What’s something that’s caught your attention this week?
For me, it was a question from an audience member during Advertising Week’s ‘The Battle of Attention: Reaching Your Audience Across Screens and Devices’ session which went unanswered.
The session was hosted and moderated by Twitter, and part way through a viewer identified as ‘Mark’ submitted the question: “Elon Musk, love him or hate him, has garnered a lot of attention recently. Is there anything we can learn from him in capturing attention?”
The provocative question seemingly escaped the attention of Twitter, who failed to pass the question on to the panellists, but I’m sure there would have been some fascinating answers.
MediaCom and Essence: Who wins?
Another question posed during the session – and one which actually garnered an answer – was to Nick Thomas, the chief investment officer of MediaCom.
He was asked about the impending merger between GroupM agencies, MediaCom and Essence. The question centred around who will ‘win’ when the two come together.
Smith said it had been a massive 12 weeks since the merger was announced.
Once the dust settles though, the winner, according to Smith, will be clients who want attention.
“When we bring it together, you start thinking about what clients are asking for at the moment, they’re asking for attention, they’re asking to be part of culture, and to do that you need big content, you need sponsorships, you need good ideas,” he said on stage on Tuesday.
“The experience team we’re going to build… It’s going to be about 70 strong, which is the size of a small-medium-sized agency. It’s going to be dedicated to content and sponsorships and creating good ideas. And I think when you get that right, that’s when you get the sweet spot for clients, and that’s when it drives attention.”
The other winner, he suggested, will be the new combined staff of EssenceMediaCom.
“I think for our people, it’s going to re-engage them, re-inspire them. You’re going to get the best of both businesses and put them together, and as we start doing that, I’m starting to get more and more excited, because both businesses have amazing products,” he said.
“On paper, you push [the agencies] together and it’s got a really unique offering, and that’s why I’m really excited, personally,” he added.
On a less serious note, the other winner is agency R/GA, which jovially suggested back in 2018 (on Twitter, no less) when VML and Y&R came together to form VMLY&R that we were heading towards a future where the only agency left is WPPublicisCom&IPGDentsuCorpCo. Thanks to this merger, we’re one step closer.
TV and Twitter: Still the perfect pair?
Smith also took the opportunity on stage to suggest that the way we measure the success of TV programs might be… well, outdated.
He’s hardly the first one to say it, but he did tie his proposal into an argument in favour of the ongoing importance of the relationship between Twitter and television.
“I do think we take a very one-dimensional view on measurement. We say that a show is good because of overnight ratings, but as an example, a lot of brands will take a partnership with TV, but they’re not looking at the social conversations going on behind it,” he said.
“And if you really want to become part of culture and capture Australians’ attention, that conversation is just happening sometimes on Twitter… I think the water cooler is digitised – you know that water cooler moment the next day after a show? That’s gone online and I feel like that’s where culture is made.
“And I think brands see that, but I feel like some agencies and some brands haven’t nailed them coming together.”
He offered up The Bachelor on Network 10 and Love Island on the Nine Network as examples of shows that don’t “rate that well”, but “the social conversation is like humongous… There are these conversations with these huge rich communities”.
Listen up! The future of SCA
Finally, my attention is still partly stuck in last week, when CEO of Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), Grant Blackley, offered up more than a heavy hint that he wants to change SCA’s name to LiSTNR, currently the branding and platform for its digital audio offering.
He went so far as to say “one day you might even see us no longer called SCA. You might see us called LiSTNR”.
Grant Blackley
This wasn’t some candid slip-of-the-tongue moment – a suspicion confirmed when Blackley admitted he’d already “socialised” the idea at a conference in Europe to see if anyone would pick up on it.
“I could see a world where in actual fact, if [LiSTNR] is in the centre of our universe and it is driving all of our growth ambitions and it houses all of our product, maybe there’s a natural extension there. Who knows?,” he added.
He said his “thought bubble” is less of a business plan and more of a reflection of how deeply the company feels about LiSTNR and its place in the centre of the SCA universe.
His heavy hints about the future of SCA certainly had people listening though, so pay attention, and let’s see what happens next!