60% believe media convergence delivers more measurable campaign effectiveness, 41% report driven direct sales uplift
Just over two-thirds of companies (68 per cent) are taking a more joined-up approach to media planning as a result of media convergence, research from Mediaocean and Econsultancy has found.
It was also found that over half (59 per cent) of companies say that media convergence has resulted in higher budgets for digital at the expense of offline budgets.
The enhanced personalisation potential of online channels sees agencies expecting to deliver more targeted messaging on behalf of clients (61 per cent), while 60 per cent of respondents expected their clients to see more customer interaction online.
Sarah Lawson Johnston, Mediaocean managing director for UK & Ireland, said: “Convergence is delivering greater transparency in both data and analytics, however marketers are struggling to grapple with how they’ll handle the last mile of breaking down siloes. This study gives answers to what’s being done.”
The research, which included in-depth interviews with 13 agency and CMO executives and an online survey amongst 150 agencies, found that agencies believe convergence delivers tangible return on investment (ROI); with 60 per cent believing it delivers more measurable campaign effectiveness, and 41 per cent stating it has driven direct sales uplift.
However, 84 per cent of agencies felt that clients had a limited understanding of the impact of changing media consumption habits on their business.
“Clients should be leading the strategy. It’s in our interests as companies to take the message to customers and do it in the best way possible,” said Kristof Fahy, CMO of William Hill. “Agencies are there to help you. I want agencies to bring me the little things that are interesting. Most marketers I meet are avid consumers of blogs, always on the lookout for the next trend and this is something the agency partners should be doing and bringing to us.”
Around a third (31 per cent) of the agencies surveyed noted that their clients were actively restructuring their organisations to manage their integrated campaigns more effectively, while 73 per cent of agencies believe a siloed organisational structure is preventing clients from taking a more integrated approach to media planning.
Linus Gregoriadis, research director for Econsultancy, added: “This study makes two things clear. First, marketers are shifting their working models dramatically to adjust for the new media consumption. Second, many marketers still aren’t sure how they’ll keep pace with the change. We’re happy to have shed some light on what the smartest marketers are doing to transform with the times.”
Mediaocean and Econsultancy will share the full research results at a live event in London on 14 November.