Opinion: On the Campaign Couch ... with JB.(Column)

Q: Do you think media planning and buying is bound to split, with buying perhaps one day being sourced out to a big warehouse or two in India? If so, do you think this would take some of the entrepreneurial spirit out of the media side of the business?

A: I expect you're as fond as I am of the word disintermediation. Well, you ain't seen nuthin' yet. Media buying won't even need a warehouse. Warehouses will be disintermediated along with a few million media buyers. There'll just be allthemediaintheworld.com which will work like lastminute.com. Advertisers will buy direct, prices will vary by the second, clever people will wait until the last minute or alternatively buy well ahead. Sometimes both. Soon there'll be several allthemediaintheworld type sites, so there'll still be competition. One of them will be called easyMedia. Meanwhile, most of media planning will cuddle up again with creative, where it surely belongs. I hope this helps.

Q: I'm a junior executive at a medium-sized agency which is looking to strengthen its international presence. My agency chief has just relinquished control of the London office to our new management team to focus on growing the agency's network of offices? Is this wise?

A: Probably not. One of the many rum things about the advertising business is that the more important you get, the less you have to do with advertising. Take your chief. Nothing he's learnt as a good account handler will be of the slightest use to him now that he's charged with growing the agency's network of offices. Because he's now responsible for a network rather than a single office, he'll naturally begin to concentrate entirely on existing and potential network clients. Within a month, he'll have convinced himself that international business is more important than national business - just look at the numbers! At network meetings, when they all fly in to listen to his three-year plan, he'll spend two-and-a-half of the three days talking about MNCs and global business management. Within five years, you've lost most of your network's national clients; you've gained none; you're finding it harder and harder to recruit local talent; and even your international clients will be beginning to express coded anxiety. As for the chief himself, he's just fine - packed and poised for the next move up.

Q: I've noticed in the trade press that several senior, well-regarded ad executives have taken jobs at what are known as communications planning agencies. Is it time for me to get out of ...