Media practitioners must keep up with changing technology

PETALING JAYA: The job of media practitioners is getting more complex in the advent of technology, hence the Malaysian Media Awards 2017 this Friday will recognise media specialists and buyers for their creative use of the right advertising platforms, in line with changing times.
Organising chairman Amit Sutha said people are on various media platforms now, whether newspaper, TV, website or mobile, and a media practitioner’s job is to understand how people interact with each medium and help brands use these platforms to relay their messages.
“What’s new is learning to manage the data that comes out of a mobile platform, website or sales channels, and trying to bring them together to take certain decisions for brands,” he told SunBiz in an interview earlier this week.
Amit, who is also media agency Universal McCann Malaysia’s managing director, said media practitioners need to help clients invest in the right platforms, but this is tougher currently as there are many more platforms available today.
“It’s not just platforms, but within these platforms there are so many more choices, such as different TV channels, different print additions and different apps and websites. On top of that, customers’ behaviours have changed.
“Previously, you see an advertisement, you remember the product and you buy it. That’s changed. Moving into the digital world, you see a banner ad, you click on it, you like it and you buy. The distance between advertising and sales is much smaller now,” Amit explained.
He added that media practitioners are expected to act almost real time now, with the need to be predictive and gauging the probability of something happening. 
“After investing in a platform, how well is it working, how much money should I keep in it, what kind of messaging should I have, how long should it be in there... we need to take these decisions fast. The old school way of buying media is changing. We’re understanding in real time how consumers behave and what they do, how effective the advertising is, and we change it,” said Amit.
He said media practitioners are the controllers of marketing budgets, apart from clients, as the media industry has a huge impact on where the advertising expenditure (adex) is spent on.
“For years, we have been seen as media planners. But because of new technologies, we’re planning for audiences and behaviours. We have changed from being media planners to being audience planners,” said Amit.
Organised by the Media Specialists Association Malaysia, the Malaysian Media Awards 2017 has added three new categories this year – Creative Use of Data, Best Use of Technology and Campaigns that Drive Commerce.
“We used to take reach and frequency as metrics. Today, the metrics are slowly changing and we talk about cost per lead,” said Amit.
In view of the challenging economic environment, he said many advertisers are rationalising their ad spend.
“But new companies coming in like technology companies and venture capital-funded companies will make up for some of these losses. Traditional companies might spend less or maintain their spend, while some sectors may spend more, such as telcos, so there will still be a growth.
“We’re expecting the adex to grow by a shade under 5%, driven by digital and TV as both the industries are growing at around 10%,” said Amit.
He said sometimes it’s difficult to create science around decision-making, which in turn apply strategies and also a level of instinct to it.
“Innovation plays a huge role and there is no science to define a particular impact of an innovation, which is why the mix of technology, data and story-telling can make a difference in how brands operate and succeed.”
He added the return on investment is also always a big part of the media industry.
“Marketing and advertising drives a huge amount of sale. For brands, 30%-40% of sales come from advertising,” said Amit.