The Concept of AOD(Advertising Point of Departure)
           Biswajit Das, Director - Mediaware Infotech Pvt. Ltd.                                                   December 04, 2001

Recently, Masterfoods (M&M/Mars chocolates, Uncle Ben's/Mars Pet foods) appointed Arnell as its AOD. No typing mistake there - it's AOD not AOR. AOD is short for Advertising Point of Departure. In what seems to be an extension to the concept of Account Planning, Masterfoods has actually expanded its marketing operations, by positioning Omnicom-agency Arnell as its AOD for all existing as well as new product development.

What exactly, is the role of the AOD?

According to Masterfoods, the AOD will be involved in defining the product proposition and how to communicate this in an innovative way. More interesting is Masterfoods overall objective: to innovate at a higher rate and to get into new business areas.

The AOD's ideas, concepts and white papers (once accepted by the client) will be converted into plans. And these plans will be executed by ad agencies, playing their traditional role. In some cases, the AOD may itself execute its plans.

The focus of Masterfoods is very clear: new products & innovations - both of which fall under core marketing R&D.

While traditional ad agencies (including the most creative shops) have knowledge and experience of a brand's life cycle from its early stages, they clearly do not have experience in new product development.

Of course, the choice of the AOD is critical. Masterfoods' AOD is headed by Peter Arnell who has experience with non-packaged goods industries - this is of particular use to Masterfoods in its attempt to acquire a fresh approach to brand building. Of equal importance is the fact that Peter has been acknowledged as an innovative thinker, with a capacity & penchant for doing the uncommon.

The AOD will become an extension of the core Marketing Dept. of Masterfoods. This means that conflicting clients & interests will be a major factor in the appointing/retaining an AOD. As far as Masterfoods is concerned, Arnell will become the front-end for its existing ad agencies Grey, D'Arcy & BBDO.

The 3-leaf model for corporate management classifies activities in 3 'leaves'. The major leaf is Core Management, while Consultants and Contractors constitute the remaining 2. This model suggests that Core Management must primarily be involved in activities related to strategy & planning. The second leaf is Consultants, which is an external bank of knowledge, expertise and experience - to be assigned on specific cases. And the third leaf, Contractors must be deployed for outsourcing routine 'chores' on a regular basis. (Incidentally, this model defines financial accounting as a chore that should be contracted.)

Since the AOD will become an extension of the core Marketing dept., management may end up deploying an external consultant for core activities related to strategy. This is why long-term commitments, conflicting clients, non-disclosure agreements and intellectual property rights may become major issues in appointing an AOD.

Masterfoods, which spent close to $300 million on media in 2000, could bring about an advertising sea change among major brand-owners.