The ICA and its Media Advisory Committee want to improve the media planning product and outcomes for all Canadian agencies. With PRIME (Purpose and Responsibility in Media Economics), we have developed an evaluation framework for Media Companies across three pillars: Capability, Diversity, and Canadian.
Extending the ICA’s Brands Need More Canada Manifesto to media we believe that media for brands should be planned and bought in Canada by Canadian agencies. The PRIME framework was developed through working sessions, rounds of feedback and peer review within member agency leadership teams. The next stage is to engage the media partner community, and other associations who may be able to provide support.
Participating in being evaluated for the framework is voluntary, we hope many do, as it will provide insights to planners on key components of a media company’s offering. The application of the framework will showcase the further value of diverse and local planning to all marketers.
The ICA’s Media Advisory Committee are:
Click here for a pdf of the PRIME framework
The ICA’s PRIME Advisory Committee will be actively involved in initiatives and best practice from around the world. Through the global agency alliance, VoxComm, the group will link with the equivalent media groups in over 40 countries.
In 2021, the ICA reached out to journalist and author David Moscrop. On the back of his 2019 book Too Dumb for Democracy? he joined ICA members for a presentation and discussion on why we make bad political decisions and how we can make better ones. Fundamental to this was expenditure on local news media. Click the title above to watch the session.
As a follow up we asked associate professor of finance at University of Illinois Chicago, Dermot Murphy to speak to our leaders. Murphy has shown how local newspapers play an important watchdog role for governments, highlighting that in areas where a local newspaper has closed, taxes per person are, on average, USD$85 higher. Lack of oversight from reporters leads to factors such as higher government wages, insurance costs and increased interest charges on borrowing. Click the title above to watch the session.
Also joining the discussion was Ogilvy’s Rory Sutherland, looking at the behavioural economics around media choices and opportunities. Click the title above to watch the session.
Finally, global research company YouGov carried out some research that shows the economic realities for local news – demonstrating the difficulty of encouraging people to pay for these trusted local sources. While a combined 63% are comfortable with some level of paywall for news, a significant 37% think it’s unreasonable to block any news content behind a paywall. Click the title above to watch the session.
For further information or to get involved, email Scott Knox (scott@theica.ca).
