OPINION: The same market forces affect all sectors of the industry, and clients all want one thing: the best - 'We stand or fall on delivering on our promises'

I have been prompted to write this article after reading, with great interest, the interview with Mr Cheng Sung Mao, chairman of Ideology, the Taipei-based "creator of ideology behind brand communications", which appeared in the November 10 issue of MEDIA. This is Mr Cheng's description of his company, but one I totally understand. I have been based in Taiwan for only six months, but could not fail to notice the bold and distinctive creative approach of Ideology. Mr Cheng and his senior colleagues are to be congratulated on this, and admired for their single-minded focus on what they believe in, rather than taking the easy and financially secure route he says was offered by many of the multinational agency groups. I was therefore astonished that someone with his talent and experience should make the remarks attributed to him regarding media specialists. He is quoted as saying he "cannot see a true media independent in Taiwan", and that "they (the media independents) were formed for the purpose of making profits, and the increase of their bargaining power". He goes on to say that media independents "are fighting for themselves, not for their clients - what they said was not what they actually did". I can't comment on what happened in the past - Carat has only been in Taiwan since the beginning of this year, but in one important respect, his remarks are factually incorrect. Carat, the world's leading media specialist is owned by Aegis, a company quoted on the London Stock Exchange and is totally independent of any advertising agency group. This should not be confused with what have been dubbed media 'dependents'. Companies like MindShare, for example, which is owned by WPP. Here in Taiwan, Carat has entered into a joint-venture partnership with United Communications. It is a separate company, operating independently of United, and was established because United's far-sighted management recognised some inescapable and crucial facts. Firstly, a statement of the obvious: media is changing. This has always been the case, but today the pace of that change has never been faster. This change has been driven by a number of factors, including both technological innovation, and increasing legislative liberalisation, the net result of which has been an 'explosion' of media choice for consumers. One's own experience verifies that this has brought significant change in the way we, as consumers, 'use' media. As media 'practitioners' whether agency or media specialist, we need to understand the effect of this change on the way consumers use media. In this changing media environment, it is also a fact in every market I know of, existing industry-funded research has not kept pace, and is no longer sufficiently reliable to use in the creation of effective media strategies - planning and buying. Experience suggests that bringing about the necessary change to this industry research is painfully slow, if not impossible, and it is therefore only the largest of the media specialist companies who have the resources, and have the will to commission their own research, and to develop the software packages to analyse and apply it. In this respect then, size does matter, but our objective is more effective communication, exactly the same as that of Mr Cheng and Ideology. What all this 'change' demands of course, is a significant increase in investment in an agency's media operation. But surely the crucial area is creative? Yes, of course it's crucial, but so is media. And given the right environment, I submit that media strategy, media planning and media buying can all be accurately described as 'creative', and that the ability to think creatively is not the sole prerogative of the creative department. I feel sure most people would agree that even the very best creative advertisement would have little or no effect if it appears in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Even more importantly, it wastes a client's money. With around 85 per cent of a client's budget ending up in the hands of media owners, it is perhaps not surprising that increasing numbers of enlightened clients are taking a much closer interest in how their budget is planned and bought. After all, for most clients, the advertising budget is one of the largest items in their balance sheet. Mr Cheng and his colleagues put their beliefs and ideals on the line by starting their own company. They believed there was another, better way, and their client list is testimony to their success. Yet, disappointingly, his alleged views on media specialists demonstrates precisely the same myopia that forced myself and a number of like-minded media people to leave our comfortable (well, fairly comfortable, at least!) corporate lives with multinational agencies, and put our beliefs and ideals on the line. The fact that in Europe more than 75 per cent of media budgets are now planned and bought by someone other than the clients' creative partner suggests we might just have a point. But it is most certainly true that it didn't happen overnight, and also that it was not accomplished without a good deal of pain. But this is not Europe, this is Asia, I hear you say. Asia is different; market conditions here are not like Europe. Yes, of course market conditions are different, but a number of fundamental issues are not. Fact - clients do not appoint a full-service agency on the basis of its media capability. Equally importantly, clients do not fire their full-service agency for media reasons. By definition, as a media specialist, all we do is media. We have to be better, (and I mean 'value', not just 'cheaper'). We cannot hide a second-rate media strategy behind a brilliant creative idea and high production values. I am certainly not suggesting this happens at Ideology, but most people who work in this business will know precisely what I mean. Media specialists are therefore totally accountable, so if we don't get it right, every time, we lose the business. It is the very existence of media specialists that allows a client the flexibility to appoint the very best creative partner, and the very best media partner - without compromise. When a client appoints a media specialist, they do so because they are convinced they will get better resource, better planning, better buying, better service, greater expertise and greater experience. What Carat offers its clients can be summarised in four words: increased return on investment (of their media budget). If I were a client of Ideology, Mr Cheng's views on media would be causing me some concern. Failure to make the necessary investment in his media operation must jeopardise effective brand communication - the very foundation of Ideology's positioning. As an observation, I would have to say clients in Taiwan have been slow to embrace the benefits offered by the presence of media specialists. But, clients will increasingly demand answers to some difficult questions about how their budget is planned and bought. To be average is no longer good enough, even if it ever was. In addition, and this is a crucial point, the very best media talent will continue to be attracted away from agencies to media specialists, drawn by the greater resource and media professionalism, and the opportunity to work with the best, to deliver the best. Carat works successfully with a number of the best creative agencies in many markets. We work closely with them to deliver the best solution to a client's brief. Of course, there are occasional differences of opinion with a creative supplier over what that best solution might be. But these are resolved between us in a professional way, based on what we jointly believe is in the best interests of the client, and not what is perhaps the easiest or most obvious solution. We will not, under any circumstances, ask the client to be the referee. It is my belief that the most productive relationships are those based on mutual respect and admiration. Similarly, in my experience, the best solutions are those developed where creative and media strategies are developed side-by-side, with neither dominating the other. Let me conclude by touching on the issues of size, or 'bargaining power' and profit. It seems to me that there have always been, and will always be, economies of scale whatever you are buying, and it mystifies me why this is perceived as a problem. We do not ever buy what suits us, but only what is determined by the right strategy for each individual client. With our client base, however, it would be surprising if that didn't make us one of the largest customers of most key media owners. I do not see this as something, which works against the best interests of any of our clients, or indeed those of the media owners. On the question of profit, of course we have targets to reach, as most companies do. But I suspect many clients and agency chief executives would be surprised at the scale of the investment in research and development Carat continues to make, and by the margins against which most media specialists have to generate their profits. We have to run our businesses extremely efficiently. But in my experience, the most enlightened clients want to see their creative and media partners properly remunerated for the 'value' of the services they provide. Services which at their best, can and do significantly affect a clients' bottom line. In Taiwan, just as in other markets, we will stand or fall on delivering the promise we make to our clients, namely an improved return on their media investment; something which personally I am delighted to say I still find an enormously stimulating challenge.

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