Unfeelings MOMS

I read with great interest this piece on a new media buying and planning system developed by Microsoft and Interpublic.  The Media Operations Management System, or MOMS for short, is supposed to it would “re-invent” the way Interpublic agencies and clients plan and buy their media.  As we all know, I’m all in favor of using technology to make our lives easier.  However, I wonder if this is really an advance.

One of the biggest differences in media planning and buying now vs. when I entered the business in the late 1970’s is how much of a pure numbers game it has become.  While there are overwhelming numbers of choices available to planners and buyers of media now, most of the process seems to have been reduced to numbers.  The personal interaction between buyer and seller has become a very impersonal exchange of spreadsheets.  In the process, media becomes a pure commodity, often with no distinction being made between quality and quantity.  This hurts all parties involved – buyers, sellers, and clients.

Agencies perceive Google as a huge threat to their livelihoods.  Very companies can ingest, analyze, and spit out data more efficiently than Google (and if you want a sense as to how this works in the ad world, I’d recommend Wired‘s recent piece on it located here).  The threat isn’t brought about by the data processing but by the lack of anything other than data in making buying decisions.  If a better media vehicle (and by better I mean more targeted, more impactful and one which will yield better results) costs a nickel more on a CPM basis, it doesn’t get bought these days.  That’s just playing into the wrong hands.

If MOMS demands a bunch of qualitative input to go along with all the media stats, than more power to it.  I bet it doesn’t.  Clients need to demand more from their agencies than just the lowest CPM and be willing to pay a bit more for better results.  Media planners and buyers aren’t dumb but the forced use of technology over their better judgement sometimes forces them to be so.

Any of you have experience in this area?  What are your thoughts?