The media industry is evolving faster than any business at any time
in history.
In managing media we need new paradigms. The new buzzword in media
communications is "ROI - return on Investment".
In most markets of the Asia-Pacific region, price was the deciding
factor in media. This was the way it all started in Europe 20 years ago.
However, ultimately there's a limit to how cheap media can be bought.
Clients are now shifting from being purely price-driven to value driven.
It is the mission of a media agency to help clients recognise the
strategic value of media planning, to improve the accountability of
funds and to deliver better "Return on Investment" of their advertising
funds.
Clients' expectations from what media services companies can and should
do are also changing. We now have to manage the universe of
communications and to develop fully integrated communication plans and
solutions for our clients.
We foresee the metamorphosis of media planning from being a matter of
putting checks in boxes to a role that positions us as the "total
communications investment fund managers".
In order to deliver the new expectations from clients, most of the media
companies seek to build their business beyond simply offering a media
planning and buying service, so gross incomes are rising at a healthy
rate, which also reflects a gradual move away from a cut-throat,
commission-based remuneration system towards a more respectable
fee-based method of payment.
This current environment continues to be favourable for Carat. The
increasing complexity of media communications, the growing challenge of
reaching consumers effectively, the demand from clients to maximise
marketing return on investment, the proliferation of media vehicles
driven by new technologies and the move to marketing strategies on a
global scale all offer enormous opportunities for the international
media specialist.
As the largest independent media specialist, Carat is well placed to
take advantage of these changes and our reward this year is a strong new
business performance with global net wins of more than USdollars 1.5
billion in annualised billings. At Carat we believe in fact-based
advice. Through our understanding of media and consumers, the
relationship of these two and the attitudes of consumers towards brands,
we aim to maximise marketing return of our clients' media investment. We
continue to invest in people, system, data management, research and
tools in pursuit of our strategic goals.
Against an unstable economic in most parts of the Asia Pacific region,
Carat achieved an outstanding performance and our billing growth
exceeded 480 per cent. On the back of some strong acquisitions during
2000 we developed a solid network of 12 equity operations in 11
countries in Asia-Pacific.
We are excited with the current opportunities and challenges ahead.
