Watching us, watching them
I have, I must admit, become somewhat uncomfortable with the largesse that people in our industry accept from those they have business relationships with.
It would be hypocritical of me to decry all hospitality. Attending agency parties, TV programming launches and the like are an excellent source of stories for us, and they also help build contacts in the longer term.
The same goes for those with advertising dollars to spend. Knowing the media owners at a social level can sometimes get the brands a better deal than a pure ratecard negotiation over the telephone would. A spot of lunch or a few hours in a hospitality box can oil the wheels of a relationship in both directions.
But where I start to get uncomfortable is when the generosity becomes extravagant.
For instance, I wonder if a client is always made aware when the TV schedule recommended to them by their media agency comes after the agency boss has been taken on an overseas jaunt by the TV network in question.
That’s not quite as outrageous on the part of the media agency as it may sound, by the way. I suspect they get a better rate for their clients by being mates with the networks than they would if they kept them at arms-length. The first agency boss to turn down that inevitable London Olympics invite will spend next August wondering what deals their rivals are sealing on the other side of the world with some of their biggest trading partners.
But still, I wonder if the clients always know the full story. Certainly it’s less easy to be dispassionate on reducing share when you’ve just spent a week bonding.
The reaction when another editor tweeted about who he’d spotted in the Emirates lounge enjoying a network’s hospitality prior to a European jaunt suggested they did not appreciate the attention.
Worse yet is when a senior agency person comes to expect “gifts”. There are still stories of somebody (no longer at the agency in question) who made it clear to media sales people that he or she expected a generous Christmas present as a cost of doing business.
The (I think) myth of the ad agency that paid for its client’s wedding also still floats around in Sydney.
And as I say, as journalists we sometimes drinks other people’s booze too so we shouldn’t be too puritanical about it.
Later this week, you’ll no doubt be reading about Ten’s 2012 season after I attend the Sydney launch on Wednesday night. Or take last week’s story about Clemenger BBDO’s new creative director. That came out of a trade press briefing by the agency which stretched from the screening room to the pub. If we’d not gone, we wouldn’t have got the story. And as a result of attending, I know the agency’s success story a bit better.
There are also gifts too. Instinctively, a bottle of wine feels okay, a case would be too much.
We sent gifts ourselves recently – Mumbrella umbrellas to those who spoke at Mumbrella360. The motivation was no more than to say thank you to those who had supported us.
Based on the sheer number of cup cakes that come though, I presume that a PR manual somewhere states that press releases are more likely to be read when accompanied by confectionery.
But transparency seems to be the issue, so we’re taking a small step ourselves.
From now on, we’re keeping a register of interests. You can find it here.
We’ll declare gifts and hospitality. For now we won’t declare every lunch and party though – my feeling is that there are times when we publish a story where the source if off the record. Telling the world who I’ve just been eating or drinking with might compromise that. But I do think you’re entitled to know who’s just sent the team a present.
It’s a relatively small step and I think we’ll need to finesse our own policy as we go. But before we start looking more closely at the rest of the media and marketing industry – which we will – it’s a step we need to take. Please tell me what you think.
Tim Burrowes
Linkedin
Bravo!
All media and bloggers should be required to do the same.
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Can’t wait till Sexpo is looking for some PR and you have to declare what they send you.
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I like the listing of the single cupcake. Good on you for being transparent Tim.
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The umbrella changes nothing! I’m still reading Adnews and B&T.
Admirable stance to take – bravo indeed. More transparency can only be a good thing. But if more journalists are denied the delicious taste of gravy, won’t they all end up working in PR….?
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Disagree. We have to be so accountable, and need to analyse the effectiveness of every dollar spent. Media agencies are also subject to regular audits. Hospitality is more of a ‘thank you for the business’, rather than ‘give us the business’.
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Even when the hospitality is a two weeks, all expenses-paid, business or first class jaunt, Clare?
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@Clare
Surely hospitality is designed to make the individual feel the need to reciprocate the favour with their company’s money?
Otherwise companies would decide that the “effectiveness of every dollar spent” on hospitality was a waste of money – ie for nothing?
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Most people imbued with a sense of honour and decency can tell the difference between a bribe and a thankyou Clare. If you can’t I will come over with a specail cupcake.
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Printer launches are the best: you always get a trip to a whizz-bang Asian megacity whenever a new inkjet is launched. I turned one down because the flights were economy. Principles are important.
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A noble stance and I look forward to the stories that will inevitable come out once you have your house in order….
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the single cupcake really made me smile.
good on you Tim, it’s nice to see some transparency (and also, what other PR’s are sending out!)
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Sorry but i dont recall ever being told where to shift money just because my boss happened to go on a media funded jaunt.
its offensive to suggest otherwise for media buyers. We chose where money is spent based on a number of factors and 99% of the time the client is across these. NEVER has a factor been that X media head has been entertained by the networks or any other media owner.
Everyone seems to think media buyers are showered with gifts and gratuities from everyone. But i look at my desk that is covered in useless media tatt that has zero value whatsoever. But i am happy to declare the oOH media notepad or the APN mousepad if it makes everyone comfortable.
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Those in the finance industry already have to report any gifts they’ve received to an industry body – we actually have restrictions on the value we can accept (no greater than $300 worth of value so no overseas trips for finance workers). We are allowed to accept lunches and drinks (though still need to declare it) but it means that clients can be assured that they are more likely to have products recommended that are not the result of bribery.
Congratulations to Mumbrella for taking steps to self regulate via declaration.
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Sorry I should clarify that the $300 worth of value is to account for the fact that sometime finance workers are invited to conferences about industry occurrences and the combined value of food, attendance at the conference can come close to that value. (Typically you’ll find most finance workers will only accept gifts of small value because they want to ensure they are impartial).
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The actual brown-bagging going on in the media agency-media sales industry is far more of a concern than any of this.
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I support this initiative 100%. As a client (who pays the bills – let’s face it) I resent the fact that media shmooze the agency and reward them with lavish gifts on the basis of our expenditure. Twice in recent times I have been told of a media executive on our account attending an all-expenses-paid trip thanks to a media network. We were not proactively advised, hence suspicion arises. How does the client ever know whether a media recommendation was influenced by a media junket if the situation is not totally transparent? Cut it out I’d say!
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I remember the olden days. When if you booked a schedule at ACP you got free lift tickets at perisher. Book a big enough schedule and you and some friends get an all expenses paid weekend.
Doubt it would have affected any media planning decisions though…..
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But it was a really super-delicious, beautifully boxed cupcake wasn’t it? Like you mention about a case of wine, we thought a box of cupcakes might have been a little too OTT!
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Did that cupcake taste sweeter because it was free Tim? ;o)
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I’m aware of a couple of Media folk who got taken (from London) on an all expenses jolly to Iceland. Just before the volcano erupted. Queue being stuck in Iceland for several weeks. I mean there are worse places to be, but there are easier things to explain too…
It’s cognative conditioning, client doesn’t negotiate too hard on rates, they get some of that margin spent on them. Gift little and often. Never forget, your client isn’t the shareholders of the company your client works for, your client is your client. If you can make their life more pleasant, easier and make them look good with their boss, then you’re onto a winner.
And Tim – you got a bottle of HP sauce? Winner!
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Great initiative.
I am sure people wonder if search consultants get “gifts” from agencies. The fact is we also have a policy of returning gifts of more than $100.
We have been sent chocolate eggs at Easter and the occasional bottle of wine. But no overseas tripe and no fat cheques from successful agencies.
In the interests of financial transparency we are joining this initiative Tim.
I hope the other industry consultants do too.
Many years ago my wife and I ended up sharing a table at a BYO fish restaurant one Saturday lunch with the then head of Government Advertising. We shared our bottle of wine and he insisted on giving me the money for half of it. When I protested he simply said this ” I take nothing ever, so I can never be said to for sale, even for a small price” A great example for us all.
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Why don’t we talk about the journos as well as agencies? Pretty sure they are much worse.
When I started at my last publishers I was accidentally sent an email by the editor which was supposed to go to a fancy dress shop. (Yes, quite).
He was offering them a cover mention and story in return for free fancy dress hire that weekend.
I was struck by a) how cheap he was and how little it would take to move him in your direction and b) how fucked he was now I had this email.
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Those who don’t know anything about this industry will applaud moves like this, as usual. Those who know it know that you’re not coming close to “full disclosure” and are just making a gesture (or marketing move) to put yourself in a good light at others’ expense. Either accept nothing whatsoever and refrain from having any ties with the industry you oversee (lest you pick up an influential positive/negative relationship which influences your thinking) or keep the sanctimonious, self-serving, meaningless, claptrap to yourself, eh?
I don’t come here to hear how saintly you are – I expect you to have some of the best relationships in the business and to write the truth.
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Hey kudos on this initiative but this to me is a strange list – it seems to be missing loads – surely you get more than that?
I don’t understand how you can consider a product that the PR agency obviously wants you to try or “road-test” as a gift – it is a sample isn’t it? And sending complimentary stuff – ie: pork pie etc with cider – is about the story isn’t it? Could you clarify that these are media kits or media gifts as I think there is a difference – no? cheers Amanda
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Darren – not sure if ‘tripe’ was intended or simply a typo, but love it either way
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The overt give-aways listed here are small beer compared to the rebates of up to 10% and more media agencies receive from publishers. Most don’t declare to their clients they pocket 20 and not 10% of the media buy.
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Sorry 12 . I know of people making media decisions based on the largesse of the media.
If I throw another $30K in radio this month to a certain FM station, i will go to the snow free… woohoo
Agncy says to clients:
“We are a bit low on this demographic and really we need to ramp it up a bit this month”
Client:”Thank you for being so on the ball and looking after my business!”
Agency: he he he – chuckle laugh – time to get the best skiis out…
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I will be the first to admit that after 25 years in the media industry working in the UK, global & Australian markets I have been the fortunate recipient of some spectacular junkets in my time. I can also claim honestly that my recommendations to my clients, and there have been many, have never been influenced by these junkets. Happy to take a lie detector test or face any accuser who doubts my veracity or integrity on this matter.
Interestingly, it is worth noting, the recent (1 July 2011) passing into law of the UK Bribery Act. Go to the wikipedia page and see if your last corporate hospitality invite would pass this law (some may not!). The maximum penalty I note is 10 years in prison (a bit harsh perhaps?).
It will also be interesting to see if we see even more POMs flooding the Aussie & NZ markets after the RWC when they know that should they return to London after their ITV or Sky paid-for trip, they might be met at the arrivals gate by the boys in blue…..
In the meantime, if any of you media outlets have any spare tix for the RWC Final, pls call me! NB I have already bought my own tix for the two semis.
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Hi amanda,
you mentioned that you “didn’t understand how you can consider a product that the PR agency obviously wants you to try or “road-test” as a gift – it is a sample isn’t it? ”
Havign worked for companies that do this – the oldest trick in the book is to send a sample for evaluation and tell people we will get back to you when we need it back and never getting back to them.
Or sending something for “long-term evaluation” telling them to try it for 12 months and let us know their feedback – vital customer/journo/PR info we get back you see we say….
And never ask for it back.
The whole point of this is to make the receiver feel an obligation to the giver or to get brownie points. Companies don’t send this stuff out for no reason.
Sometimes a sample is a sample and they need it back – sometimes it is a defacto gift.
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Oh Forgot to mention Tim, if your initiative leads to media buyers etc getting less free crap, you will not be a very popular person with the media industry.
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$100 is a bit low?
Drink that gravy!
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If all I want from my media agency is the cheapest rate then do I care what schmoozing goes on to make it happen? If all they exist to do is get the cheapest deal then it doesn’t matter. If they want to be something more then everything should be declared.
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Hmmm
it may be a crime in NSW to take media freebies if the client is not told
s249B ofthe NSW crimes Act
1) If any agent corruptly receives or solicits (or corruptly agrees to receive or solicit) from another person for the agent or for anyone else any benefit:
…..
(b) the receipt or any expectation of which would in any way tend to influence the agent to show, or not to show, favour or disfavour to any person in relation to the affairs or business of the agent’s principal,
the agent is liable to imprisonment for 7 years.
===========
that bit about “which would in any way tend to influence the agent” … may be a worry to media agencies…
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@not a lawyer. that seems pretty clear cut to me. I wonder how this would get enforced vis-a-vis the media buying industry.
I also wonder if it might apply to “incentives” offered by media buying agencies to clients to influence pitch decisions?
Not to mix my metaphors too overtly, but is this the cans of worms I hear being opened that will reveal where all the skeletons are buried in our industry?
Be careful what you wish for Tim……
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The law of reciprocity states that humans are inherently more likely to favour or assist someone who has given them something (particularly if it was unsolicited).
PRs are always going to use this to their advantage (hey – we like eating lunch on the company credit card too) so I guess it all comes down to good judgement.
Accept gifts in the spirit they are given. The hard part is figuring out the giver’s intentions.
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good work Tim on raising this topic for discussion
i remember back when i decided to broaden my knowledge of media buying. i read Harold Mitchell’s bio and in the opening chapter he bragged of how he conspired with a major network to garner the lion’s share of the TV spend of a major advertiser
immediately i realised that media buyers were the outsourced sales force of the media proprietor, not a trusted adviser of the client
this was reinforced when the first commission-based remunerations structure was proposed to me. I was told that i was in the minority for viewing this as a gross and unmanageable conflict of interest. Why would a buyer try to minimise my spend when they take a cut of it? proposing such an absurdity would be laughed at in any other industry
post-implementation, my view was further reinforced by the various incredibly expensive lunch invitations i accepted out of politeness and naivety, telling myself that I had already identified and was therefore less susceptible to the principle of reciprocity
the familiarity and warmth with which my buyer was regarded by the various media sales teams at lunch left no doubt that I had little chance of receiving a dispassionate and objective media recommendation
but is this different to most other industries? hospitality and gifts have long been the persuasive tools of choice of those seeking to sway recommendations and assignments in every occupation from law to zookeeping and in every business from carpet cleaning to taxonomy
perhaps what makes the media industry different, and the practice more odious, is the vast sums of money at stake and the shared knowledge that at least half of it is being wasted.
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Oh please. Honestly, there’s a lot of credulous people in these forums. The Herald did this years ago. Just another Bumbo initiative that is really about Tim. Writing about himself day in, day out. It’s getting pretty boring. I’ve had enough. Goodbye.
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Please add one plasma tv and a whole lot of DVDs
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Hi Anonymous,
Sounds like you were at the Ten 2012 upronts last night. Good bash, wasn’t it?
I chose not to take one of the TVs as I left. I’d have looked a bit too much like a London looter walking home…
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
As an ex-Group Head at a certain full service agency, I’d have to say I watch with interest.
The corruption in Underbelly’s last season puts nothing on what was happening in the Sydney media scene when I was there 4-5 years ago. You want hookers, coke, footy tix, a trip to Europe for the Soccer World Cup? Pfttt nothing was a problem and most of the management were the worst at taking the “bribes”.
What I found more appalling was the expectant behaviour of the little 20 year old upstarts looking for a fancy lunch on a publisher every day of the week – they saw it as a way to supplement their meagre salaries…but we all know you have to lead by example. I got massive backlash when I capped lunch hour at 1 hour and sent the Christmas gifts off to charity. Oh despicable me.
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Ethicsplease,
come on that is a tad harsh stopping the 20 year olds getting their free lunch -as you mentioned you don’t pay them much…
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Brilliant work, Tim. Yet another reason why I’m a big Mumbs fan.
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So did you grab a free 22″ flatscreen at the Ten launch or not?
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Scratch that, just read your comment saying you didn’t grab a tele.
I believe you.
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Well done Tim. A great stance to take.
Thank you gifts within reason are fine.
The tax office does ask companies to claim gifts when they are purchased.
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