When The New Yorker writer Ken Auletta decided to take a hard look at companies that are dependent upon advertising, he came away seeing \u201cfrenemies\u201d everywhere\u2014all of them facing “existential assault.” The resulting book, being released today after three years of research, is titled Frenemies: The Epic Disruption of the Ad Business (and Everything Else).<\/p>\n
Auletta interviewed 450 people, some of whom became key narrative characters in his book because of their vast influence and positions of power. They include former WPP Group CEO Sir Martin Sorrell, MediaLink Chairman and CEO Michael Kassan and Carolyn Everson, VP of Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook. Auletta\u2019s goal was to determine whether advertising is going through the same disruption that has impacted music, newspapers, magazines and television, he explains in this interview with Beet.TV at the annual DMS conference presented by LUMA Partners.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd they are, I found. It\u2019s a vital industry and yet it\u2019s one under assault with grave consequences for the media,\u201d Auletta says.<\/p>\n
Under Auletta\u2019s scrutiny, no entity that is dependent on advertising revenue is immune to seismic disruption.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason I came to the title Frenamies<\/a> is that if you\u2019re an agency, you are suddenly faced by people who used to be your partners or customers who are suddenly your competitors,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n He also cites marketers taking functions in-house that were formerly the province of agencies, \u201cPR agencies increasingly becoming ad agencies,\u201d consultancies<\/a> shifting their focus to advertising, \u201cFacebook and Google who were your customers are now dis-intermediating you and going directly to your clients\u201d and media companies \u201cincreasingly are becoming ad agencies selling ads and dis-intermediating you as well.\u201d<\/p>\n