Seeing media as either unimportant, or a cost to be cut rather than a significant investment to be gained from, is an unsatisfactory and dangerous position.

We generalise of course, but it's the negatives that often help define a way forward.

Amongst various factors, media professionals have helped perpetuate these misperceptions by:
* making the sole measure of media performance the price of media
* not providing quantifiable measures in areas other than price
* lacking adequate means to appraise a Media Specialist's overall performance
We at the WPP media c
ompanies of MindShare, Maximise & MindShare-Fulcrum see this lack of comprehensive methods to fix accountability as the most critical issue facing the media industry.
Media will be only seen as an investment when the returns are visible i.e. quantifiable & measurable. Without accountability we literally cannot prove our worth.

Today's Shortcoming
Currently, the most common standard for evaluation, and thus accountability, is to assess the implementation of the plan through regular post buys i.e. measuring whether the executed plan met intended goals in terms of spots, coverage, cumulative GRP's and cost efficiency.
In effect these are hygiene checks not result-based measures of effectiveness. And though important, post buys are only one aspect of media performance.
Broadly, two inextricably linked aspects of accountability need to be established:
* The performance of a media plan and its subsequent implementation and purchase
* The performance of the Media Specialist Agency doing that function

Defining Accountability
The dictionary defines accountability as “being responsible for getting something done".
Defining true accountability in media planning and buying is therefore proving that a media strategy, plan and buy deliver on set goals. This is a three-stage process:
1. Defining quantifiable objectives
2. Mechanisms to measure performance against those goals
3. Establishing normative or comparative benchmarks
The simple construct below outlines the scope of measurement relative to the performance of a media plan & its subsequent implementation & purchase.

Measurable Communication Objectives
Currently media decisions are made at two levels:
Instinctive
— Go with popular opinions or past experience
— No benchmarking of performance involved
Normative
— Rigour in evaluation at every stage
Most industry efforts are currently centred on improving the degree of normative decision-making through Reach & Frequency guidelines, optimisation and so on. This ignores the end result of what media is setting out to accomplish - having a specific effect on consumers. Any links to a marketing objective and a communication objective are tenuous; if they exist at all.

A simple case study illustrates the difference.

By answering question 1 we set parameters to the nature of the task and quantified the desired communications effect. Through extensive econometric analysis, our Advanced Techniques Group, a WPP media company specialist unit, established the level at which advertising awareness of the “cleans whiter" proposition would provide the desired marketing goal - X% advertising awareness would deliver 17% Share of market.
This was premised on global MindShare & Maximise studies showing the strong positive correlation between advertising awareness and sale.
Answering question 2 gave the media strategy a clear objective to achieve: devise a media strategy to achieve X% advertising awareness.

Media now had a Smart, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic & Time-bound (SMART) goal to fulfil linked to the communication strategy - the beginnings of measurable & relevant media accountability.

Media strategy
Strategic media planning now comes into play - specific media investment decisions designed to fulfil communication objectives providing measurable ROI. Decisions for each of the elements below eventually affect the absolute level of investment in media activities. Prioritising the elements provides a thrust that reflects a Brand's business, marketing & communication plans.
The boundaries of media productivity for a given budget can then be drawn i.e. how much media weight or money is required to achieve a specific strategic goal.
The identification and quantification of each of these strategic elements then provides the second stage in defining accountability - objective & action based strategic goals that result in productivity gains.

Productivity gains for each of these elements can be optimised using proprietary applications and research. Two instances are shown below.
Plan Implementation
At this stage media are analysed and selected to fulfil the goals set out in the media strategy. The components involved:
* The type of media vehicles to be used in the mix (Press, TV, Radio, etc)
* The number of specific media to be used in the mix (Title A, Title B, etc)
* The amount of weight or investment in each medium
* The types of TV programs or print sections
Given its focus for most current performance evaluations due to its measurability, we will not dwell upon this phase.

Some caveats:
* Productivity gains must be clearly demonstrated for all steps of plan development.
* Alternate plans must be developed to compare potential gains or losses.
* Applications, such as TV schedule optimisers or WPP media's Viewergraphics, can help optimise productivity gains.
* Tools & applications shouldn't be
used as black boxes delivering magic
solutions — quality people are required to input the right information and interpret the results — GIGO.

Investment
At this stage it is the cost of the weight levels (determined in the strategic plan) for each selected medium and the media mix (determined in plan implementation) that need to be reduced i.e. savings.

All Media Specialist Agencies can provide media discounts if they are of sufficient size & purchasing volume to negotiate reduced rates.
The dilemma is what yardstick should be used to gauge the lowest rate. There is no industry rate benchmark with which to objectively compare media prices.
* Rate cards are next to useless because hardly anyone uses them
* Estimated market rates are just that - estimates

In Europe, the UK in particular, this obstacle has been overcome through the introduction of Media Auditing firms. These are firms that audit media rates across all media for many clients to create a pool of representative media rates allowing cross comparison. No such companies exist in India today.
But there is an answer (pardon the unabashed pitch).
WPP media has the largest volume market share in India. Combined with our 250+ clients this provides us with the most representative sample of media rates across all media allowing benchmarked media prices for all magnitudes of media budgets. An ‘average' rate and a ‘best' rate can be developed from the rate pool for each budget cluster. An advertiser's rate can then be compared to the appropriate benchmark.
With benchmarked media rates we can finally arrive at an objective price measure of media performance and thus determine, quantifiably, a media ROI.

Media Specialist Agency Performance & Accountability
Finally the performance of the Media Specialist Agency performing all the functions described previously needs to be assessed.
At the WPP media companies of MindShare & Maximise we live by a simple, yet tough, motto - RESULTS RULE. As an independent media company our business performance is tied to the growth or decline of a customer's business. So more than ever, our client's business is truly our business.
To that end we have devised a performance evaluation system for clients to measure our performance & thus maximise our accountability.

Each criterion is highly quantifiable allowing calibration to become Key Performance Indicators (KPI). They can include:
* Strategy Development
* Plan Implementation
* Negotiation
* Cost Control
* Competitive Analysis
* Application of media research
* Creativity & innovation
* Media Opportunities
* Market Intelligence
* Presentation
* Administration
* Financial Control
Made specific and relevant (SMART), the number and type of KPI's are mutually selected, quantified and agreed with our clients. Weighting mechanisms can be applied where special emphasis is required. To push accountability even further, our customer's evaluations have been included in staff annual appraisals.
The results of the appraisal, conducted at least bi-annually, are then benchmarked and tracked over time. In many cases this assessment is linked to incentive remuneration.

The Bottom line
Advertising works like grass: you don't see it grow, but you need to mow the lawn each week. We have called into question the adequacy of our lawn mowers and the nature of lawn upkeep.
Both advertisers and media professionals remind us of Oscar Wilde's definition of a cynic: a person who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
Advertisers should ask themselves whether they are sure their media planning & buying is as good as it should be …or could be.
It's up to the media industry to prove that media is an investment rather than a cost, by doing more to demonstrate that effective media planning & buying delivers quantifiable returns.
If Media Specialist Agencies ever hope to break themselves out of the downward slide in remuneration then demonstrating our value is critical. Only comprehensive performance measures leading to heightened accountability will determine that value.
Our fates are bound as those returns affect our customer's bottom line and ultimately our own.
And there is nothing more accountable than one's bottom line.

Feeback on this article may be emailed to:
smeditor@indiatimes.com