Trust between media agencies and clients in freefall
The relationship between brands and media agencies is based on trust. Companies know what is taking them to the agency, but not how much this means to pay for advertising space, or if you really choose the media that suits you best poster or mix some other more spurious interest. It is true that receives some reports that give a good account of all that, but in many cases it is impossible to keep track of all campaigns, and even more, in the era of programmatic advertising. Perhaps all this, or scandals that occasionally disclosed, confidence absent.
That is the main conclusion of a recent report by ID Comms on the transparency of media agencies, where 31% of customers say that confidence is low or very low compared to the agencies, while only 10% say that the relationship is very good. The situation is even more critical in Europe, where 14% of customer’s trusts qualify as very low, and 22% as low.
From media agencies, though, they are more optimistic, and 19% believe that customer confidence in them is almost complete, while only 20% consider low or very low.
As explained by one respondent, from the part of customers is not always easy to believe in the good work of the agency: “The lack of transparency in operations carried out by the agency, and if it is acting as a true agent or also serves the interests of the other side, they are the cause of this drop in confidence. In addition, automated purchase, arbitration and the inherent inability to follow the money trail create discomfort”.
How to restore confidence?
81% of respondents said they to determine confidence in the most important agency was how he earned exactly their money, while 7 out of 10 also said they know how business media are made and how the agency manages the issue of returns are essential to be able to trust that abuses do not occur.
Keep in mind that many media returns made depending on the volume of orders, and in others, agencies that buy advertising space in the media, they also sell them content. In this context, bribes or morally reprehensible practices are in many cases at hand, and customers are aware that the agency can not only put their own interests, but above all harm the advertisers without them ever get to know. That is, the solution is more transparency and less need for blind trust.
Other important factors to achieve customer confidence, according to this report, are to know how the agency reached agreements with the media, and how customer data is managed and used for decision-making.
As everyone agrees, agencies and clients is the need for a smooth and free relationship of suspicion between the two parties: 77% of all respondents claimed that helped to achieve better results in campaigns marketing.
