by Mother CEO Dave Gaines, they receive a $1,000 bonus. 

“If your job is a strategist, you still need to understand how an ad gets around Amazon or gets around Facebook,” said Gaines. “Because if you don’t, you’re just writing these kind of shallow PowerPoint decks, and you’re like, detail schmetail, don’t worry about the last bit, ‘cause somebody else will do that.”

But does an over-prioritization of employees’ needs over client needs result in the proverbial inmates taking over the insane asylum?

Baxter, who works with holding companies and indies alike said in all his experience, that’s never happened. “It’s extremely positive for the clients when the staff are much more invested in the agency because they’re creating the culture — it’s not just a ploy or a job. It becomes part of their belief system. The difficulty is more with ownership to let go and trust these processes.” 

“Flexibility comes with accountability,” added Harris. “Those agencies that are aligning the two are seeing success and delivering on the expectations clients have. It’s been proven through data that if you focus primarily on employee satisfaction, clients are going to be happy, and profit margins will go up.” 

Color by numbers

The growing role of commerce and performance in brand advertising is almost best embodied by Amazon’s incredible growth in ad revenue, now that the commerce giant is breaking out that number in its financial results. A new study from e-commerce software company Perpetua and WARC of early data from Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) examined how upper-funnel OTT ads (used as a proxy for brand advertising) and lower-funnel sponsored-products ads work together on Amazon. It found:

• Most OTT impressions happen between 9-11a.m., while purchases don’t usually happen until 3 p.m. or between 9-10 p.m.;
• 72 percent of users convert within two hours from seeing an ad;
• 69 percent of purchases (number of products sold to each customer) are to new-to-brand customers being influenced by an OTT ad;
• Looking at DSP ads, over 30 percent of the conversions come between three days and two week after the first interaction with an ad.

Takeoff & landing

• GroupM media agency Mediacom successfully defended food company Mars’ media business following an internal review, while sibling digital agency Essence won biddable media duties. The account is reportedly worth about $1 billion in media spend and the contract runs until 2025. 
• On the strength of its connection to data giant Acxiom, IPG’s media agency Mediahub was named the first global digital media agency for AkzoNobel, a European paints company active in 150 markets. Mediacom retained offline buying and planning. The review was handled by MediaPath.
• Tony Pace, a well liked and highly respected marketer who was the longtime CMO of Subway, died last week as a result of a snowmobile accident. Pace was 64. 
• Horizon Media named Mark Capps its executive vp, managing partner of business solutions, hiring him from Dentsu’s Merkle unit where he was senior vp of strategic accounts.  

Direct quote

“We inquired about the possibility of Weedmaps advertising during this year’s broadcast of the game, but unfortunately, due to the industry we work within, the request was declined. It was a stark reminder that although cannabis is legal in the majority of the country, the stigma continues to perpetuate, creating significant challenges for businesses to both engage and educate their customers through traditional marketing channels and social media platforms. As a leading technology company in the industry, we have a responsibility to raise awareness of issues and challenges that impede the growth of businesses within the space.”

— Chris Beales, CEO of cannabis marketer Weedmaps, about having an ad targeted to run in Super Bowl LVI rejected.

Speed reading

• Last week, during the IAB’s Annual Leadership Meeting, we heard a lot from Big Tech about how we shouldn’t worry about the future. Senior ad tech reporter Ronan Shields dove deep into why that should and shouldn’t scare the rest of the industry.  
• I also covered some of the agency world’s thoughts and reactions at IAB ALM, notably regarding the contradiction between data abuse and what industry leaders say they’re doing about it. 
• TechCrunch broke down the new offerings being rolled out at YouTube, including NFTs and shoppable video products, all of which were spelled out in a blog post from chief product officer Neal Mohan.