Mediaweek held its inaugural Power Lunch in October, celebrating the successes of the media industry and the people who make it.
Jacquie Alley – chief operating officer of The Media Store, chair of the IMAA and the IMAA’s Diversity Council – made #28 on the Agency 50 list.
Alley caught up with Mediaweek about The Media Store’s growth over the last year, tackling the industry issues and her optimistic outlook for the independent agency in the year ahead.
Mediaweek: Congratulations on making the #28 spot on our Mediaweek Agency 50 list. What was your reaction to your placement?
JA: I was humbled but excited that the industry had recognised one of the most established and successful independent agencies.
MW: How does your position on the list reflect the achievements made by The Media Store?
JA: Over the past 12 months, The Media Store has reimagined itself, experiencing an exciting period of growth off the back of significant client wins allowing us to double the size of our team.
We have never stayed still as an agency, continually evolving our capabilities and improving our processes, toolkit and client service all whilst never wavering from our values of putting people first and behaving with integrity. We are so proud of how we have behaved; we are now bearing the fruit.
MW: What are three industry issues on your mind, and in your opinion, how can they be solved or achieved
Pitching
The current pitch process is a bugbear of mine. For all agencies, it’s a resource and cost investment without a transparent view on whether it’s simply a governance process with the intent of reducing an incumbents fees or a fair fight where the client hasn’t been satisfied with their agency’s performance.
If agencies were paid for their IP handed over during pitches, perhaps the numbers would be reduced, the process and evaluation criteria more transparent and the trend towards performance reviews would increase.
Data Privacy
The proposed reforms to the Privacy Act are set to have an impact on our client’s businesses. Whilst I am personally relieved that increased transparency and simplicity on the value exchange offered to consumers for their data is promised, it is set to disrupt brand loyalty programs and geo-location targeting. We are fortunate to have the leadership of the IAB who will guide us all through the implications as more information comes to light.
Indies
In my IMAA Chair capacity, it would be remiss of me not to raise the concern that many Australian brands are asking consumers to buy and travel local, however are still giving their media accounts to global holding companies.
As we build awareness of this incongruence, we will be inviting CMO’s of Australian brands to consider a more local supply chain with comparable capabilities and business owners with skin the game for shared success.
MW: What is your outlook for The Media Store in the year ahead?
JA: Incredibly optimistic. Whilst we’re not naïve to the global economic uncertainty, if covid taught us anything it was the impact of advertising to connect brands with the hearts of Australians during tough seasons. Rather than pulling back marketing spend, those brands who stayed the course and invested in brand building reaped the rewards.
We are confident that our suite of brands will continue to grow with our data-led and innovative thought leadership. We have an exceptional integrated cross-generational and multi-disciplined team who are laser focused on growth with exciting strategic plans to help us collectively achieve it this year. With this outstanding aligned team, The Media Store’s future is in good hands.
MW: What are your hopes for the industry in 2023?
JA: That the rhetoric and expertise we apply on our client’s businesses is applied to our own industry – for people to no longer ‘fall’ into media careers but for an influx of fresh talent who are excited to build brands and deliver business results to stream in.
For those, like myself, who have spouses in other industries know only too well how great our industry is, we just need to collectively tell the positive stories louder.
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Top image: Jacquie Alley