Buying in the upfront is far from over, despite predictions to the contrary by some in the advertising industry. In fact, most marketers agree that the upfront still offers both quality and value, yet they would like to see improvements made to the process. At the recent CMO Roundtable at the Association of National Advertisers' Masters of Marketing conference, AdAge.com asked chief marketers for ideas on fixing up the update.
“I'd love to see something like a more conceptual upfront in February and then do the buying much later in the summer,” said Tony Pace, CMO of the Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust. “We as a brand would like to be in places that are appropriate for us, and where the community embraces us. You have to have those conversations earlier."
Scott Remy, chief communications officer of Nestle S.A, agreed with that sentiment. “My wish would be later. That's a good idea to do it conceptually first and lay the money down later -- we'd have a smarter outcome."
“I love that conceptual idea, too,” said Best Buy CMO Barry Judge. "The positive is you get price. The negative is you're locked in. The problem is a lack of flexibility. It would give us more time to have those conversations.
For now, the upfront remains an industry standard, but these marketers would simply prefer if the upfront were less upfront.
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Read more at Adage.com.
