Mark Ritson’s digital scepticism is ‘a service’ to industry, says new Omnicom Media Australia boss
The new boss of Omnicom Media Group in Australia, Peter Horgan, has described the recent comments from Professor Mark Ritson on the questionable value of some digital metrics as having done “something of a service to the industry”.
Ritson’s comments that digital media is a “tsunami of bullshit” have stirred a big debate in the industry as to whether too much value is being placed on the digital, and in particular, social media channels currently, when there is no recognised way to measure their effectiveness.
Speaking on a panel at APN Outdoor’s Media Jungle event today, Horgan – who assumed the top role at OMG last week – said: “Mark Ritson has probably done something of a service to the industry by calling a form of Emperor’s New Clothes on digital channels,” he said.
“Digital is incredibly powerful if it’s correctly deployed and its effectiveness is really only just starting to get tapped. I think there’s a reassessment happening but digital is only just starting to find its strongest options to prosper.
The comments came as part of APN’s presentation as to which animals consumers felt best represented different media types when it came to their feelings about ad display. While outdoor was an elephant and TV a lion, radio was seen as a cicada, mobile a fly and digital a mosquito.
Amongst the statistics in the survey was that 45% of the 3,000 people surveyed were uncomfortable with their personal data being used to target ads at them.
Asked about that figure Bohemia CEO, Brett Dawson, said the industry needed someone to take a stand and educate the public on what it means.
“I think at the moment it’s not understood in this room, let alone by 3,000 consumers responding to a survey,” he told the room full of media executives.
“At the moment, like any new technology and innovation, it’s in its infancy, and it’s not necessarily being used for good but used for bad; and to follow me around the web and annoy the hell out of me.
“So whilst it continues to be used in that way and no-one is really taking leadership of educating the Australian public, it will stay that way.”
Horgan, who is president of the Media Federation of Australia, was asked whether the MFA should be the organisation to lead that educational charge.
“Is it incumbent upon the industry to push the attributes of data stalking? I don’t know,” he admitted.
“I think it needs to be proven through usefulness to consumers. To show people that a certain problem in a moment in time has been solved for them.”
Ana Bacic, head of network marketing for Seven Network, said there was a “big job to do” in using data, adding: “It’s only useful when we can turn it into an insight and act on that.”
She added: “When you meet somebody new you exchange phone numbers or Facebook details. There’s a fine line then between someone getting to know you to enhance the relationship or stalking you, going through social media feeds for the last five to 10 years, understanding exactly who you’ve met, what you’ve done and who you’ve had a conversation with, then regurgitating that the next time you meet.
“You can find all these things out but it’s how you apply it that’s important.”
FFS, stop calling it OMG!
User ID not verified.
Very interesting talk. Shouldn’t it be causing more of a ripple?
User ID not verified.
Prof. Ritson has been giving this talk for a number of years, why is it only now people are starting to pay attention? Well, lets hope they are anyway. I suppose everyone got wrapped up in the hype (especially the media reporting on it) and didn’t want to pull back the curtin on the effectiveness of digital marketing compared to other media.
User ID not verified.
No surprises there, in the new digital economy – where brands are built and value grown without high margin media spends – media agencies are doomed. There might be plenty of business in the old model for now, but no growth in the future and eventual contraction.
IMHO Ritson is actually doing *harm* to marketing – all he could lob at social media channels was that brands don’t have many followers and they don’t engage, completely missing that social channels are now essentially just highly targeted (and highly effective) paid media channels – are essentially ‘dwellable’ FTA TV. But he doesn’t understand any of this, or he’s conveniently ignoring it. If you want to see how friendly he is with media agencies, watch how he gives them a token questioning slide in his talks before giving them a pass and moving on to punching more babies.
If you want to see the future – just check out Gabe Leydon break it all down – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXBqzpExvrk
And if you want to climb above the internal thrashings of the industry and see the bigger picture – read this https://stratechery.com/2016/dollar-shave-club-and-the-disruption-of-everything/
User ID not verified.
The re-posting of Mark Ritson’s original presentation on Mumbrella 7 days ago barely caused a ripple either and neither will this. Why? The elephant in the room is largely being ignored by the industry who don’t want to talk about it. Isn’t it about time clients started demanding some answers to some tough questions. If the agency can’t answer them with anything more than bumbling excuses…sack them!
User ID not verified.
Solid links Dinosaur. As for Ritson’s data, can anyone confirm what his definition of watching video on TV is?
I would watch 60-70% of my video on my TV set, but 0% of it is free to air or Pay TV. It’s not even plugged in to aerial or set-top box. Just broadband. All the video I watch on TV is from Netflix, iview, iTunes, torrents and Dendy Direct. So if you’re spending big bucks in TV to reach me off the back of this data, it’s a fool’s errand. As is increasingly the case for people 30 and under. The devil is in the detail.
User ID not verified.
Thanks. I watched Gabe’s vid. Good one!
User ID not verified.
The hype cycle backlash backlash is upon us.
User ID not verified.
Great article. Btw, Have you tried Binfer? It is a secure way to share digital media.
User ID not verified.