As the son of a Dennis the Menace cartoonist, going into the media industry may not have been an obvious choice for Douglas McArthur, OBE. But after years as a client and working in advertising agencies, he eventually progressed to the position of chief executive of the Radio Advertising Bureau, so his latest move - becoming chairman of the new online measurement company UKOM - could not have been a more natural decision.
Sitting in his seventh-floor apartment in the Barbican - chosen due to his passion for the theatre and proximity to the airport for his regular visits to his home in Provence - McArthur, 58, is grounded about his long list of achievements.
These range from winning £40,000, when aged 28, for the Brightest Business Idea in Scotland to launching the RAB and increasing radio's revenue share from 2% to 7% in 13 years - a feat that landed him an OBE from the Queen for his services to commercial radio.
He says: "I gave the award to my mother. I am proud of the achievement, but I don't let it dominate my life. Buckingham Palace is better at merchandising than Disney. Although you only talk to the Queen for 10 seconds, they compile an hour-long DVD of the ceremony to sell to you for £200."
As a media planning stalwart who began his career at Procter & Gamble, developed radio's RAJAR measurement system and, most recently, established media consultancy Planning for Results, he is keen on pioneering methods, which is why he is so excited about UKOM's launch in January.
McArthur is enthused at the prospect of being able to measure the entire media landscape through an online measurement currency that will allow advertisers and agencies to plan online campaigns using targeted demographic data.
He says the system is for communications planners and will be a plug-in currency for the IPA's TouchPoints survey. Funded by media owners and agencies on a tiered basis depending on the size of the business - larger agencies will face a £15,000 bill - the money will be spent on developing the system. The body will focus on a new interface, ad network data and video, before looking at mobile data.
Building block
However, the appointment of The Nielsen Company as UKOM's official data partner has attracted criticism from some digital specialists, who have branded Nielsen's panel-based system "outdated". In response to the appointment, comScore, which lost the pitch, announced plans to build its own online currency that will include panel and site-centric data.
McArthur comments: "The Nielsen panel is a better UK panel than comScore's. We are aiming to be a bedrock and a basic building block; we didn't want a fusing model. Nielsen is also investing its own panel in UKOM."
Until now, UKOM has been reliant on its key stakeholders, the Internet Advertising Bureau and the Association of Online Publishers. But McArthur says he is keen for the service to become more independent and he will encourage The Nielsen Company to go out and sell UKOM to agencies.
He explains: "We expect brand investment to increase. I will do my best to make UKOM educationally accessible and to examine how brands can get the best from the internet. I would like to see brand advertising double and I want all stakeholders to have a say. The system should not be like radio, where the man who pays the most gets his way."
On the state of today's radio industry, McArthur says radio firms need more money and less lobbying - he feels it is tough for large organisations to take an industry view when they are paying for it. He comments: "The problem is that when you move into lobbying, it's difficult to get unanimity."
McArthur initially founded the RAB in 1992 as a project to help agencies and advertisers make better use of radio. The dogged Scot managed to convince radio companies to fund the project by giving it a percentage of their sales - and the trade marketing body for radio was born.
Managing a total investment of £35m in 14 years, he presided over a cumulative revenue gain of more than £3.5bn, as radio's ad share rose from 2% to 7%. But McArthur, who holds a first-class degree in maths and theoretical physics and refers to himself as a "closet academic", believes the key to his success has been education, not selling. He says: "We did massive research publications and we helped agencies and advertisers for free."
New direction
However, McArthur left the RAB in 2006 when it merged with the Commercial Radio Companies Association lobbying body, due to its new direction. He says: "I should have left earlier, because I was coasting. I left because I don't like lobbying."
McArthur has, more recently, been involved with the COI's consolidated media review, which was instigated on his recommendation after his firm Planning for Results was commissioned to do a report on the Government's planning and buying.
The pitch for the major account - held by I-Level, MediaCom, Starcom MediaVest Group, Carat and Posterscope - has since been shortlisted to three partnerships: Smile (Starcom and I-Level), M4C (a consortium of GroupM agencies) and an alliance between Carat and sister Aegis agency Posterscope.
McArthur says: "The incumbents' buying performance was fine, but they needed to have their contracts aligned and be more integrated. I proposed the answer to effectiveness was to stop buying media in silos, which is why integrated consortia are pitching for the consolidated business."
On the £250m account, he adds: "This is the biggest pitch anyone in the UK will see in their lifetime. There is no other media account like it."
McArthur on...
Being appointed OBE A letter arrived from St James's Palace, telling me my name had been put forward for the award and saying: "If you are minded to accept, please let us know." They don't want the embarrassment of anyone rejecting the award. I am proud of my OBE, but I did get a bit of stick about it from my Scottish friends.
Media over the last decade The media industry used to be stable and in many ways you didn't expect media to change. But the world isn't like that any more - who expects the internet to be the same in five years' time?
Commercial radio At the moment, what the radio industry needs is money.
The Radio Advertising Bureau When I started the RAB, nobody thought a trade marketing body could work, but I am studious and I like working things out. The RAB used to be very active, but now it is sadly disappearing, as the RadioCentre has become the dominant brand. The RAB did really helpful things for people - why wouldn't you like an organisation that helps you for free?