Let me start with an anecdote.

10 years ago, when I was working for a big network agency and leading some big accounts, my boss came to see me and asked me to put an important media platform on the plans. I wasn’t really sure why he was asking me to include this specific media platform on my campaigns’ media plans whereas, the target audiences on any of my campaigns, were not consuming this specific media platform.

This didn’t make any sense from a media planning perspective.

It was early December and annual deals between media owners and agencies were about to close. It means that agencies committed to spend annually a certain amount of budget with each media owners, in exchange for rebates, cash, impressions, clicks that will be given exclusively to the agencies, and we were not close to the amount my agency promised to this specific media platform. Now it made all sense but it started to trigger lots of questions.

Just for the story I had to put this specific media platform on the plans and convince the clients that it was a good idea. I played team work but this changed me.

This is when I realized that the Media Planning in agencies was not neutral anymore, actually it was influenced by extra revenues that agencies could make through deals with media owners and would keep for themselves in order to increase their overall revenues.

Today, nothing has changed, these deals still exist and actually they are even more present than 10 years ago.

As an agency we witness it regularly when new media owners present to us their platform and at the end of the meeting, they inform us how much additional money we could make thanks to the referrals we would receive. This is an extra push to convince agencies to put a platform on the plan. And the more an agency invest in a platform, the more the referrals become.

Are media owners to blame for offering this extra source of revenue? No, I do not think so. It is more those who say yes to it that are fueling this.

Now, let me ask this question: Is it not the role of agencies to recommend to their clients the best media platforms to put on a plan based on certain criteria, like target audience’s media consumption, media objectives and performance?

How can this be achieved if agencies are recommending the ‘best’ platforms based on the extra revenues they are going to make? Media planning neutrality is gone!

Agencies must recommend the best plan and stay unbiased but this is far from reality nowadays. Agencies have lost their media planning neutrality.

One of the reasons for these ‘deals’ to flourish nowadays is that agencies’ remunerations have reduced across the years and they are trying to keep with the same level of revenues thanks to the referrals, free impressions, free clicks given by media owners at the end of the year. However, agencies should not walk this path and should stick to what makes them media agencies: expert at planning the best channels to deliver against campaigns’ objectives.

Now that I have founded my own digital media agency, JOLT Digital in Singapore, I make it a point that our system welcomes all referrals, rebates, and free clicks and free impressions we can receive by media owners, so we can pass them to clients. With rebates, we pass a hundred percent to them.

We do this so we can maintain planning that is neutral, free from influences in media recommendations. With JOLT Digital, where we live by the vision of ‘Game-changing is in our DNA’, I aim to direct my team in implementing disruptive practices, which are not just meant to be innovative, but most especially, beneficial with the client’s best interest at heart.

It is essential that as media and marketing professionals that we retain our integrity. What must reign supreme at all times is the campaign results to be delivered. We are ex-clients and we can truly put ourselves into the clients’ shoes, putting faith in media partners, trusting we will all together deliver to the objectives with full commitment and passion.

The author is Sebastien Lepez, CEO and founder of JOLT Digital.

Sydney, Australia – Norwegian sustainable cruise operator Hurtigruten has tapped the creative talents of Australia-based publishing agency Grin Creative in launching its first-ever ‘immersive’ digital magazine, initially set to roll out in Australia.

Hurtigruten is known for their cruise routes locally in Norway and through the Arctic region, such as Svalbard, Alaska, Iceland, as well as Antarctica, the Carribean, the British Isles and parts of Europe and North America. Hurtigruten Magazine is its first foray into publishing.

The new ‘immersive’ digital magazine will make full use of immersive videos and sound, the first issue of the magazine allows readers to tour Norway’s coastal kitchen with Danish food and travel blogger Anders Husa, embark on a visual journey to Antarctica with award-winning Australian travel photographer Dan Avila, and follow in the footsteps of Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen.

Hurtigruten’s digital magazine will also feature the cruise line’s mission for sustainability, showcasing stories about the first all-women team to overwinter in the Arctic, and discover how ice samples in Greenland are helping scientists to predict the future.

“Much like our hybrid ships, we’re embracing new technologies to keep our audiences’ travel dreams alive through an interactive and immersive experience that goes beyond brochures,” said Damian Perry, managing director of Hurtigruten Asia Pacific.

The digital magazine will be published quarterly and will be optimized for mobile phones, tablets and desktops.The creation of the digital magazine was spearheaded by Joel Victoria, head of marketing for Hurtigruten Asia Pacific, who believes that the magazine will serve as a ‘temporary escape’ and an inspiration for travel in future, still restricted by the ongoing global pandemic.

“We’re finding that cruises exploring remote destinations are performing exceptionally well at the moment for forward bookings; nearly 80% of bookings in the last quarter of 2020 were for Antarctica, fuelled by an ‘All-Inclusive’ marketing campaign. Svalbard, in the Norwegian Arctic, has also proven popular with Aussies,” Victoria stated.

After its initial release in Australia, the printed edition of the magazine will roll out in the UK with translated editions also available in France, Germany and Norway and soon to roll out in Sweden, Switzerland and Denmark.

Mumbai, India – Local-based entertainment super-app ZEE5 has partnered with XroadMedia,  a cloud- and server-based content discovery and recommendations back-end solutions for  digital media, to ramp up its hyper-personalized video-on-demand (VOD)  offerings and social media services. 

Through the partnership, ZEE5 will be using XroadMedia’s content discovery platform Ncanto, which will help in creating multiple content discoveries, recommendations, and personalization use-cases for its users.

“ZEE5 has always believed in the power of great content and powerful technology coming together to offer the best experience to a viewer. We believe gone are the days of broadcast; even the current trend of viewing audiences in clusters and cohorts will soon give way to individual personalization,” stated Rajneel Kumar, business head for expansion projects and head of products at ZEE5.

He added, “We have benchmarked their solution for a few months and found adoption and click-through-rates on recommendations were significantly higher along with a substantial increase in average time spent by a user. XroadMedia’s cloud-based services have also provided us with a higher level of flexibility to serve personalization use-cases and I’m confident this partnership will heighten our seamless content viewing experience, a feat we take great pride in and work tirelessly to maintain.”

Furthermore, Ncanto will aid ZEE5 in creating dynamic personalization of VODbased on interests and watching behavior. 

“Our partnership with ZEE5 is another major milestone in the history of XroadMedia and proves the progress we have made over the past few years. We are particularly excited to work with ZEE5 as they are using our solution to its full extent – from personalizing entire screens in the user interface via creating and managing editorial services to applying our solution across multiple content types and sources. We are very pleased with this partnership, as the application of our solution shows how important personalization is to ZEE5 and I am sure together we will push the boundaries of content discovery and personalization even further in the future”, said XroadMedia Co-Founder and CEO Adolf Proidl.

Singapore – Local-based tech player REVEZ Corp. is diversifying its mediatech scope in Singapore by acquiring digital media operator PGK Digital to create greater value for digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising networks and other media networks.

With this recent partnership, REVEZ will integrate its long-running service of experiential technology to PGK’s existing digital media networks. Integrations such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced interactivity are some of REVEZ’s current mediatech offerings. On the other hand, PGK’s large media presence and ownership of one the country’s largest DOOH networks will help capture the attention of consumers and strengthen the advert’s message.

For Victor Neo, Group CEO of REVEZ Corporation, the recent acquisition roots from PGK’s long run in the media industry and how its reputation stands in being a well-known firm in the industry.

“This partnership kicks off a very exciting journey as we disrupt the Mediatech landscape with our performance-driven and Creativetech solutions. Together, we want to transform the digital advertising and DOOH media landscape in more markets and grow the company’s footprints globally,” Neo stated.

As both offices are headquartered in Singapore, both companies will have exchange on industry experiences and how both strategies from each company can be merged towards unified, long-lasting campaigns.

“The partnership between PGK with its established national media networks and REVEZ with its suite of cutting-edge creative solutions is a powerful differentiator setting us apart from other conventional media owners. Interactivity and Programmatic Advertising will be our next frontier to instantly bridge the gap between our outdoor messages and the millions of residents, professionals, shoppers and commuters we reach every day,” Giulio Dorrucci, Founder and CEO of PGK Digital Networks said.