How media's trade bodies shape up

sector they cover and the wider media world.

These organisations are all about finding common cause and persuading
rivals to work together for the benefit of all. For them, life can be
all about lobbying government and regulators, or running competitions
for creatives, or establishing research programmers to get planners
onside and holding summer parties.

To find out how they measured up, in their members' eyes, Media Week
sent out a questionnaire to well-informed individual members of each
body - at least five for each media - and analysed their answers about
what's been good and what needs attention. The results highlight their
successes, as well as the many challenges they and the media industry
face.

RADIO ADVERTISING BUREAU

Digital and analogue radio

Last week's announcement that the RAB is to join forces with the
Commercial Radio Companies Association reflects that the medium is going
through a tough time at the moment.

For years the RAB has been cited as the model of the ideal trade body,
but with the medium on the back foot, it is evolving.

Nick Hewat, sales director at Virgin Radio, acknowledged: "The RAB has
been rightly hailed as having done a great job in conjunction with the
radio industry since its formation in 1992. However, in any market
place, first mover advantage can be quickly eaten away, so it is
essential it maintains its standing by continuing to improve its
relevance to advertisers."

It's noticeable that many of radio's major players did not want to
participate in this survey - sent out before the latest merger
development. Some critics argue the RAB should be articulating a new
vision for the radio business. "I think the issue for the RAB is the
radio industry was on a roll for a long time and the RAB played a big
part in that. What it hasn't worked out is how to deal with the fact
that radio isn't seen as such a glamorous industry at the moment," said
one veteran. Stan Park, chairman of Radio Works, added: "GCap's been in
a mess and audiences have been in decline and there's been a division on
the way forward for digital as well." However, there have been
successes. In particular, two studies - one with the OAA and one with
the IAB - have highlighted radio's role in a mixed media schedule, and
UK Radio Aid Day - when national and regional stations suspended their
schedules to create a 12-hour star-studded special - was an example of a
medium that can clearly work together.

Response: The RAB declined to comment.

Mark: 6.8/10

THINKBOX

Television

Influencing sentiment is not just a 12-month task, noted one of the
Thinkbox respondents. The youngest of the eight trade bodies arrived
with a bang, but has lately found itself generating the wrong kind of
headlines.

It started in 2005 with a new website url and an event, the Thinkbox
Experience, a new showcase for TV. Suddenly, rival sales directors were
talking with the same voice - something that had seemed impossible only
a few months earlier.

Recently however, the organisation has become more noticeable for the
career paths of its board members. Its grassroots work with planners,
while essential, hasn't had the same impact on the headline writers.

The score from respondents shows that its members feel that, while much
has been achieved in the launch year, there's still work to do.

"With all due respect to the RAB - invariably held up as an example of
what can be done - their success was from such a low base that they were
almost bound to make progress. The objectives for television are far
less about education and much more to do with stressing the range of
possibilities open to advertisers," said John Lewis, head of sponsorship
at Five.

Members also called for a greater focus on the commercial possibilities
outside traditional spot advertising.

"Having established 'base camp', Thinkbox now needs to push on to the
next level. This will involve engaging advertisers and agencies in
bespoke conversations about their issues and concerns," said Jeremy
Tester, director of insight at Sky Media.

Response: Under new chairman Andy Barnes, 2006 promises to be busy for
Thinkbox. The organisation will be revamping its website with additional
content, adding information on non-conventional use of TV, with DVDs
showing planners how to target groups that don't fit into the buying
audiences, as well as a key piece of engagement research.

"The first year was all about launching ourselves and doing that in a
very public platform," said marketing director Elizabeth Kesses, who has
been seconded from The Ingram Partnership.

Mark: 7.2/10

INTERNET ADVERTISING BUREAU

Online

As the trade organisation for the fastest-growing advertising medium
around, rivals might snipe that the IAB has something of an easier job
than others.

Nevertheless, members single out the IAB Engage conference in November,
at which Microsoft founder Bill Gates spoke, as a particular achievement
for chief executive Guy Phillipson, who arrived at the organisation last
January.

It also teamed up with the RAB to do joint research on multimedia
schedules. A new five-point plan, introduced in April, has been welcomed
as illustrating the way forward, according to one key member.

"With the simplified five-point plan and orientation towards
advertisers, I believe we're on the right track," the member noted,
echoing other praise for the IAB's more focused agenda.

But another member called for "more compelling, better articulated
reasons to switch more budget to digital, and more studies demonstrating
the effectiveness of the medium in an integrated context".

Other issues raised include the need to highlight activity outside the
main portals and a plea for more research.

However, there's general agreement that a powerful trade body can help
online grow its share of revenue faster than otherwise by attracting
money from outside the medium, as media companies tend to focus on
"intra-media selling".

Response: "The IAB has come a long way in a short space of time," says
chief executive Guy Phillipson. "We have a number of research
initiatives and collaborations in the pipeline that will provide
advertisers with even more evidence that online is an engaging and
effective marketing medium. The IAB will be at the heart of driving new
advertisers online and helping existing advertisers get more out of the
medium."

Mark: 7.8/10

NEWSPAPER MARKETING AGENCY

National newspapers

If it's research, a website and meetings with key stakeholders you want
from your trade body, then the Newspaper Marketing Agency has been
pressing all the right buttons.

Simon Barnes, commercial director at Independent News & Media, praised a
string of initiatives, including the "press advertising effectiveness"
evaluations, dinner debates with client/media and creative agency
personnel and senior journalists and the creation of four generic
category brochures - "some of the highest quality work I've seen".

He added: "Its website is powerful and a 50% increase in traffic last
year suggests that it delivers."

Another senior member acknowledged: "The NMA's engagement with clients,
planners and creatives is creating talkability around the medium."

Going forward, there are pleas for a greater sharing of case study
knowledge, as well as further work to isolate the impact of press in
online transactions. "We need research to prove ad messages are received
in the paper and that transaction only takes place online," said one
sales boss.

This year has also seen the arrival of the Awards for National Newsaper
Advertising (ANNAs) to encourage creatives to work on press. "The
creative awards have done more for papers in the creative agencies than
anything else for decades," said another.

It is, however, a long-term project to change perceptions of the ad
community, as reflected by one mid-market comment. "I think they've done
a lot with a very small team. Fantastic from a PR point of view. But
have we seen a whole shift of money into the sector? The jury's still
out."

Response: This year's research will incorporate an online element, says
chief executive Maureen Duffy, adding that one of the most unsung and
effective things the NMA can do is help develop creative for
newspapers.

"It's an area that most senior clients are most fascinated by. Clients
want to know what questions I can ask to help (creative agencies)
produce better work."

Mark: 8.0/10

NEWSPAPER SOCIETY REGIONAL NEWSPAPERS

The Newspaper Society is one trade body with a wider function than
simply promoting the advertising benefits of the regional press.

That's reflected in the recent highlights mentioned by members,
including lobbying on the BBC Charter and the impact of the Olympics
Bill.

The importance of this role was reflected in the comments of Sir Ray
Tindle, owner of Tindale Newspapers and former NS president: "It can,
and does, place our industry's needs before government and public bodies
and can influence decisions in a way that no individual newspaper
could."

Tim Bowdler, chief executive at Johnston Press, added: "It's more a case
of maintaining the high standards which it has achieved, in as
cost-effective a manner as possible."

Areas for action however, include the perennial issue of ensuring London
media buyers understand the local newspaper market and improving the
medium's media profile.

"This year we need to spend more time getting across to young London
media buyers how much the local press is part of people's lives and is
therefore, trusted and very effective," said Robin Burgess, chief
executive of CN Group.

And John Robertson, deputy chairman of the Newbury Weekly News Group,
called for extra investment in the effectiveness research programme "to
demonstrate to the industry its members' total domination of their local
market place".

Response: David Newell, director of the Newspaper Society, swears to the
organisation's 100% commitment to ensuring agencies understand the power
of regional press, both in print and online.

"We have a major piece of research launching in April, which examines
the way that people use media, and a further advertising effectiveness
studies later in the year. Our marketing team is talking to agencies to
help them use the regional press as an advertising medium."

Mark: 8.5/10

OUTDOOR ADVERTISING ASSOCIATION

Outdoor and ambient

Highlights for the OAA include its recent tie-up with the RAB promoting
the benefits of using outdoor and radio together, as well as a TNS study
on the impact outdoor can have on sales. It has also set up a working
group focusing on digital outdoor media.

David McEvoy, marketing director at JCDecaux, said its key role is to
communicate the social changes that benefit the business. "The challenge
is to ensure we communicate the cultural changes that are occurring in
society and how they are affecting and influencing communication
planning. This is where the OAA can and does make a difference."

Another senior executive praised the organisation for its performance on
a budget that's a fraction of that available to the RAB or NMA. "I'd
like the OAA to have done more. However, I think they have achieved more
than expected within the constraints of their relatively small budget
and staffing," he said.

But there are also concerns. Too much time is spent dealing with
stakeholder issues rather than "customer-facing initiatives", said one
respondent.

At the same time, the dominant role of the five major contractors in
funding the organisation means some of the smaller players feel left
out, even if they agree with the agenda.

Response: "Over the past three years, the OAA has increased and widened
the membership of the organisation to represent the enormous number of
exciting opportunities that now exist within outdoor," says chief
executive Alan James. "In this time, membership of the OAA has increased
from 17 to 50 companies. This 'wide church' approach has led to the
creation within the organisation of the Digital Outdoor Media Group,
specifically tasked with promoting the digital screens sector."

Mark: 7.2/10

PERIODICAL PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION

Consumer magazines

Like the Newspaper Society, the PPA has spent much of 2005 lobbying hard
against changes to the competition rules governing distribution.

"They have performed extremely well in the joint initiative with
newspapers, covering threats to the news distribution system," said one
senior magazine boss.

Marketing-wise there has been the Advocacy programme, as well as the
Magazines Uncovered trilogy, bringing ROI thinking, readership
accumulation and recency theory to the fore for planners.

"I believe the PPA's marketing of magazine advertising is streets ahead
of where it was a couple of years ago," said James Papworth, group ad
marketing and strategy manager at IPC Media, reflecting the comments of
many.

But, he added, with so much information now in the vaults at Queens
House, they need to let people know about it "The PPA is stacked to the
brim with thorough, thoughtful and useful information. It's just a case
of letting or getting the right people to be aware of it and use
it."

Members want to see more attention focused on the ad marketing issues
after intensive and much-praised work on the lobbying side. This year,
the PPA will be hosting the FIPP Business and Professional
Conference.

Response: The PPA is reviewing its marketing activity with the aim of
tweaking the approach for the autumn, according to deputy chief
executive Nick Mazur.

"At the moment, we are reviewing all our marketing activity both in
consumer and business-to-business. It's something you've got to do all
the time, because you're there to serve your membership."

Mark: 8.3/10

ASSOCIATION OF PUBLISHING AGENCIES (APA)

Customer magazines

Members of the APA (part of the PPA) are bullish about the work the
organisation and its director, Julia Hutchison, have done so far.

Recent highlights include the launch of the APA Advantage Study, a
research benchmark conducted by Millward Brown to provide analysis of
the effectiveness of customer magazines across a variety of sectors.

Like the PPA, it has also been involved in lobbying the Royal Mail on
its new pricing structure.

Perhaps the ultimate seal of approval is that the members have recently
voted through a substantial increase in fees to enable the APA to do
still more.

The Advantage Study received particular praise from members, with Sean
King, commercial director at Square One Publishing, noting: "This has
not only brought about a sharp increase in companies now looking to
launch their own customer magazines, but also, crucially, it has
demonstrated the medium's effectiveness to those clients who also have
their own publications."

Mark Jones, editorial director at Cedar, echoed many respondents,
claiming the on-going challenge is to move the medium up the agenda.
"They can never do enough, but they've done more in the past year than
in the previous 10 years put together," he said, adding that potential
improvements would be to "do more to get customer magazines up the food
chain within client companies".

Response: APA chairman Jason Frost says the aim will now be to focus on
new challenges such as "developing our creative reputation and finding
ways to make sure that editorial communication is in every marketing
director's thoughts".

Hutchison adds: "Our key target this year is very definitely marketing
directors. We've got the tools now to convince them about the
effectiveness of the medium, which we didn't always have before."

Mark: 8.6/10.