THE FOUNDATION OF OUR PRACTICE IS HELPING YOU NAVIGATE THIS ARENA
Our approach doesn’t involve templates or rinse-repeat models. Each mission has its own set of variables.
We think in phases of growth. Each phase brings issues to address, problems to solve and opportunities to seize. You may need help with many of these, or only a few.
Phase 1: Plan Exceptionally
Clarify objectives
- What’s motivating you to launch, scale or transform your RMN/CMN? Enterprise transformation into new business models? Opportunistic margin in the face of core business pressure? Customer experience? Partner expectations?
- What internal/external preparation is needed to generate progress toward your goals?
- How will you create or strengthen internal alignment?
Our take:
Be clear about why you are building a media network and what you want to achieve. Identify precise, well-considered objectives.
Pressure-test your forecast
- What factors determine whether you will meet your revenue and margin goals?
- What are the organic KPIs and how will you track and manage to them?
- How should new teams, operations, data and economics be integrated into existing enterprise architecture to measure and achieve performance?
Our take:
Your credibility – with senior leadership and brand and agency clients – is critically important. Expectations of performance and profitability are high. Initial modeling and forecasting have vast long-term implications.
Choose partners wisely
- Where and when do you need partners? Are they new or existing relationships?
- How do you compare each partner’s capabilities and which model serves you best?
- What should each partnership agreement contain and how do you avoid redundancies?
Our take:
Creating the right constellation of partners will ensure you add the right capabilities while controlling costs.
Make new friends
- What kind of relationships do you have with key stakeholders across finance, merchandising, e-commerce, customer experience, etc.?
- What needs to happen to strengthen these relationships where needed? Are the vital incentives in alignment?
- As your RMN/CMN business grows, how will you anticipate and address competing priorities and organizational dynamics with colleagues?
Our take:
As success finds you, these deeper relationships become even more important to prevent unforced errors and convert resistance to shared successes.
Build a change mentality – and muscle
- How prepared is your company culture for launching an RMN/CMN?
- Where is internal buy-in most lacking and why? What is the root of resistance?
- How aligned are interdependent teams across the enterprise? What can you do to establish the relationship between your media network and other teams’ mandate and motivations?
Our take:
There are many factors to consider when positioning the endeavor, packaging the benefits and communicating roles, responsibilities and returns internally. The same is true for external partners.
Phase 2: Generate Momentum
Make critical
assessments early
- What stakeholder perspectives are crucial for an accurate assessment of what’s working and what’s not?
- What’s driving your success (e.g., talent, technology, go-to-market strategy, performance)?
- What’s impeding progress (e.g., process, technology, capacity, structure, strategy, relationships)?
Our take:
Achieving early success and stability pays dividends. You now have higher fidelity data, rather than modeled assumptions, to determine what’s working.
Solve the “new” problems
- How do you identify and surgically address capacity constraints and capability gaps?
- How can you reconcile confusion and complexity when reporting financials? Can you explain where your media network’s expenses and ROI show up in the enterprise P&L?
- As new challenges surface from success, how do you prioritize next steps and pitch for further investment in capabilities?
Our take:
Early success gets noticed. The growing attention requires managing expectations and staying a step ahead.
Respect the competition
- As your media network builds momentum, how have competitors responded?
- Which new AI developments would add to your competitive advantage?
- What steps should you take – and not take – to adjust your go-to-market strategy as competition grows and opportunities expand?
Our take:
What’s happening across the competitive and RMN/CMN landscape is often out of your control. Leverage your command of these dynamics as an advantage.
Sharpen your differentiation
- How should you build and prioritize new capabilities and products for your media network?
- What does the latest data tell you about how your media network is positioned?
- How do messaging and presentation underscore your differentiation – and contribute to it?
Our take:
As you generate real momentum, leadership and investors want to understand your rights to win and competitive advantages.
Phase 3: Achieve Full Potential
Develop a big-picture view
- How can you sensibly interpret and narrate today’s seismic shifts in commerce and media?
- What do emerging trends tell you about whether and how you should adjust your media network strategy?
- How should you incorporate consumer behavior changes (e.g., travel, financial services, entertainment, etc.) into your model?
Our take:
Your growing media network can create tunnel vision or perhaps the impression of it. Good peripheral vision and narration gives your media business – and your team – a pan-consumer and enterprise-wide scope.
Invest holistically with the right partners
- Which current partners belong in your long-term strategy and how do you identify new ones?
- How do you shape and present your value proposition to inspire collaborative investment from these partners?
- What elements are most critical for establishing strong relationships (and leverage) with partners?
Our take:
Convergence is ever-present and will stay that way. Your partners are just as important to your future as your media network assets.
Refine your long-term strategy
- How do you integrate loyalty and membership programs, credit cards and other enterprise value propositions into your RMN/CMN?
- At which points do unmet consumer and advertiser needs align with the purpose and positioning of your network?
- Which organic KPIs and variables have the greatest impact on your long-term strategy? What must be true for success?
Our take:
The vision that got you off the ground was a starting point. Expectations for continued growth and scale often involve transforming what you have created.