DeWitt, Mandel provide ANA highlights
Former Optimedia USA CEO/SNTA President Gene DeWitt and Jon Mandel, MediaCom Worldwide Global Buying Officer/Co-CEO tell RBR/TVBR a bit about the ANA Television Advertising Forum held 3/10 in NYC.
DeWitt attended just about all of the sessions: "Basically, it's like deja vu all over again. People complain about the networks and they complain about the upfront, but in fact, nobody's really doing anything about it. The ANA did a survey of advertisers, they said there were 165 respondents. 60% of them said that they thought the networks should lead change. Well, why would the networks change anything? They're making a fortune. The other finding was the big change from last year to this year is that most people aren't going to make any change, but the ones that do will probably put a little more in cable-the same amount of network, but a little more in cable. Well, the networks own the cable networks, so there again, it's kind of deja vu."
He added, "David Verklin, Carat CEO, talked about ending the upfront negotiations early so nobody has to work late. Everybody said they don't believe in Nielsen, but there's no alternative. I think that basically what you have is business as usual, you have an industry that's locked into the :30 television commercial. Somebody asked about radio and other media. Basically the conventional wisdom is nothing works as well as television, nothing is as easy to buy as national television, so that's what they're going to keep doing. The network people were quite smug, like Mike Shaw from ABC, 'You guys have to buy us and you will.' And Jon Mandel was hilarious, as he always is. He really is a character."
Mandel participated in a point/counterpoint session where the TV buyers debated TV sellers on issues including: the disappearance of young men on network TV; why costs are going up, while ratings are going down; multi-platform media negotiations; and the threat of personal video recorders.
Mandel tells RBR/TVBR because of these factors, the future of television as we know it as an effective advertising vehicle is in question: "Mike's point, and he was somewhat right, is it's a supply and demand issue. And clients talk about it, but don't do anything, like go and buy radio. I think what's happened though is there has been a change where-and I said this on the panel-it's gotten to the point where now is the time to change things. People realize it's supply and demand, and it's not that the networks are screwing them. By the same token, it's not a strong market. There is a legitimate problem here. We are about to enter an abyss as an industry. It's not about just the next year, but about the next 3-5 years. I think that people are recognizing it. The ANA has announced that they're going to assemble a group of all of us and all of them (the sellers) and let's try and get to the bottom of this and try and do something."
He adds, "So, if nothing comes of it, so be it. But this is the first time-I've been doing this for 30 years, listening to everyone whine at each other-I've actually seen people all coming to the same conclusion: that we had better do something if we all want our children to have jobs in the future."
Other panelists and speakers included:
* Marc Goldstein, MindShare CEO
* David Grueneberg, Director of Advertising Resources, Bristol-Myers Squibb
* Betsy Lazar, GM/General Director, Media Operations
* Michael Shaw, President, Sales & Marketing, ABC Television Network Sales
* O. Andrew Jung, Kellogg Senior Director, Advertising and Media Services
* Joe Abruzzese, President of Advertising Sales, Discovery Communications
* Jon Nesvig, President, Sales Fox Broadcasting
* Daniel Jaffe, ANA EVP/Government Relations
* David Marans, Senior Partner, MindShare North America
* Paul Donato, SVP & Chief Research Officer, Nielsen Media Research
* Linda Dupree, SVP, Arbitron PPM New Product Development
* Paul Silverman, Director of Media, Novartis Pharmaceuticals
* Jonathan Sims, Vice President, Research, Comcast
* Kaki Hinton, VP, Advertising Services, Pfizer Inc
* Bill McCarron, VP, Media & Sponsorships, Verizon
* John Costello, EVP/Merchandising and Marketing, Home Depot
* Michael Giarraputo, Media Director, Television Buying, Johnson & Johnson
* Lisa Kowitt, SVP, Media and Agency Management, Wachovia Corp.
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