by Charles Lockyer
Executive Chairman – POP Tracker LLC
Most organizations, and the individuals within those organizations, believe they “Add Value”, but that assumption warrants closer examination when looking at the evolution (or lack thereof) in the advertising industry. Advertisers, agencies and traditional media vendors have been too slow in adapting their supply chains, business processes, and use of technology tools to modern standards employed in most other industries. I am not referring to the underlying advancements in media and advertising technology like digital, programmatic, digital OOH, or even the better audience measurement standards now available across mediums. Instead, I am referring to the way each member of the supply chain performs their core work functions or tasks day in and day out in order to add value to their customer. It is here that one can find numerous examples of “things” being done the same way they have been for forever (like before the iPhone, the Cloud, or even the Internet).
By not evolving and adopting modern tools to improve processes and efficiencies, agencies, media vendors and to a lesser extent advertisers devote too many resources to low or no value added activities that should be automated, outsourced, or substantially reduced. Other industries figured this out a long time ago, which is why you probably have not interacted with a bank teller, travel agent, or stockbroker in quite a while. Today’s agile organizations are collaborative, mobile, and networked in real-time to focus on value adding activities to their clients. For an agency adding value may mean superb creative, highly targeted media buys, or stretching a client’s ad dollar further (ROI). What it doesn’t mean is endless PowerPoint presentations, hundreds of emails per day, or hours of time spent each week confirming media production deadlines with vendors.
Both individuals and organizations are biased when assessing their own value so determining whether one is the weak link or the missing link can be difficult. So, if you are still wondering whether you, your organization, or your job function has evolved with the changing times, consider the below questions, which can be red flags:
- Does the person currently doing the job you did 5 years ago, do it in substantially the same way? X
- Does your company have its own system for doing “that” which is different than each of your competitor’s systems? X
- Does your job require you to spend meaningful amounts of time gathering information from various sources and putting it into a spreadsheet or PowerPoint presentation to show your client you are doing your job? X
- Do you need to go to the office in person to access some of the information required to do your job? X
- Do some of your employees spend more than 50% of their time on email?X
- Is your organization paying someone to audit your advertising campaign after the fact, just like you did 10 years ago?X
If you answered YES to any of these questions, chances are you or your organization have some evolving to do. The good news is that by reducing resources devoted to outdated and inefficient functions the advertising industry can redeploy those assets towards higher value added endeavors. Other industries figured it out, so can we.
About POP Tracker
POP Tracker (POPT) is a cloud-based workflow solution for the Out of Home and Retail industries. POPT is integrated into the supply chain to provide transparency into media development, production, distribution, installation and removal.
Data is captured using the POPT mobile app or supplied to the platform via API. Activity is tracked via a centralized, third party portal which results in greater accountability and drives industry efficiency.
POPT represents over 300 advertiser and agency clients. Each year, we collect over 150,000 images and analyze performance for 1,800+ campaigns
Charles Lockyer
Executive Chairman – POP Tracker LLC