Confused of N1

Have been visited by the great and good from the digital media industry over last few weeks and all are preaching similar concerns - to summarise
1. Most ad agencies' media spend is falling
2. Most ad agencies say it will continue to be of less importance to them
3. Many clients are going direct
4. Will their spend be eroded/replaced by social/direct recruiting etc

To be fair this tallies with the rare conversations i have with peers/competitors in industry (always noticeable still in 2012 how reliant some are on print billings for any healthy margins)

The "Confused" bit comes from that this conflicts hugely with our experience at OME -

1. Media billings going up ie more direct recruiting
2. LinkedIn spend replaces spend on rec agencies not necessarily media
3. They want a holistic approach to outward employer/recruiter messaging/process/engagement. Negotiating media deals is not the hard bit - its having an metric led approach that ensures you continue to deliver efficient results while simultaneously being innovative and managing the whole process (using the right MI).
4. So desire (not need but desire) for the right supplier has never been as high or as useful i think

So what to think

1. we are wrong (possible)
2. the old industry is so fragmented that no rules apply across the board. You have big trad agencies desperate to reinvent themselves (RPO/Marcomms/Strategy), small players wo have found a niche and doing fine and many in the middle.
3. I dont think we fit any of those categories anymore - so will concentrate on delivering a product to market that people want to buy.
4. Critical we stay on top of what is happening out there but not so far ahead as to be offering non practical advice for clients in next 12 months.

Events and Awards

Now i have tendency to be cynical about attending too many events and award ceremonies but i do have to say how pleased i am that Mike Roberts is organising the 2nd Social Media Grad Conference and Awards

It took brave organisations last year to stick their head above the parapet and let peers, competitors, cynics view their work in social media but as we all know - there is now some brilliant work (with tangible results) going on now in this sector and i think the event will go from strength now.

Now we need to see if Mike will invite me back as a judge this year.....

Tectonic Plates Are Shifting

We love digital media, in fact we love most media but.....
most of the schedules we put together now are not classic postings on jobsites, emails etc.
they are properly integrated with press, radio and (for us) the big element of SOCIAL. I am going to try and share our billings splits between the various parts of our business and i think, as a biz that was so concentrated around classic digital rec media, i think it will make interesting reading.

Content over Style

I have had a week of presentations and feel a little bored by the sound of my own voice and the relentless self promotion unsubtly disguised in presenting research, trends and case studies (and yes i am aware of the irony that i am writing a broadcast blog post bemoaning that i have been talking too much about OME).

Last month - i overhauled the content and how we present and sexed it up a bit - i felt happier with what we had created, all good yes?.....

Nope - all the consequent feedback though quite positive is that people want the info displayed in a clear structured way (that they can quote, re-use....copy and paste) and also not to go too bleeding edge with examples and advice.

Organisations want to know what they can do practically and what they can get done in no longer than the medium term (define - medium term?? i think it is a time period that covers when the decision maker is likely to still be in the job)

So this week - it was back to clear directional advice (not you could do this or you could do that or that etc), how to kick it off, resources required and how to avoid it all going wrong.

Feedback much much better

Lesson of the Week
Don't get too clever and forget its about what your clients want not what you want to give them

Now all i need is for someone to remind me of this, say maybe every hour.

Mind the Gap

so this is the longest gap between blogs since i started - which is remiss of me- so here is what has been happening
- i went on holiday
- i did jury service (turned down big murder trial due to lasting 6 weeks, sat on jury for an hour, sat around and then went home just about covers the 2 weeks)
- both of these events caused grumblings from my fellow OME'ers as we are very very busy
- i have written and delivered 2012 version of trends in recruitment marketing and digital stuff (i think it needs a better title)
- new clients include AndrewDKelly (exec search), St Helena Government (remote island in South Atlantic), Social Workline (new appraoch to social care recruitment)
- new staff member Penny Howson has come on board
- we held our 4th Hospital Club event (networking group spawned out of LinkedIn)


and that is about it

S o t U Part 2

6. Due to expansion, we just hired a new account manager (Penny Howson) who starts next week. The idea is to train her up on the nuts and bolts of what we do. And then gently introduce her into the more straightforward accounts. We invest quite a lot of effort into getting our induction processes right as i think it is so critical the core standards and service levels of the company are shown, coached, learnt from day 1.

7. As i have mentioned before on this blog - bizarrely the biggest growth line is press advertising. This is driven by our move to full service but also by the statistical quirk that this revenue comes from an extremely low base.

8. I seem to have become increasingly a part time account director - as i am doing a lot of speaking at seminars, running projects/training on site for clients. I do enjoy this but an unnamed client did say to me that they thought i was "above" getting involved into their day to day stuff. I did not feel good about this. But i have to be sensible and OME's sell has changed - we dont offer hands on involvement of the founders to all clients and its kidding ourselves to pretend otherwise.

9. The investment - future proofing of the business is occurring predominatly in following areas

social (of course) - i still hear other orgs talking about what you "could" do. We can show people our clients work and results (the good and even the disappointing). The margins on most of this work is miniscule but we feel way ahead of the game.

mobile - i am bored of hearing myself talk about this - but everyone needs to know that this is what will be transforming (has transformed) the user journey. What this means exactly in terms of opportunity/threats for recruitment businesses - i dont think any of us are sure. But dont wait for others to get competitive advantage.


Most importantly - i am going on holiday next week - as i feel completely knackered!

State of the (OME) Union - Part 1

So this is a purely inward looking post in what has been a great 2012 so far but, of course, as ever there are a few bumps on the road. So what is happening at OME....

1. Business is very strong. Combo of new clients, a major returning client and increase in our product portfolio mean that the revenue line has continued upwards (+30%) in what we thought would be a challenging year. New clients include Tesco Plc, Jamie Oliver Group, Odgers/Berwick Partners, Telegraph Media Group, IHS, bagthat.com,

2. Margins are pretty constant. We make no bones about the fact that we charge fees for the work we do, rather than hiding them in media buying or similar. As we have taken on some larger accounts this margin we expect to tick down a bit this year due to volume discount but its the figure we most closely watch i think.

3. However - our overall profitability will not increase a lot this year. sean and i made the call to invest in the business (we are naturally very mean). So all finance/bookkeeping has been outsourced, new staff, new IT equipment, office re-furb. Now we know these are growing pains and this is a grown up decision to help us expand further over next 2 years but spending money still stings a bit.

4. Office vibe. Its changed, its not what it was. I hope people still enjoy themselves and can still piss about when appropriate but most days i sit here - its all tapping away on keyboards, a million phone calls, out on client calls etc, rather than "who do you hate most in industry and why?" - "if you had to lose a limb, would you rather have 1 leg or 1 arm?".

5. Blimey - just realised on basis of post above we need to go out and have some fun. Will come back later