Signature January/February 2015 - 31


(60 percent), bonus pages (55 percent),
rich media (48 percent), bonus distribution (47 percent), and programmatic
inventory (43 percent).

PROGRAMMATIC
Programmatic advertising is trending
strong in consumer publishing and some
areas of B2B, but it is still making inroads
in associations. Nevertheless, the study
results imply that if associations want to
capture more agency business, they have
to catch up - the Kantar Media/James G.
Elliott survey reveals that programmatic
buying is familiar to 92 percent of respondents overall, with 42 percent calling it
very familiar or extremely familiar. A full
67 percent are involved in programmatic
buying on some level.
Simply put, Davis says, programmatic is
data-driven buying and selling using automation, between known media brands and
approved advertisers - with transparency. "Ad space inventory is slotted and
booked through programmatic channels
and then negotiated through a live sales
rep," he explains.
Davis says Kantar Media is convinced
that programmatic buys are only going
to increase, and his company is addressing that trend through srds.com, where
media buyers can access more than 8,500
programmatic inventory products offered
up by over 1,100 media brands.
"In programmatic, technology is at the
core of media strategy for advertisers and
publishers. Why should associations pay
attention? Because 55 percent of overall
agency respondents reported 15 percent
or higher of their digital budget would be
bought programmatically in 2015," he says,
"and it's only going to go up from there."

THE TAKEAWAY FOR
ASSOCIATIONS
Associations looking to get a piece of the
agency pie must understand a few truths,
Elliott and Davis say. Agency buyers are
typically young professionals in their
mid-20s with an unpredictable workload,
juggling more clients than ever before.
These buyers don't have time to learn
all the media options available for each

Signature readers are invited
to get the full Study of Media
Planning & Buying, as well as
links to programmatic advertising guides, at SRDS.com/
JGEReport2015.

brand and client that they are responsible
for. Relationships, the survey seems to
suggest, are valued less than they have
been in the past.
While trying to sell to stressed and busy
buyers, association publishers also have to
grapple with the fact that the notion of
a traditional annual planning season has
gone to the wayside. This means RFPs are
gaining in importance because they are the
most efficient and effective way for agencies
to gather proposals in a short timeframe.
Not only do agencies expect the proposals
back quickly, they also expect deep rate card
discounts of about 30 percent.
Is this uber-fast, technology-based
media buying world going to leave rela-

tionship-rich associations out in the cold?
No - the study states that clients are still
important. However, it does mean that
associations looking to grow their advertising sales should embrace the agency
buyer's new environment and make the
effort to engage not just the clients, but
the agencies that represent them.
To win in the agency world, Elliott says
association sales teams need more training. "Client contact is still critical, and
associations need to give more support
to their sales team in the field," he says.
"Capturing a piece of the agency business
is a good way for associations to increase
revenue without dramatically increasing
their published rates." n
Carla Kalogeridis
(ckalogeridis@association
mediaandpublishing.org) is
editorial director of
Association Media &
Publishing.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signature January/February 2015
