OMD adopts new trading structure, defines traditional media as screen or off-screen
Dan Sinfield, Mel Hey, Jo Dick
Media agency OMD has introduced a new trading structure, defining traditional media negotiations as either screen or off-screen.
OMD’s head of TV Melissa Hey will head up screen trading, which covers TV and cinema. Jo Dick, head of radio, cinema and outdoor, will run the off-screen trading team, which covers print, radio and outdoor.
Digital is negotiated separately, since there is not an adequate measurement system that combines digital with TV, the agency said.
“While this is an area we are exploring, without a tangible audience measurement system that combines TV and digital, we feel that maintaining the trading through our specialist digital teams is the most effective route – but watch this space on some movement in this area,” an OMD spokesperson said.
Hey and Dick’s roles are national, covering OMD’s operations in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. OMD’s WA affiliate is run independently, with different trading structures in place.
Dan Sinfield, head of trading and implementation, OMD Australia, said: “In an increasingly complex environment, we continue to evolve our model to ensure we deliver better innovation and value extraction for our clients. Our new model delivers on this ensuring our specialist trading teams have the time to get under the skin of their client’s business. The wealth of experience that Melissa and Jo bring to the table will continue to position OMD as market leading negotiators in the year ahead.”
Hey joined OMD 18 months ago as head of TV after four years at Starcom as head of investment across Sydney and Brisbane. Dick has been one of OMD’s lead negotiators for the last 10 years, most recently running outdoor, radio and cinema buying.
This is seriously lame, guys.
Putting “TV and Cinema” together under a specialist team.. this smacks of internal focus / workload management rather than bringing anything of value to the client.
Which client in Australia is seriously demanding that TV audiences and Cinema audiences need to be better managed together, as a matter of high strategic importance? Name one..
Why don’t they just segregate their workload like A-K and L-Z.
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Wow, sun comes up in the morning shock! Moving the deckchairs just smacks of desperation, until the old agency philosophies adopt the new trading models the industry will just hear more of this ‘news’. Sadly for OMD it’s going to take a lot more than this to catch their competitors, if anything, it’s changes like this that tell every competitor what they need to know
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Whats ‘seriously lame’ is your comment and attitude “Henry T”. It’s called progress and evolving the business model. These are two seriously good media people and OMD are capitalising on their expertise and market knowledge – and clearly are meeting the demands of their clients. Your comment smacks of a cynic who has been in the game (or perhaps on the fringes) too long. It’s easy to stand on the sideline and heckle – get in the game and compete if you think you are capable of better. Though I seriously doubt that.
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In a convergent world the whole notion of operating your buying in silos is crazy. What happens when more digital panels appear in the outdoor which OMD classifies currently as “off screen”. All seems very silly to me.
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