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INTRODUCTION
Controversy swirls around the subject of media buying services.
How do they work? Whom do they benefit? Do they complement or compete with agency media departments? Are they crossing the line from space purchasing to schedule selection? Why should publishers work with them? Are they here to stay?
To get the answers to these and other questions firsthand, MM&M assembled representatives of all concerned -- agencies, publishers, and the Compas media buying service.
Lisa Ingersoll, vice president and media director at Lally, McFarland & Pantello, has responsibility for the media departments at the main New York City as well as the Montreal and Toronto offices.
Richard (Dick) Kiernan is president of the Professional Information Service Group of Medical Economics and all of the properties spun off that magazine, as well as for Business and Health.
Stanley (Stan) Woodland is president and CEO of Compas Inc., a media buying service.
Susan Carollo, vice president and media director at Cline Davis & Mann, was recently elected president of the newly formed Association of Health Care Media Directors. For further information about the association, write or call Ms. Carollo at CD&M.
M. James (Jim) Dougherty is vice president and publisher of Postgraduate Medicine at McGrall-Hill, Inc.
MM&M: Stan, since you are head of the oldest and most successful media buying service in our field, let's start with you. Would you give us a brief description of just what a media buying service is. Specifically, what does Compas do?
Woodland: I have to make some critical distinctions between a traditional media buying service in other industries and what Compas does. A traditional media buying service is engaged by a number of clients to purchase their media and to engage in aggressive rate negotiations that, in most cases, are beyond what's published on the rate card. Compas, on the other hand, does not engage in rate negotiations. We stick strictly to the rate card.
Second, we do not engage in media planning but concentrate solely on the buying functions. The third basic difference is our method of compensation. Typically, media buying services are compensated by a fee based on gross billing, whereas Compas is compensated by sharing in the savings we generate.
MM&M: We'll talk about your compensation...