In a world where the digital landscape is as vast as it is volatile, media agencies hold the key to shaping an ethical, diverse, and quality media ecosystem — all of which is under continued, growing threat.

In previous Media in Canada roundtables, discussions have focused on the declining health of local media and questioned how to get off this fast-moving train. In our most recent roundtable, we explore the realms that have been neglected in the wake of the industry’s digital fervor and source opportunities that are being missed.

To find some answers, MiC brought together media leaders and marketers including Caroline Moul, president of PHD; Shane Cameron, CSO, OMD; David Rusli, CSO and CDO, Publicis; Jonelle Ricketts, head of marketing, IKEA; Irene Daly, VP, marketing, Canadian Tire; Iain Beauchamp, formerly head of marketing at Six Pints; Lisa Mazurkewich, head of marketing, Subway, and Nadia Niccoli, head of marketing, Diageo.

Moderating the discussion was Jennifer Horn, editor and content director for strategy and Media in Canada. Also in attendance were Tracy Day, managing director, ad products and innovation at The Globe & Mail, as well as strategy and Media in Canada‘s publisher Lisa Faktor, associate publisher Neil Ewen, and MiC editor Greg Hudson.

Check out the first part of the discussion below, with the second and third rolling out tomorrow and Wednesday.

With all of the legal and political challenges some digital players are facing right now, are brands looking to pause or make a change when it comes to media investments?

PHD’s Caroline Moul (pictured): Despite much of the conversation around digital, we continue to see TV investment go down. But we also see a lot of our clients talk about the power of TV. Despite all of the conversation that’s happening around supporting Canadian media, there isn’t enough action. It’s wonderful for people to care about it, but if you don’t put your money where your care is, then we’re not going to see meaningful change. We’re not seeing a progression happen across the board. We see some clients interested to hear more, but they’re not necessarily taking dollars away from some of the giants to reinvest into local media.

There’s so much research out there that says local media works. I think the reality is there’s a requirement for us to have a healthy dialogue around why we wouldn’t put more behind it. And when we think about the pressure that some of the social players are under from a legal or political perspective, I think clients are curious to understand what that means and what the potential ramifications are. But we have not seen any decisions made to pull away at this point. And it probably is a little bit too early for Canada. It’s still very early conversations.

OMD’s Shane Cameron (pictured): I think people understand the value of local or regional media. I think the challenge is where they say, “Okay, I have the belief, the sentiment and the will. But I don’t have the currency to evaluate why you should put more into local media.”

You hear the term “attention” come up over and over again. Can we put currency on media that reaches people, just maybe not at the same scale number? Because it’s going to be hard to compete against the international tech giants if you’re just counting zeros and ones. But is there something that happens from a memorability standpoint? And I think the answer is “Yes, but tell me why I’m going to take X percentage and migrate it back? I have to have a numerical argument to take back to the boardroom.”

The good news is that we’re all working on that as an industry, but it’s agency-by-agency or client-by-client. And there is that wish for an industry standard, which I don’t think is coming anytime soon.

Publicis’ David Rusli: It’s a tough world, isn’t it? It no longer works for marketers. Gone are the days when you could actually spend infinite amount of dollars in media and see infinite outcomes. The fragmentation of the media ecosystem has really caused the marketer’s role to be much harder. It makes them sweat the smaller numbers. And to your point Shane, they have to prove that their investment is working hard. And on top of that, they also have to prove that the things they’re doing for communities actually have benefit.

What about the marketers in the room, are you thinking about making an investment shift?

IKEA’s Jonelle Ricketts (pictured): Well, we haven’t made any significant changes when it comes to digital, because it’s still so hard-working for us. We see the return, based on the econometrics that we do regularly, and so we know it plays a role when it comes to our online business. But I think there’s still a bit of caution knowing that ­– given what’s happening in the world – at any moment we may need to make some changes, especially with us being part of a global organization.

We also still see tremendous value in traditional media. It contributes to sales and visitation, but also to our brand KPIs. There are different channels that are going to drive different objectives. But we’re proceeding with caution, just to make sure we have the right back-up plans in place. If something were to shift, what would we do with those dollars? We engage in those conversations with their agency partners regularly, in order to make sure that we can make those adjustments as needed.

Moul: I think one of the biggest gaps that we have in the marketing industry as a whole is we are not measuring enough. We’ve got the econometrics behind it. We see the value of each of the media channels and what they’re able to do in terms of business outcomes. But I think measurement is one of the challenges that we face in Canada.

Ricketts: Honestly, introducing econometrics was a game-changer for us. When we first introduced it, there were people who were a little skeptical about the methodology and how it all works. But we really tried to demonstrate its value and communicate that this is the gold standard. Over the last couple of years, we were only doing it in Canada. And then it was introduced globally. So it is a lot easier to compare market to market.

It also creates this language that you can use when you go into meetings ­– people understand when you say, “Here are the channels we’re going to invest in because we need to drive in-store visitation.” We know from our econometrics that the channels that are best for us are paid social, online video and paid search. That’s why digital isn’t going away – because we see the results.

Canadian Tire’s Irene Daly (pictured): The other thing from the client side, at least for Canadian Tire, is the fragmentation of customers. We have so many different segments. Maybe the holy grail continues to be “How can we be more personalized?” That’s what keeps me up at night. I have this (shrinking) budget and I have to spend it across fragmentation of media. And then I’m also trying to deliver more relevant messages to so many more segments. And it’s this massive Jenga puzzle in my head.

It’s never been more complex to be a marketer. But I think it’s exciting because we get to do test-and-learns. We’re still trying to figure out ad streaming: can we actually get the audiences that we need? We know the eyeballs are there, but are we delivering the right message? It’s fun, but it’s tough.

Rusli: I like that you talked about test-and-learn because that’s what we’ve been talking to our clients about. It’s wonderful that we’re measuring everything. But, as cookies go away, attribution is going to change completely. We can’t wait to test-and-learn after the cookies goes away. We need to test-and-learn the KPIs we’re going to put our money behind now, while the cookies are still crumbling.

Iain Beauchamp (pictured): Through the course of the pandemic, we pivoted and we pivoted. You couldn’t plan traditional campaigns on the basis of things being open one day and then closed the next. So now there’s probably this generation of people who have come into marketing at the junior level that think, “This is what marketing is like.”

No, actually we should be thinking about marketing in two years time. We need to be thinking about impactful brand building. That’s the work that takes time and is done best through big traditional media. And that’s where the signal power of those channels makes sense. But we’ve had two years of pivoting all the time, and the way that you can most easily pivot is through digital.

Moul: I personally think we’re going to see more brand bravery in the coming years, which will allow a marketer to justify bigger investments that are multichannel. Whether it’s multichannel digital or a more holistic 360 approach, brands will need to do big brave things in order to resonate with and win the hearts and minds of Canadians. I think that’s where we’re going to see long-term growth and less chasing the next shiny platform.

Daly: But there’s always going to be that balance of short and long term. When you talk about the boardroom, it weighs heavily on all our minds because we’re facing a consumer downslope. Money doesn’t go as far anymore and consumers are going to spend less across the board. So why would they choose you? The fastest race to the bottom is price, right? You can’t win on price. We all know that as marketers. Do you still have to compete on price? Probably, it depends on who you are as a brand.

Canadian Tire is a mass merchant and we’re known for great deals. So of course we compete on price. But we also spend a lot of time thinking about brand and we measure that as brand trust. It’s the combination of great deals plus a brand that I adore because it sells things I never knew I needed and I love shopping there. We’re trying to get that magical blend of short- and long-term brand love because that’s the staying power.

Subway’s Lisa Mazurkewich: Part of that is being part of the community. I think there’s something really meaningful when your media or your message is actually in a neighborhood. For us, that means things like radio and out-of-home are incredibly important because we need every Subway franchisee to feel that they’re supported and I need each community to feel like they are seen by us.

And I think that’s given us a real competitive advantage, even with the amount we spend. I look at something like radio and stations are really open to doing some cool stuff for us, like sampling or talking about our charity programs. And I think, for us, it’s really important that we’re supporting communities. Not just to support the franchisees and the consumers, but also to keep those communities whole.

Ricketts: And I think there’s an element of brand trust in the channel you use, especially when there’s work in smaller communities. When you’re hearing that message on your local radio station and your local announcer is talking about it as well, there’s this element of trust that comes with that too.

You really do need to look at those communities and ask, “What kind of media habits do people in those communities have? What is actually going to resonate with them, even if it makes no sense to anybody else? It’s really about understanding those consumers and the possibilities that exist.

Continue the conversation in Part 2 and Part 3 of our roundtable discussion.