Marketing procurement is having a moment. As the ANA Advertising Financial Management (AFM) Conference gathers the global community of client-side finance, procurement and agency leaders, conversations about principal media, AI and the future of commercial models are moving from niche to mission critical.
For CMOs, Procurement Directors and Global Heads of Media, this is not a theoretical debate. It is about who your media agency is really working for, how you govern rapidly evolving models and where AI-driven efficiencies should flow: to you, to your agency, or both.
Attending AFM in Orlando is more than a diary entry; it is a barometer of how seriously your organization takes media governance. The conference is unique because it concentrates marketing procurement, agency finance and media leadership in one room, building a trusted community where peers share what really works.
At its heart, AFM is about improving financial stewardship of media. Principal media sits right at the centre of that agenda. In the ANA’s 2026 update on principal media, only 57 percent of marketers reported having internal guidelines, even though 90 percent said their top concern is whether principal deals are truly in their best interest.
That governance gap is exactly why AFM matters. It is often the one place where a CMO, procurement lead and agency CFO can have an honest, well-informed discussion about conflicts of interest, contract language and practical controls. When you walk into that ballroom, you are surrounded by people wrestling with the same problems, from P&G and Unilever through to mid-sized associations and regional brands that do not have in-house media expertise.
In simple terms, principal media is when an agency buys media inventory for itself, then resells it to you. Instead of acting purely as an agent on your behalf, they become a counterparty. Margins are made in the spread between what they pay and what you are charged.
Bill Duggan from the ANA reminded David and I that principal media was already flagged in the original 2016 ANA transparency work, but it never got the same headlines as rebates. A decade later, the model has quietly become mainstream, particularly inside large holding companies. Some groups have built high-growth, highly profitable principal media units that now sit at the core of their investor story.
From the ANA’s vantage point, adoption is accelerating faster than governance. Many marketers, particularly mid-tier spenders without media specialists, still do not know how much principal media is in their plans. Others only discover the scale of it when someone pieces together flowcharts and deals at year end.
The most obvious implication is conflict of interest. If your agency can earn more margin by favoring one supply source over another, you cannot assume that every recommendation is purely optimised for your brand. The fundamental question, as Bill put it, is: is your agency working for you, or for themselves?
The ANA’s latest release highlights that 90 percent of marketers now question whether principal recommendations are really in their best interest, up from 79 percent in the earlier study.ANA Yet almost half still lack basic contractual protections. That is a dangerous combination when you consider that principal models are expanding into CTV, retail media and programmatic.
A very practical implication is financial surprise. Without a single internal owner approving principal deals, different brand teams can sign up locally and only discover the aggregated exposure much later. We regularly see global advertisers shocked at the proportion of their budget flowing through principal channels they thought were standard agency buys.
First, treat principal media as a strategic choice, not a technical detail. If you decide to use it, do so deliberately, with clear rules, governance and a firm view of where it is genuinely adding value. If you decide not to, make that position explicit in your contracts and scopes.
Second, assign one senior internal owner to approve any principal arrangements across brands and markets. That single point of accountability is one of the simplest, most powerful recommendations in the ANA guidance, yet it is still missing in many organisations.
Third, be explicit in your documentation. A tiny asterisk on a flowchart saying 'may include principal media' is not transparency. Demand clear labelling of which lines are principal, and secure the right to full audit, including underlying supply costs under appropriate confidentiality.
Finally, use AFM-style forums to compare notes with peers. What are similar brands accepting, refusing or revisiting? Peer benchmarks are often more persuasive internally than any single consultant or agency view.
Beyond principal media, AFM spotlights two fast-growing areas that sit squarely on the media governance agenda: influencer marketing and retail media networks. Both are attracting significant investment from advertisers, but both suffer from fragmented standards and, in places, worrying levels of waste.
Influencer marketing has moved well beyond test budgets. Yet when the ANA convened subject-matter experts to review the space, one data point jumped out: around 25 percent of influencers have something in their background that should be flagged to a brand before a contract is signed. That might be historic content misaligned with your values, undisclosed partnerships or problematic behavior surfaced via deeper vetting.
Without proper processes for vetting, briefing and measuring influencers, marketers risk paying premium CPMs for talent that may create more risk than reach. At AFM, the conversation is shifting from 'how do we find influencers' to 'how do we structure influencer programs that stand up to procurement and risk scrutiny while still feeling authentic to consumers'.
Retail media networks present a different kind of challenge. Everyone knows the giants like Amazon and Walmart, but the long tail now runs into the hundreds. Each network arrives with its own pricing logic, audience definitions and measurement framework. For procurement leaders used to comparing like-for-like, this makes evaluation hard.
The ANA, working with the Media Rating Council, is pushing towards more standardized measurement expectations across retail media. The goal is not to flatten innovation but to give marketers a common baseline so they can compare performance between Network X and Network Y with some confidence.
For CMOs and procurement, the watch-outs are straightforward:
In each of these areas, the playbook is the same as principal media: recognize the commercial incentives in the system, build governance that is proportionate to your spend and risk, and make sure at least one senior leader genuinely understands the mechanics.
AI is the other big theme weaving through AFM conversations. It is already reshaping how agencies plan, buy and optimize media, and it is beginning to surface in headcount and cost discussions. Meta’s recent announcement of thousands of job cuts, with AI cited as a contributing factor, is an early public signal of a much wider shift.
For agencies, AI-powered operating systems promise faster insight generation and shorter paths from brief to execution. Tom Denford and David Indo cited internal estimates of around 35 percent reduction in time from brief ingestion through to delivery when advanced AI tools are fully embedded across the workflow.
This is where procurement instinct can be both helpful and risky. The first reaction is often: 'If AI lets you do the work faster with fewer people, my fees should go down.' While there is logic there, a blunt fee squeeze risks repeating an old pattern. Chronic under-remuneration of agencies contributed to the growth of opaque revenue models like principal media in the first place.
A more constructive response is to separate three questions:
For example, if an AI-enabled planning tool allows an agency to evaluate thousands of media scenarios overnight, the primary benefit might be stronger, more resilient media strategies, not a smaller team. In that case, tying compensation partly to business outcomes or agreed quality metrics can be more powerful than cutting FTEs.
Equally, if AI takes repetitive reporting or trafficking tasks from 40 hours a week to 10, there is a clear case for re‑baselining labour assumptions in fee models. Here, shared savings mechanisms can maintain incentives on both sides while protecting against a race to the bottom.
The smartest CMOs and procurement leaders will treat AI as a trigger to modernize their agency contracts and scopes. That includes clarifying ownership and access to AI tools, data and outputs, updating audit rights to cover algorithmic decisioning and ensuring that any AI-derived proprietary products are transparently described when they are being resold.
Q1: What is principal media in simple terms?
It is when your media agency buys inventory as a principal, then resells it to you, earning margin on the spread rather than only charging transparent fees or commissions.
Q2: Why is principal media a concern for CMOs and procurement?
Because it creates a structural conflict of interest and, without strong governance, you may not know if recommendations are optimised for your brand or your agency’s profit.
Q3: How widespread is principal media today?
ANA research shows usage is growing quickly, with principal models becoming mainstream across major holding companies and expanding into more channels.
Q4: What is the biggest governance gap around principal media?
Almost half of marketers lack formal internal guidelines, and many do not have a single senior owner approving principal deals across markets and brands.
Q5: How should principal media appear on media plans?
Lines involving principal deals should be clearly labelled, not hidden behind vague footnotes like 'may include principal media', and should be fully auditable.
Q6: Why does AFM matter for media procurement leaders?
It brings together client-side procurement, finance and agency leaders, creating a rare community where peers openly share what works and what to avoid in media commercial models.
Q7: What are the hot topics at AFM beyond principal media?
Influencer marketing waste, retail media measurement standards and the impact of AI on agency labour models and compensation are all prominent themes.
Q8: How is AI changing the agency relationship?
AI accelerates insight and execution, which can improve work quality and efficiency, but it also raises questions about fees, headcount, data ownership and potential new opaque revenue streams.
Q9: What should procurement focus on first with AI?
Map where AI is used in your agency scopes, identify genuine efficiency gains versus quality improvements, and then revisit fee and incentive structures accordingly.
Q10: Where can I start if my organisation is behind on these issues?
Begin by auditing existing contracts for principal media and AI language, assign clear internal ownership and use forums like AFM, ANA resources and partners like ID Comms to benchmark best practice.
Hello, I'm Tom Denford in New York. And I'm David Indo from London. Welcome to Media Snack Live. It's our weekly roundup of all the important news and stories and trends you need to know about the global media and marketing industry. In every show we ask, what is going on? What are the implications for advertisers? And what should marketers be thinking about next? Thanks for joining us, and let's get into this week's show. There we are, look, and there were three. There were three. Yes. Uh, eagle-eyed viewers will spot that we've got, we've got a new recruit for this episode. So, um, which, who many will recognize instantly. But, uh, Bill Duggan from the ANA, thank you so much for joining us on this special episode where we're talking about procurement. Thank you, Tom and David. How are you doing? Nice to see you, Bill. Good. Thanks for joining us. Um, so w- we're gonna talk about... It's a good po- time in the year, isn't it, where we talk about, we shift a bit of focus to thinking about marketing procurement, not least because next week, uh, 3rd of May, we've got the ANA's Advertising Financial Management Conference in Orlando, which is, I think, still one of the biggest in-person events that you guys do, Bill. Is that right? It' is. It, it's actually one of our oldest events. I, I've been at ANA for 26 years, and this conference predates me. Um, when I joined, my counterpart from the 4 A's at the time, Tom Finneran, said, 'You know, I went to this conference when I was at Richards and Vicks on? the client side 20 years ago.' So we have the Masters of Marketing conference, which has been done every year since who knows when. Yeah. But then the Advertising Financial Management Conference is our second-longest tenured conference. Yeah. That's great. So that's coming up next? week, and we, we will be there. Um, I think we've been there every year for the last at least 10. You've done a few more than us, I think. Uh, and it is a really good gathering, particularly of that rich concentration of the marketing procurement view, which is, which is great. It's an area that we, that we really enjoy talking about on, on Media Snack, as you know, over the years, and Bill, I think this is... Is this your third, maybe it's, maybe even fourth time, on Media Snack, which we've been doing a long time. So I think you're one of, you're in our, you know, halls of fame. Uh, we should get a plaque for you. I, I could be your Alec Baldwin. You know, he's the, w- what is he? One of the, uh, the, the, the leading hosts on, uh, SNL. So thank you for the- Oh, yeah ... invitation back. No, you're, you're very welcome. Uh, right. Well, let's g- let's get into it. So let's, w- let's spend a few minutes talking about, um, AFM. David, you're flying over to come to AFM. This is your f- this is gonna be your first AFM, isn't it? It is. I'm very much looking forward to it. I mean, Tom, you and the team, as you said, you've been going to, to AFM for years. And, uh, and I've always felt that I was missing out, Bill. So, uh, I've managed to bully my way in this year. Uh, I've managed to get a, a seat on a plane and a ticket- Yeah ... for the event. So, um, and I look, forward to seeing you, seeing you there as well- Yeah, mate. ... in, in slightly warmer climates. Thank you. Yeah. Um- You, you know, what, what you'll see when you come, David, that, uh, and I've... W- with me leaving ANA in a couple of months, I've been reflecting, you know, about the good, the bad, um, of, of my tenure, and this is part of the good, that A- Yeah ... AFM, almost more than anything else we do, has a great community. Yeah. And, um, uh, it, it, it has the highest repeat rate of any conference we have. So Tom, you've been going for years. You'll walk in, you know half the people. Um- Yeah ... and w- we also warmly welcome first-timers. David, I hope the first-timer reception on Sunday afternoon is in your diary. I'll be, I'll be there. I'm 100% gonna be there. 'Cause we would welcome you to that. But, but, it's really the sense of community from the group that you said, Tom, client side marketing procurement, but, but also, and almost equally so, agency finance. This, this is the conference that the agency finance people come to. Yeah. Uh, so that, we're excited about that. It's gonna be good. Yeah, I was gonna, I was gonna mention the first-timers thing, 'cause that's a new, relatively new initiative of recent years, isn't it? Just getting- Yeah, you know, may- maybe not quite 10 years old, but I think we' did it- Yeah ... before the pandemic a- and really- Yeah ... for that reason, because so many people know one another. Um, we' got the sense, like, a first-timer walks in and says, 'Everybody knows somebody except me.' Yeah. So we're, we're... So we, we do this. It's really the first thing on the Sunday afternoon. Um, you know, we, we invite some veterans to attend just to, to talk to the first-timers. So again, it' builds that community. Yeah. Tom, as a, uh, Bill, sorry, as a, as a first-timer, can I just ask a kind of a question? I'm, I'm, obviously, I've seen the agenda and I'm, I'm super excited with the agenda. It's a, it's a really progressive kind of procurement, agenda. Uh, and so, you know, I'm, I'm looking forward to being, uh, provoked and, and, and sort of challenged, I think, by the sort of speakers. But if I was a first-timer maybe five or six years ago to AFM, w- what would p- what would've been my perception of the, perhaps the procurement narrative at the time versus, versus what I'm getting now? Boy, that's a, you know, that's a tough question. Um, I, I could go back in time 20 years ago where- Yeah ... the narrative is, um, thumbs down on procurement. You know that- Right. Yeah ... and I, I remember the infamous Ad Age articles where they went into the LinkedIn background of, um, different procurement people and saw very little marketing in those backgrounds. Mm. You know, they, they- Yeah ... saw a lot of sourcing of what's called direct. So somebody sourcing maybe cocoa beans- Yeah. Yeah ... um, uh, that was moved into marketing. Um, so, so marketing procurement. So that has changed. Um-The, uh, also 20 years ago, it was all about costs, bringing costs down. Yeah. And I'll say there's been progress there, but not enough in my opinion. You know, there's still a relentless focus on costs. And maybe something that has changed, and I think, it's reflected in- the agenda, is the increasing role and importance of media. Like once- Yeah ... upon a time, procurement seemed to be about squeezing agency fees. It's like enough on that, you know? Mm. Agency fees are, I don't know, 10 to 15% of the total pie when you consider production in, in media. Media is where, is where the action is. So, you know, I love seeing the titles of media procurement. We're, we're seeing that more and more. Yeah. Um, and, and there are many that, that are generalist in marketing procurement, where media is part of their re- remit. So, so David, rather than reflecting on the past five years, I've gone back 20. But, but I, I do, think more recently the importance of media, uh, it has been a good thing for the procurement folks. And then maybe one more thing, that agency reviews, and I, I know you guys are covering that later. I, you know, I remember the scorecard in Adweek way back when. These, these businesses are in review. These are the review consultants. I'm not gonna name who, who they are. Some- Yeah ... you know, many are still in business today. But, but these days, you know, first of all, there's not that many reviews because it, it's project work. But often when there are reviews, procurement is leading that. Yeah. So I think that, that is also something different. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, oh, did I... Yeah, look. You're there. We're good. Yeah, I am here. Uh- ... it's, that's been, that's been fascinating for us, I think. And I think still a long, long ways to go for the, for the procurement community, as you say. Um, but there's also, there's always a spirit at AFM of, of willingness to l- learn from peers. I find it a, I find it very, uh... People come very, kind of quite disarmed, don't they? Ready to, ready to share and to help each other learn. So it really is a community. Um, and- A- a- and, and- Yeah ... what you said about learning from peers, I think that's reflective of ANA overall. You know- Yeah ... no matter what issue you have, um, somebody else has likely been down that road before. You know- Yeah ... I re- I remember in my very early days of ANA, um, for the Advertising Financial Management Committee, um, it was led by a guy, Brad Simmons of Unilever. And one of the most vocal, um, uh, participants a- at that time, other than Brad, was Todd Robinson of Procter & Gamble. So you have P&G and Unilever in the same room, and you know, o- of course, no one's sharing state secrets. But it, it is amazing, you know, how much collaboration and sharing there is. Again, no matter what, you're, you're, you're not alone. No matter what issue you have- Yeah ... somebody else has been down that road before. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just gonna bring up, there's, um... We should just do a little plug, shouldn't we? Because if anyone is n- not yet committed to attending AFM, uh, this is my AFM page. So it already says you're in. Uh, but for those that want to come, if they're inspired to, to come along, what, what needs to happen, Bill? What do they, what do they gotta do? Well, first I'll say client side marketer members of ANA, we changed our model, um, a couple of years, ago. It, it's part of your benefits for being an ANA member. Yeah. There, there are no registration fees for client side marketer members. And someone might say, 'Okay, I, I can't jump on a plane, um, or, or pay for the hotel.' Well, it's offered virtually as well. I, I feel- Yeah ... there's nothing like being there be- because that's how you make the contacts. Um, but um, you know, as a backup if you can't travel or don't have the budget, you could, um, participate virtually. Yeah. And that's grown a lot, hasn't it? I think the virtual audience is, is now, hundreds and hundreds of people, I think, I m- remember from last week, last year. Um- Well, I, well, I'll, I'll give you the scorecard as we sit here. You know- Yeah ... as we sit here right now, uh, 486 people are registered for in person. So we, we, we have a week to go." That'll balloon- Mm-hmm ... to I think between 550 and 600. Mm-hmm. Um, surprisingly to me, only 71 are registered for virtual. But I also think that's a last-minute decision for many. Yeah. Yeah. Um, um, but it's- Mm ... a great group for in person, for sure. Well, may- maybe we can get a few more, uh- ... on the back of it. So good. Um, we wanted to talk about some of the kind of key topics. Of course, we're gonna focus a bit more on the media things. But before we do, you did mention it in passing, but I just want to acknowledge that, uh, you are stepping aside from your role at the ANA at some point this year. Um, well, it's certainly changing after June time, I think you, you'd said. So, uh, you know, we're not gonna get too weepy about this. We'll see you in person, and we'll raise a, raise a glass with, with you in person. But, um, just wanted to say thank you, Bill, for all of the work that you've done, uh, with the ANA, and particularly just making these events just feel like a great community. And I think you have been a, a really good- Yeah. ... champion. And, and you've been very gracious to people like us and kind of inviting us in and, and, and introducing us to people and, you know, including us in part of the debate, um, as over the years. But, uh, listen, you leave an incredible legacy in this business. And we know that' Bob's also stepping down, uh, at. some point in the next year as well. So it really is, uh, a- an opportunity just to reflect and pay credit- As I, as I've been kidding, it's contagious. So I, I announced- Yeah ... to my team, um, in December that, that... And I hate the R word, so I'm not using that. Um- But you' know, yeah ... I believe that's something for athletes.But, but, you know, I don't wanna work four days a week in New York City anymore. Um, I live in New Jersey, so I, I, I commute. I've done it for 40 years. Uh, my wife and I are fortunate to have a place in Cape Cod that I wanna see a little bit more of . Um, so- Yeah ... so it's kind of the combination of, of, of those two. I, I feel very blessed with my career at ANA. Again, 26 years. Very grateful to Bob Lévys. Um, he's been, um, the most important person in my career, and he announced just two weeks ago that he's stepping down at the end of, of this year. And then there's been a couple of other high-profile announcements. Scott McDonald of the ARF after 10 years. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And then of course, T- Tim Cook. Yeah. So maybe I started a trend, who knows? You did. You definitely did. Anyway, well, Crit List, we, just wanted to acknowledge you on, Media Snack, and say thank you- Yeah, thank you ... uh, for all the good news over the years. Um, so let's, let's dive in just a few of, the, topics that are on the, agenda, um, and that we anticipate not only they're gonna be on, the- stage, but they're going to provoke conversation in all of the networking events, and the great dinners and, and drinks, and all those great things that we do at, at IFM. Um, one of the first things is, you' know, principal media is something that we've been talking about, a lot. I want y- you' to just tell us as well about some research that the ANA's published, uh, on principal media, 'cause w- that was re- relatively recently. You did another update, a fantastic report- Right ... on principal media. So what's this kind of state of the nation, as it? were, from the ANA's perspective on principal? Sure. So, w- so, what's interesting, this June we celebrate the 10th year anniversary of the infamous ANA transparency report. You, know- Mm ... K2. And, um, I'll, I'll ask you. What, what, was the headline of that, report, either of you guys? Was, uh, pervasive. Yeah. Rebates pervasive was, was- Re- rebates are pervasive, absolutely. Yeah. But also, the report covered in, in fairly substantial detail, principal media. Mm. If, if I' had a do-over, if I could go back 10 years, when we released that report, I think we should have elevated the findings on principal media. Mm. Because it's, it's been around a long time. Um, and obviously now, i- it is mainstream. I, I'll credit Cary Bruce, um, from Reed Smith- Mm. Our outside legal counsel. Yeah. She's speaking on the first full day of, the conference. Yeah. She said to me five or six years ago, 'Bill, at some point, I believe principal media will be the primary way agencies sell media.' And that prediction, I think, is coming true. Mm. You know, obviously, uh, Publicis has been very heavy into it. It was a reason, um, behind the Omnicom-IPG merger. Mm. A while back, Philippe Krakowski of IPG said, 'We won't do, principal media. It's not in the best interest of clients.' Yeah. You' know, meanwhile, um, the stock of, of Omnicom, um, was doing well. They're, they're heavily into principal media and, and the- Mm ... two emerged and, and Omnicom, I'll, I'll say came out on top of all that. Uh- Yeah ... so, so principal media, I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but marketers need to be aware of it. Yeah. And so think about that statement. Marketers need to be aware of it. S- it's been out there for 10 years. Are you' on Mars if you're not aware of it? Mm. Many of our members are on Mars because- Yeah ... I still find people. aren't aware of it, or aren't aware of some of the basic governance that, that they should, uh, that they should employ. So- Yeah ... you referenced, we, we updated our report on principal. We did our initial report on principal media about a year and a half ago. Uh, and we updated that, uh, just a month or two ago. It, it's kind of unusual for us to update- Yeah ... a, a report so quickly. We do agency compensation every three years. Mm. We do in-house every five years. This was pretty rapid. Um, a- a- and we called it, um, the continued acceleration of principal media and the- Yeah ... need for governance, because back to what I've learned from Cary Bruce, it's all about the contract. Um- Yeah ... a- and in fact, I first- learned that. from the K2 report, that agencies look at the contract for, for how the relationship, um, is, managed. Yeah. And if marketers don't have protection in their contracts on principal media, it gives the agency license to, to. use principal media without telling them. Yeah. Um, a- and then there were, uh, between 10 or 15, um, uh, best practices for governance of principal media. And many of them were just incredibly basic. You know, as a couple of examples is, have one person at, the client that. is responsible for signing off on all the principal media deals. 'Cause otherwise you hear h- horror stories at' a larger, decentralized organization. This brand manager signs off, this o- one over here does, you know, some- Yeah, ... somebody someplace else. And it's not until the end of the year, if you're even able to tally it all up, that, that, uh, um, a, um, a company could be surprised about how much principal media there is. Yeah, yeah. And s- and silly little things like on, the flowchart, um, an asterisk that says, 'May include some principal media.' Uh-uh, that's no good. Yeah. Um, you have to be transparent, you know, completely transparent about what is. principal media and what is not. A- and, and then, um, a final thing I'll say before you guys jump back in is that at ANA, we, represent 1,000 client-side, uh, companies. Mm. So the big ones, and I've already mentioned a few, um-Uh, th- you know, they understand principal media. You know, uh, some have strict guidelines or, uh, that, that they won't do it. But when I think about our membership, if you look at the A in our membership directory, you'll see Allstate, big company. You'll see- Mm-hmm ... Anheuser-Busch, Ally Financial, but then you'll see things like, um, American Dental Association- Yeah. ... or, or, or, uh, you know, uh, AAA of North Carolina. And with all due respect to those companies, they aren't always the ones that have an internal media expert, and, and those types of mid-tier marketers, you know, spending 50 million or more- Mm ... just need to be aware and have those practices. Which is- Yeah ... which is why the great work that you guys do at the ANA is so important. Because, I mean, even if you don't have the internal expertise to, uh, provide really sophisticated governance applications on? the contract, there are guidelines that you can begin to at least start engaging with your agencies to make- Yeah, absolutely. Th- ... sure ... you know, you know, this white paper has a page and a half of- Yeah ... of suggested contractual language, again, from Cary Bruce of Reed Smith, um- Mm ... for principal media. Yeah. Yeah. So, s- th- another great initiative, um, f- I' know that I- I, I' love you sharing your anecdotes about how few pe- few people read these things, but I know that you're, you're concerned that members just don't engage and, take them seriously enough. So I mean, it's kind of, it's kind of slightly comedic, but it's also quite tragic, isn't it? Is that you- Yeah ... you put all the effort, and, this, this is not some flimsy perspective report written over a weekend with a whole bunch... You know, it's really, it's based on data and evidence and expertise, insight, with actual recommendations. It should be required reading, if there was such a thing, for, for marketers. Um, because so much money is at stake and so much risk to the brands is at stake, somebody has to be taking this stuff seriously. So- Yeah, yeah. You know- I- ... once upon a time, I thought that we were done. We published the report, we're done. We can move on. Yeah. But, but that's just part of the challenge is exactly what you said, getting people to read it. That's why now on every report I do, I put that little burst on the cover. Um, I, I can't quite read it, but I know what it says, you know, um, uh, 'Executive summary and key findings- Yeah ... or conclusions- Conclusions, yeah ... are on these five pages.' Yeah. 'So you can't do anything else.' So, so- Yeah ... it, it's, y- you really need to beat the drum without being obnoxious about it- Yeah ... um, to get these points across. Yeah. It's very good. And how is that gonna show up in this year's AFM? So for those that are coming or want to think, of coming, like what are they gonna get out of this discussion around principal media? Can you share what's being planned? S- sure. So, um, Jay Pattersol of Forrester, and, and we've done work with Forrester, uh, over the years, but they did their own independent report on principal media that, um, that I was interviewed for. I was aware- Mm ... that they were doing it, and that was published in January. Mm. And we followed up our, with our report in March. So we, we've in- invited Jay. You know, I could have taken the stage or, or, um, one of my team members to talk about the ANA findings on principal media. But sometimes I think it's good to have, a, uh, an outside third party, a well-respected third party like Forrester give their perspective. And I, and, and I just, I, I know they'll fold in some of the highlights from us. Um, but I think- Yeah ... they're, they're in the camp that we are, is that, um, you have to ask yourself, 'Is my agency working for me?' Yeah. 'Or are they working for themselves?' I, I'll say this bluntly. I, I believe they're working for themselves. You, you can't work for, for both the client and the agency. Yeah. Uh, uh, uh, uh, or, or, or for the client. Yeah, you, you, you can't work for both. Um- Mm-hmm ... so, so David, pretending that, that you're the client, I'm the agency. I buy media from, from Tom and sell it to you. How do you know it's the best media for you- Yeah ... versus, the best media for me? So to me- Mm ... the conflict of interest i- is, pretty huge. Um, so- Yeah ... certainly Jay will talk about that. I'm also interested in the perspective, I mentioned Omnicom has been heavily into this. We're fortunate to have Ralph Pardo- Yeah ... who is the CEO of, Omnicom North America, who'll be talking about a bunch of stuff. Um, I, I don't know, whether he intends to talk about principal media in his comments, but one of the great things about ANA conferences, I believe, is the Q&A. You know? Yeah. So typically, a speaker has 25 minutes to, to, to speak from the main stage, and then is followed by, by 10 minutes of discussion that our conference host moderates. But Tom, as you know from coming to this conference for many years, we have the microphones in front of the room, and if you want your, your question to go to the top of the list, go up to the mic and ask it. Yeah. So I would, I would be shocked if n- nobody asks Ralph anything about principal media. Don't worry. I will be there- Yeah ... ready to ask. Don't you, don't you worry. I love, I love those microph- um, apart, apart from some people, I mean to just say, Jeff Green, who refused to do a Q&A, uh, at, at' the, at, at s- session last year, I think. But anyway, we'll, we'll move on from that. Q&A is the, most valuable part of that room. It really is. And- Yeah, I, exactly ... yeah, it really is. Um, uh, oh, Donna's just... I'm gonna throw up a, I'm gonna throw up a question, Bill. A- a- and, and it's the, I talked about community. I believe it's the Q&A that helps contribute to the community as well. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and often I think, I find that some- if I ask a question, I'm sometimes asking actually a question that a client has asked me to ask. You know? Mm-hmm. They've, uh, some people maybe don't want to necessarily stand up and ask a very blunt question. I don't ca- I don't care too much. Um, but they are, they're a valid question. Um, Donna's watching along. Thank you, Donna. Thank you, Donna. What does Bill think is the next big challenge behind principal media, and what concerns about AI? I think we're gonna come on. to talk about AI. But, um- So, so I think two of the fastest-growing areas in media. are, influencer marketing and retail media. Yeah. Uh, and, and, and we're, doing work in both. Um, so, um, at an ANA board meeting maybe about a year ago, myself and a counterpart, um, shared with the board some of the work we're doing on media, and at the end of that session I said, 'Hey, you know, board of directors, is there anything else that you think ANA should be looking at in, in media?' And I'll say Mark Pritchard, our chairman of the board, P&G, raised his hand and said, 'Influencer marketing.' A- and then we' had- Mm ... a follow-up conversation, and he said, 'If you guys could do for influencer marketing what you did for programmatic media, that would be great.' Yeah. In other words, identify areas of waste- Yeah. ... which is the problem, but then what are some solutions to that, problem? Mm. So, my bad joke in this is that, you know, we hired, uh, a bunch of consultants to help us with the programmatic report. Mm. No such budget existed for influencer, so we've taken a more grassroots effort. And Tom, you and I talked about this, I think, at a breakfast a while ago- Yeah. Yeah ... where, where we have invited in various subject matter experts to, to share expertise on influencer marketing. Yeah. Areas like, um, vetting influencers. I, I was really surprised with the statistic that 25% of influencers have something in their background that should be brought to the attention- Mm ... of the client. Mm. Um, vetting influencers, selecting in-fluencers, briefing influencers, so, um, you know, how should you brief them? Um, so this will be one of my last contributions. Um, we... over the last year, we've had nine sessions. We have a 10th session in a couple of weeks where we've invited some influencers to come in. You know? Mm. So what are brands doing that is costing them money? You know, where, where are some- Yeah ... best practices where they could, um, where they could, um, increase? So, you know, influencer marketing i- is obviously hot. Yeah. And then another one is retail media. How many retail media, networks are there now? I don't know. You know, everybody knows the big ones. Yeah. You know, Amazon, uh, Walmart. Um, y- um, but, but there's hundreds. Yeah. And measurement standards across retail media networks varies, so it's difficult for marketers to compare performance at times between retail media network X and retail media n- uh, network Y. So we have a- Yeah ... a measurement initiative working with the MRC, Media Rating Council, to help provide some standards for measurement. Yeah. Very good. Great. Thank you, and good, good, uh, question, Donna. Thank you for that. Thanks, Donna. Let's touch on, um, in the time we have available, we've got a few minutes, but, um, Donna raised it there. She mentioned AI, and that was one of the things that we wanted, we wanted to talk about. Um, it's definitely changing the commercial relationship between brands and agencies. Um, and the integration of AI is pr- you know, is, is, is causing agencies definitely to restructure their labor models and the staffing models. Um, how is it showing up on the procurement agenda in, in your view, and, and what are we gonna see, if anything, at, at AFM that, that tackles this? Yeah. A- and AI, y- we all saw the headline with Meta, that they're laying off- Mm ... 8,000 people, and AI was noted as a contributing factor to that. Um- Mm ... I, I'd be interested in, in your perspective regarding AI in media, but, but let's come back to that. You know, AI in, in creative, obviously faster concepting, um, you know, faster a- a- access to insights. It, it's just amazing. You, you type in a prompt, uh, in an AI engine, and you get these paragraphs back that, that in the past would have been days or hours of, of research and, and you get these things so quickly. You know, better message development. So, um, and speed. You know, A- you know, AI can- contributes to, to, to speed. Um, I, I... so I, I'll flip the script on you guys- Well, yeah. Thanks ... about, you know, a- you know, AI in media. Do you... what, what, what, what do you see there? Well, I mean, all of the... certainly all of the big holding companies are investing an enormous amount of money in developing highly sophisticated operating systems, and, uh, and it's, it's all about absolutely enabling smarter insight and a truncated end-to-end process. I mean, you look at some of the operating systems, they reduce the amount of time from brief ingestion through to delivery by about 35%. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's a remarkable, uh, efficiency gain. And, and I suppose my question, uh, to the procurement people perhaps in the, in the, in the, in the room next week, would be, like, how are you benefiting from that efficiency gain? Are you, are you seeing... is it just a- about better work, or actually are you seeing improvements in your remuneration structures in order to kind of benefit from some of these efficiency gains that the agencies are delivering? Have you got a sense on that? Because it's... the, the typical procurement response will be, 'A- AI allows you guys to do stuff faster. You need fewer people. I'll pay you less.' Yeah. I, I'm not sure whether that's the right, you know- No ... the right response, because it should ideally, um, generate, you know, better work, and therefore better business, business results. So, so make no mistake- Yeah ... I, I'm sure a- almost every procurement person is having that conversation with their agency, compensation- Yeah ... discussions with the, you know, with their agency. I just hope it's not a continued, because I've seen this over my 25 years at, at, at ANA, a continued beating down of agency fees. Oh, by the way- Yeah ... that's led to principal media. Yeah. So- Yeah. Yeah ... um, so, so there, there's gotta be some balance there. Very good. Well, listen, Bill, we're at time. We're gonna see you in Orlando in a week or so, and, um, for those of you that wanna go to AFM, go onto ANA.net, get yourself a ticket, and we'll see you there. Alright. Community. See you. That's what it's all about, guys. Thank you. Great. Thank you both. You know it. Really appreciate it. Bye-bye. Bye. See you, Bill. Thanks for watching Media Snack Live. If you found it helpful and want to learn more, head to IDComms.com to get more tips, tools, and resources to help you get good at media. We'll see you next week.
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