With a ubiquitous presence in agency boardrooms and meeting halls, client leaders tasked with managing a brand’s media or advertising duties often find themselves walking a tightrope.
Client expectations are ever-growing and ensuring the agency team is aligned to advertiser requirements is an even bigger challenge. So, what does it take to be a media client leader?
This question was thrown to a forum comprising some of the country’s top media agency heads on Thursday at the Goafest 2024 in Mumbai.
The panelists included Ajay Gupte, CEO of Wavemaker South Asia; Anita Kotwani, CEO of Media, South Asia, at Dentsu; Tanmay Mohanty, CEO of Publicis Media Services India; and Vaishali Verma, CEO of Initiative India. The session was chaired by Vikram Sakhuja, partner and group CEO of media and out-of-home at Madison Communications.
Sakhuja highlighted that a client leader possesses varied skillsets, ranging from traditional media planning to an understanding of digital marketing, adtech, martech, and performance marketing. But is that enough?
Kotwani described the role of a client leader as being “disciplined, client-obsessed, and adept at building relationships.” She added, “They need to give the client the best bang for their buck and marry diverse skillsets such as creative, media, and customer experience management.”
Gupte pointed out that another important aspect of a client leader was his or her understanding of the data journey of the consumer and their interactions with various media forms. “With new media, this has become an important part of a client leader’s role,” he said.
Mohanty observed that with the average lifespan of a chief marketing officer shrinking to two years, advertising or media accounts also have a similar lifespan with agencies today. “In such a scenario, we need to work as a partner to clients and not as a client leader,” he said.
Verma added that it was best to ensure that the client lead had the right skillsets to manage an account. “We look at the category where the client is from. An advertiser from consumer goods may need a client leader with traditional media planning skills, while a startup may require digital media and new commerce specialists,” she said.