In recent weeks, Newsweek and Discovery Channel have linked up again to create a campaign for Martell. The two companies produced an integrated mix of advertorials and vignettes, which appeared in Newsweek and ran concurrently on Discovery's regional network.
This is the second time Newsweek has linked up with other media owners.
It was a Philips campaign to expand the reach of its there-year-old brand repositioning effort in 2000 which first brought five media suppliers in the region together - the BBC World, Business Week, Discovery Channel, IHT and Newsweek. Angie Santa Maria, Newsweek's associate regional advertising director, says: "As we are not part of a big grouping we have more flexibility to work with other media owners."
Helped by the competitive media environment, Philips secured a 12 per cent discount on the buy. But the value of such partnerships to the client extend well beyond cheaper rates, says Santa Maria. "Working across these different mediums really brought out the creative message (of the Martell campaign)."
Group deals such as these allow independent media owners to compete with the likes of AOL Time Warner and Dow Jones, which routinely offer clients cross-platform buys across their print, television and internet interests.
In the latest such deal, AOL Time Warner's CNN expanded its partnership with Cathay Pacific, which signed up as the first and exclusive sponsor of the news channel's new television programme and online business news ticker. This though is limited to CNN at the moment. In 1999, Time Warner also launched the Visions of China campaign for China's 50th anniversary, a multimedia programme which spanned its various media interests.
Observes Alan Lammin, vice-president and managing director, Asia for Business Week: "The reality is that AOL Time Warner and Dow Jones (to a lesser degree) stand alone as media conglomerates that are trying to offer integrated solutions to clients, thereby secure a majority share of a dwindling budget. It's nice if you can get it, but financial pressures will surely build as these companies race to the bottom on price and run into difficulties in profitably delivering on all that they promise. Anecdotally this issue seems to be emerging and we must never lose sight of the fact that, because they are listed entities, both of these mega-companies have strict financial parameters to work within."
Lammin warns that where margin pressures build up due to low ball pricing, compromises and sacrifices will inevitably have to be made in one or more areas such as editorial resources, subscription development and acquisition, and marketing. "These are the inescapable economics of print publishing and clients should be mindful of what could happen over the medium to long term if they want to remain in the product and brand promotion arena."
Nick Morgan, senior vice-president of Turner News Networks advertising sales, however says strategy rather than simply price drives the group's integrated buys. "It's not about buying a bunch of titles and getting one for free. What we offer is a unique range of properties. We give customers well-thought out media packages. It's a case of value, not price. These platform agreements are not thrown together out of necessity and are not marriages of convenience."
But Richard Huggins, regional director, Southeast Asia, Business Week, believes the market has moved on from integrated buys. "Time Warner very effectively packaged these (deals) and it was for cost-efficiency, not strategy. For Newsweek and Discovery to join forces makes strategic market sense in purchasing and makes sense for the clients. There may be fractional cost saving here."
