ABSTRACT
For many in the advertising agencies, the rise of the media agency from the 1990s had been something of a surprise. As the clock ticked down to the new millennium, media agencies looked forward with great anticipation. The emergence of independent media agencies was hardly unique to Australia. In the lead up to the Tribunal’s decision, advertising agencies, media agencies, and clients were all making preparations for the likely event that the accreditation system would be scrapped. In 1990, television was the undisputed dominant advertising medium— ‘television was king’ recalls media research luminary John Grono. Establishing strategies for locating and reaching the fragmented audience would become an integral part of the media agency operations. However, the emergence of new media outlet coupled with development of better tools to measure audiences meant planning was becoming a more sophisticated process.
