The Independent Media Agencies of Australia (IMAA) has continued to grow in membership since its launch last year.
Mediaweek has been profiling IMAA members, and this week we spoke to Audience Precision founder and CEO Haydon Bray about the company’s journey so far.
Bray, who has spent 30 years in the media industry, explained that he established Audience Precision (AP) seven years ago with the hopes of disrupting the industry and doing things for the clients’ benefit.
After selling Bray Media to Carat Australia in the 90s, Bray took a few years off, and during that time envisioned how his new company would stand out from the rest before making a return to the industry.
“Everything that I could see happening to the media industry was foreign to the way I believed that it should be done. So we set up seven years ago to disrupt that. We focus on strategy – not just things that are essential for our benefit, but for ultimately the clients benefit.”
Bray explained that the company set values early on that centred on being solutions-focused, having high standards, being open to all ideas – all with a “core purpose of treating clients money as if it were our own.”
AP launched with Warner Music. It has continued to grow globally with offices in New York and London and work with big clients – including R.M. Williams, non-alcoholic beverage company Lyre’s Spirit Co.and RedEarth Energy Storage.
Among the many things that set AP apart is their strategy guidance system Precise 360 which is developed with Microsoft and builds fast media strategies guided by data.
“We’re seeing anywhere between 20% and 50% more impact to potential customers and we are not wasting budgets on people that don’t have any interest in buying from our clients.”
AP’s other key pillars are DNA – audience segments based on consumer lifestyle and behavioural patterns to find potential customers, purchasing behaviour and media consumption choices – and Activation & Analytics, which buys media and reports campaign performance.
Speaking of AP’s journey so far, Bray said: “I’m excited and proud of what we’ve built over seven years, we had a vision, and we’ve delivered on that, probably beyond where we thought.
“We didn’t have this massive plan where we thought we were going to be global in five years; we ended up being global in three years with Warner. That’s just expanded further now, so it’s been a hugely interesting journey and very rewarding,” he added.
The IMAA
While AP only joined the IMAA toward late 2021, Bray said he is a big believer in giving back to the industry and has high hopes of doing so through the association and to media practitioners coming through after what has been a year of rapid growth for the company.
“I think the responsibility of people that can be mentors to the younger generation is a responsibility we have to do. I hope to get more involved.”
