Media Mayhem: Sam Buchanan – ‘A tender that the government rinses and repeats is not suitable for today’
These are interesting times, and the challenges faced by Australian marketing and media are frequently diabolical. There is always opportunity in a crisis, but rarely a single solution that is easy to see. Many are worried, searching for answers, and seeking guidance from our best thinkers. At Mumbrella, we want to interview industry leaders to understand their insights and learn how they handle the challenges and structure for the future. We hope this can help inspire our industry to trade through the storms and deliver the best work on the global stage.
In this week’s Media Mayhem, we chat to the CEO of Independent Media Agencies Australia, Sam Buchanan.
How is the operating environment impacting your team, your clients, and or your partners?
No one can argue that 2024 has been a challenging year. Even the Australian national Dictionary has chosen ‘Colesworth’ as its word of the year, which is not just a reflection of the perceived duopoly of the supermarkets but also a nod to the cost of living pressures felt by everyday Australians and their collective anger at the rising costs being felt on the shelves. It really has dominated the national conversation this year.
There is accompanying pressure on advertising budgets and return on investment which has seen the market focus on performance – often at the expense of brand.
Despite these market conditions, the indie media agency sector is resilient – and growing. In our last indie census survey, 50% of our members said that their business will be up year-on-year, 30% said it would remain the same, while 20% said it would be slightly down (between 0% to 10%).
We have no doubt that this buoyancy is due to the indies’ agility and speed to adapt to changing market conditions.
What changes are you seeing in consumer behaviours and preferences? How are you meeting them?
Consumer confidence has been generally down, however the latest Westpac Consumer Sentiment Index has shown a rise of 5.3% in November and this is despite a pull back after the US election.
The index shows several encouraging signs with consumers reporting an easing in family finance pressures, they are less concerned about the risk of further interest rate hikes, and more confident about our economy. Spending on larger items, such as major household products remains subdued, which means that it may take a while for Aussies to one again feel confident about their purchasing power. However, the great spending indicator of the year – Christmas – is showing signs of recovery – while 35% of consumers said they would spend less this year, that is an improvement on 40% the year before.
This all augurs well for the year ahead. Indies are seeing large growth in digital channels, for both consumer eyeballs and client spend, and that trend is being met in our sector with a much greater shift to utilising digital pipes across all media channels. This will no doubt continue into 2025 – with our Indie Census showing that digital video, BVOD and CTV, in particular, will grow in ad spend.
With new year’s anticipated interest rate cuts, we will see second half conditions significantly improve.
When you lift your eyes from the screen to the media and marketing horizon, how are you planning?
The market is still currently very short term, which makes planning challenged at best. In addition, marketers are still slightly nervous about market conditions which is contributing to this short termism.
However it is in these conditions that we see indies shine. During the COVID pandemic, indies were among the first to see their businesses decline, but also the first to rebound significantly. Their agility really helps in these economic conditions – and this is why we have seen a number of indies win big clients from multinational agencies. They are seeking not just that dexterity, but the deep experience, and access to owners of the business that indies offer. Our range of 44 group deals for indies – from data and analytics tools, radio ratings, coaching and software – has now truly levelled the playing field.
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What proposals for legislative change would you prioritise?
The IMAA will continue its lobbying of state and Federal Governments to provide a more equitable playing field that includes indie agencies for its Master Media contracts.
We are in talk with all governments regarding this issue and our focus is ensuring support and advocacy for the independent sector and where we see injustice.
With the Federal Government we have argued for 50% of Government procurement to come from Australian-owned businesses (up from the existing 20% requirement). However this does not seem to apply to Master Media contracts. Our proposal, which would have seen a consortium of IMAA members share servicing the Federal Government’s Master Media contract, was rejected but we are continuing our discussions.
We will continue to actively engage both state and Federal Governments on the importance of allowing indie agencies to have a fair go, and to keep profits in Australia.
A tender that the government rinses and repeats is not suitable for today – the market has changed, and the playing field has been levelled for the best diversity of thought, and to support multiple Australian businesses. There’s more than enough business for everyone.
What opportunities do you see, and how are you positioning your organisation?
The ‘era of indies’ is only growing in momentum and 2024 has been a transformative year on many levels.
Our indie media agency members reported a record year for new business wins and retained clients – with many high-profile clients moving from holdcos into indies. We also notched up another record membership year – with 175 members, and a record number of media partners, capped at 45, welcomed into an exclusive club of indie access. In fact demand is exceeding supply from media owner applications to our industry body.
Expansion and advocacy remain a high priority for the IMAA and this year we struck our industry first affiliate program agreement with the Independent Media Agencies of New Zealand (IMANZ). We will assist the IMANZ with set up, governance and brand usage, as well as offering our education initiatives and plans are afoot for regional group deals that have been so successful in Australia.
In our industry, education and training are key to both attract and retain indie agency talent. Our landmark IMAA Academy launched all eight training modules for those entering the industry to learn about media channels with now hundreds of successful graduates.
Our Female Leaders of Tomorrow mentor programme has expanded to Queensland and Western Australia this year, as well as Sydney and Melbourne, and pairing 28 mentors and mentees – almost double that of our inaugural program.
In 2025, we will continue our focus on diversity and inclusion as well as our RAP which will see a Northern Territory immersion trip working with our nominated Indigenous charity, Kings Narrative. And watch out for our famous 2025 media kick off event, to be called Indie-Pendence Day on 19 February, which will be bigger and better next year.
Everything we do is a reflection of a strong and growing indie media agency sector and we will continue to champion and advocate for our industry.
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Neil Griffiths is the Managing Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the company in October 2023.
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