Billetts' audit plans draw agency fury

He joined Thomson Intermedia as chief operating officer last year with Michael Greenlees, who also joined as chief executive. The pair were handed the task of fundamentally changing the company's focus and, following a seven-month review, they have come up with a new plan of action.

Currently, Billetts measures the effectiveness of media campaigns once they have aired. Advertisers pay the company to audit their media performance, assess what activity worked, what didn't and provide them with research tools and expert advice. The main change at Billetts is a plan to analyse and review media plans for clients pre-campaign, as well as auditing them afterwards - a move that goes to the core of what agencies do.

Moving on
As Manning points out, investment starts at the planning stage and Billetts' job is to make sure advertisers are getting sufficient bang for their buck. His message is that, as the world of media has moved on, planning has been left behind. And he reckons Billetts can sort it out.

"Media planning is still done today as it was 10 years ago," he says. "It has stagnated. What we're doing is setting out to improve the standard of planning in the industry and holding planners to account."

One look at the recent changes in Thomson Intermedia's share price on the Alternative Investment Market and you'll realise why Billetts had to change something. A drop in share price from more than 250 pence to 32 pence since January 2007 suggests things haven't been going according to plan. Thomson Intermedia brought in Manning last September. Among the changes since has been the departure of managing partner Andy Pearch, a 14-year veteran of Billetts.

It is just as well Manning has developed thick skin during a vast media career, however, because agencies are angry, to the point of boiling, over his planned changes.

Their relations with auditors are strained at the best of times, but for an auditor to become the judge of the huge amount of work that goes into the planning process has pushed some over the edge.

One planning chief at a top agency described Billetts' movements as patronising to both clients and agencies. He compared the prospective situation to a parent accompanying two teenagers on a date - there to make sure things run smoothly, but the date actually turns out disastrously and is no fun for anyone.

"To enable the auditor to attempt this job at a level that doesn't become a complete waste of time, the client would need to give it [Billetts] a full briefing, talk it through the various twists and turns of discussion, news, late intelligence about competitive activity and so on," he said.
"The alternative - of giving a finalised plan to the auditor for ‘the once-over', but without a full briefing - is clearly a pointless and counter-productive exercise."

Another board director at a top agency, again unwilling to break rank for fear that it would destroy a working relationship with Billetts, was scathing of the new proposals.

"Massive obstacles would exist - creative and media agencies would not want to share confidential information. Billetts will also feel that it can only justify a fee if it changes media plans - a completely ridiculous scenario."

Logical move
However, Guy Sellers, group managing director of Total Media, believes Billetts' move is logical.
He says: "It's quite sensible that Billetts is taking its business upstream, but I don't think planners will welcome it and it may be best sticking to checking the effectiveness of media, rather than the strategic end of things. It's going to have a fairly limited appeal to marketing directors who are confident of what they're doing. Someone who knows what they're doing would simply change their agency if they didn't have faith in them."

Manning admits that "a lot of our expertise is buying-focused" and plans to hire more people with planning experience. But he made it clear that Billetts is ready to roll and has initiated talks with clients.

He claims to be pleased by the reaction of agencies to the changes and clearly has an appetite to take the reformed Billetts to market and deal with the reaction head on.

"We are not anti-agency," he says. "We are pro-advertiser and therefore share the same agenda as agencies."

Agencies clearly do not want to share their agenda with Billetts, but that will not deter Manning. His job is to convince clients that they need Billetts to cut through the complexities of planning and get value for money. If he succeeds on a wide scale, media agencies will have to lump it and the planning process will change from the ground up. If he fails, Thomson Intermedia will have to think again.

Build up to the rebrand
Thomson Intermedia bought Billetts for £13.1m in August 2005

? May 2008: Thomson Intermedia rebrands its media and marketing services under the Billetts brand, and expands offering to include review of media plans. Martin Sambrook becomes managing partner of Billetts Media Consulting, having previously had an international role

? April 2008: Andy Pearch, former Billetts chief executive, departs

? January 2008: Martin Sambrook hired from rival Accenture to manage Billetts' global division

? November 2007: Martin Wright, former FCBi Europe president, joins as managing partner of Billetts Media Monitoring

? September 2007: Michael Greenlees installed as chief executive, Nick Manning hired as chief operating officer. Strategic review initiated