The Media Federation of Australia (MFA), established in 1997, is an alliance representing media agencies to the government, industry, media owners and the general public.
The industry body’s purpose – We Are The Changers – is to remind the industry that it is at the dynamic epicentre of commerce and society and to inspire its professionals to take pride in their work.
In this series, industry figures from MFA member agencies share their thoughts on their agency’s performance in the last year, the benefits of being part of the industry body, embodying its purpose, and their outlook for the year ahead.
Mark Jarrett – CEO of PHD – spoke to Mediaweek about the impact of a positive 2022, the benefits of being an MFA member and his hopes for the industry.
“Unusually, I didn’t just fall into media as the line normally goes,” Jarrett shared, noting that he chose to study an advertising management course at Bournemouth University in the UK.
“Long enough ago that it was only a couple of places that offered more vocationally focused degrees in our field, but not long enough ago for it still to have been a Polytechnic.”
Jarrett explained that the content centred on marketing, consumer behaviour and designed, for the most part, around the creative agency industry.
“There was one module on media, and we did a few days up in London at Zenith – which at the time was the largest media agency around. I found that fascinating and applied for three different media agency gigs when I graduated,” he said.
Jarrett on PHD’s performance
Looking back at PHD’s 2022 performance, Jarrett noted that it was a positive year for the agency as it retained 99% of its client accounts and helped some of its businesses grow significantly.
Beyond 2022, Jarrett noted that PHD is focused on building long-term sustainable partnerships with its current clients and has renewed several major client contracts in the past 12 months.
“Whilst this sustainable approach provides little in the way of trade press excitement, it’s been a successful approach for PHD seeing us growing from number 13 to number 3 in the past six or seven years,” he said.
Jarrett also noted PHD picked up several pieces of recognition along the way, including:
• Gold Lion Winner at the 2022 Cannes Lions Awards
• Most Innovative Company – Australian Financial Review
• Gold, Silver & Bronze at the 2022 Festival of Media Global Awards
• Real-time Marketing Winner at the 2022 MFA Awards
Being part of the positive impact of the MFA and the industry purpose of We Are The Changers
Jarrett highlighted MFA’s commitment to fostering collaboration, knowledge sharing, and exchanging best practices within the industry.
“These manifest in so many ways, from more personal benefits, such as networking opportunities and professional development across a number of courses and accreditations, to awards and recognition of great work and industry contribution,” he said.
Jarrett noted that the broader industry initiatives the MFA offers include insights, research, and benchmarking.
Jarrett also noted that the industry body “represents the interests of all media agencies, from global players to indies at a national level, with policymakers, regulators, and industry stakeholders to advocate for fair policies and practices that benefit all members.”
The value of the We Are The Changers purpose and Jarrett on his hope for the industry
When it comes to the value media agencies bring to clients’ businesses, Jarrett said that clients are fundamentally looking for growth from their marketing and communications investment. He noted: “Too often, this is delivered in increments – 1% cheaper – 2% more effective.”
Jarrett said: “We Are The Changers is about providing an insight into the positive change we create as an industry every day for our clients and their growth.
“But it’s also a call to do more than focus on incrementality – innovative thinking and new approaches to challenges deliver disproportionate growth, so being a changer is also about producing great work and great thinking to solve problems in a different way,” he added.
Jarrett shared that among his hopes for the industry is a focus on collaboration between advertisers, agencies, platforms, and channels on what really matters. He called it “a worthwhile aspiration” in a complex market landscape that continues to become more complicated, fragmented, and combative.
Another point he noted was that the measurement of the real value of communications work to clients and its impact on customers’ attention and engagement is becoming more important than ever.
“There’s also a hope that the intensified focus around sustainability delivers ongoing momentum for positive change now and in the years to come,” Jarrett added.
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Top image: Mark Jarrett