Media Objectives, Strategies and Planning
Major Factors
in Creating and Building
a Media Plan
Media Questions
Two basic processes:
1. Planning media strategy, including the specific types of consumers/audiences the messages will be directed to.
2. Selecting and Buying media vehicles.
• Media planning is both an art and a science. An essential part of the advertising business.
• Where should we advertise?
• Which media vehicles?
• When during the year?
• Should we concentrate our advertising?
• How often should it run?
• What opportunities are there to integrate our media planning with other Promotion or Communication tools?
Media Objectives, Strategies and Planning
• Planners direct the messages to the right people at the right time in the right environments.
• TV: Networks, syndication, local,cable, satellite.
• National, Regional and Local issues
• Non traditional: In flights, parking meters, blimps, shopping carts, milk cartons, litter cans, taxis, sponsorships.
• Increasing media choices and options
• Audience fragmentation
• Costs and rate hikes
• Multimedia, and interactive
• Diverse audiences
• And more
Major Factors:
• 1. Target Market. Whom are you going to sell to?
– Demographic, geographic and psychographics characteristics
• 2. Where is product or service distributed?
– Local, regional, national or selected markets
– Remember BDI and CDI’s
• 3. What is Budget?
– Percentage of sales
– Share of market and Share of Voice
– Objective and Task
– Unit of Sales and Case Rate
– Competition
– Test Market
– Experimental
– Computer modeling
– Affordable and Available Funds
• 4. What is Competition Doing?
– Budgets
– Which Media?
– Which Schedules?
– And more
• 5. Nature of Message?
– Electronic/Broadcast
– Print
– Color/B&W
– Demonstration
– Simple Statements
• 6.Reach
vs.
Frequency
vs.
Continuity
(Continuous Schedule)
Frequency
• Average number of times a household or a person viewed a given television program, station or commercial during a specific time period.
Continuity/Continuous Schedule
• Advertising runs steadily and varies little. Compare with:
• Flighting and Pulsing with scheduling
• Rating (RTG or %):
• The estimate of the size of a television audience relative to the total universe, expressed as a percentage. The estimated percent of all TV households or persons tuned to a specific station. In the example, three of the 10 homes in the universe are tuned to channel 2. That translates to a 30 rating.
• 7. Media Mix
• Combination of different media, and size of ads
• Which Media?
• Which Schedules?
• And more
• 8. Seasonality and Length of Schedule?
– Hot tea vs. Cold tea?
– Snow blowers, toothpaste, coffee.
– Morning Drive and Evening Drive
– Flighting
– Pulsing
• 9. Tie-ins with Merchandising
and Sales Force?
– Coupons, Contests, Trade Deals, Sales Calls, Displays, Budgets.
– Which Media?
– Events
• Super Bowl
• Academy Awards
• Sports
– Which Schedules?
– And more
– 10. Cost Efficiencies
– Which Media?
– Which Schedules?
– Which Vehicles?
• Advertising is an investment in future sales.
• It’s greatest powers are in short-term promotions and its cumulative long-range effects.
• And more
'Objective' media
The media tells us how to think and what to think about. For example, Mother Teresa's death received much less coverage than Princess Di's, evidence of who the media considered more important. And no one except cartoonist Tom Tomorrow and journalist Christopher Hitchens seemed to mention that Mother Teresa accepted dirty money from Charles Keating, opposed birth control even though she saw the deadly consequences of overpopulation every day, and wouldn't use sterilized needles or painkillers for the dying.
Instead, the description "saint" kept popping up in the press.
By the use of a few careful words, the media can frame the terms of a debate for us, while hardly anyone questions the implicit assumptions behind them.
The media uses words such as "illegitimate" to describe children born to women who don't happen to be married. What exactly makes a child not legitimate? Not having the biological father's last name? How would the mother marrying the father - who might be an abusive bum with no interest in parenting - make that child suddenly legitimate? Genes do not necessarily make one a parent, as any adoptive family can tell you. "Illegitimate" is a term that unnecessarily condemns and marginalizes children and single mothers.
Similarly, why does the media constantly use the term "premarital sex?" The assumption behind "premarital sex" is that the person having it should, or eventually will, be married. What about gays and lesbians, who cannot legally marry? Or those who don't believe in marriage? There are single parents, intergenerational families, communes and many other successful family combinations that don't require two heterosexuals married to each other. The assumption that marriage is the end goal for all people is absurd, and the word "premarital" contains an inherent value judgment. And why does "sex" always mean heterosexual intercourse, anyway?
In the abortion debate, some media still use the phrase "pro-life," thereby putting those who are against abortion in theoretical opposition with those who are presumably "pro-death." Why not call pro-life advocates what they are - anti-abortion? People either support a woman's choice and right to make decisions regarding her reproductive life (hence the term "pro-choice"), or they oppose keeping abortion legal. If anti-abortionists are "pro" anything, it's the rights of a fetus over a woman. So maybe we can start calling them "pro-fetalists" to accurately describe them.
What about "God?" Questions such as "Do you believe in God?" are constantly asked by pollsters, while the "existence of God" is debated by the media. Why does no one ask if we believe in Goddess? Many people throughout the world believe in a female deity. And which culture's god are they referring to? Do they include Krishna, Odin, Father Sky and Allah in their definition? There is an incredibly diverse array of gods, goddesses and spirits in many different religions all over this planet.
There are also many people who don't believe in any deity whatsoever. When the media refers to "God," they are privileging the Judeo-Christian god over anyone else's. Referring to other cultures' religious stories as "myths" while treating the Bible as an authoritative text, more valuable than the Bhagavad Gita, the I-Ching or the Qu'ran, is ridiculous and imperialistic. So is assuming that belief in a deity is a given.
Speaking of religion, why is any uncommon religious group referred to a "cult?" Although David Koresh and Heaven's Gate members practiced forms of Christianity, they were labeled cults. Christianity started out as one, if you figure any religion with only a few members is a cult. Satan is a Christian invention, yet the phrase "Satanic cult" often appears in the media. Those who believe literally in other Biblical characters such as Adam and Eve are simply called Christians.
The media can reinforce societal stereotypes with the constant use of a few unquestioned words. As media consumers, we need to critically analyze the news and question why only certain stories are covered, and why inherently judgmental terms are used in supposedly "objective" news.
A major component of media buying is building relationships. A sizeable portion of a media planner's role is to forge and cultivate associations with vendors and partners. While these bonds are the foundation of any good marketer/vendor relationship, it is important that planners objectively evaluate their buys. This neutrality is especially crucial as ads network are continually evolving, so sticking to familiar vendors could mean that inventory and properties are overlooked. Planners must be sure to consider all of their options to best serve clients. Successful campaigns, long-lasting client relationships, and industry credibility depend upon this.
Using familiar vendors and advertising networks is not necessarily a negative quality of a media planner. When all things are considered equal, great customer services and responsiveness oftentimes sways a media planner's decision to choose a particular vendor. It is only a problem if viable advertising options are neglected to favor preferred vendors. To get a broad perspective of possible pitfalls, I asked my colleagues at Geary Interactive to share their insights.
Here are five things a media planner can do to execute campaigns objectively.
Don't stick to what you know
To ensure that media buys do not favor one vendor over another, planners should conduct a thorough proposal process whenever time permits. By casting a wide net, planners can make sure they are basing their decisions on competitive quotes -- not bias. It is easy to return to vendors that have performed well in the past, but before each media buy, planners should reevaluate the landscape to secure the best options to meet clients' goals. Of course, media teams should include known and trusted vendors in the RFP process, but no one should feel obligated to go with familiar vendors. The important thing is to make smart buys that contribute to campaign objectives.
If vendors question why they weren't a chosen buy after a proposal process, make sure to provide honest feedback about how a decision was reached. Even providing a high-level explanation can keep relationships intact and maintain amicable foundations for future campaigns.
Focus on goals and research
Base media buys on success metrics as opposed to personal recommendations. Representatives promote their own platforms (as they should), but that does not mean their recommendations will best serve a campaign. Their recommendations might be effective but not necessarily a good fit for your given situation. As the liaison between marketers and vendors, it is up to a media planner to focus on buys that support goals -- not just activity. By combining their own research and vendor recommendations, media planners can rest assured they are making educated buys. Turn to vendors to get their opinions, but do not follow them blindly. Instead, ask them for hard numbers that you can compare to your own research. Before finalizing a media buy, refer back to the client's desired goals to ensure they are in alignment with your recommendations.
Respect different variables
Any number of variables can impact the success of a campaign. Creative design, targeting, competitive landscape, and seasonality are just a few components that influence a media campaign. Each variable needs to be viewed as a separate entity when gauging the success or failure of a campaign. When deciphering the results of a campaign, planners need to view it from a holistic perspective. A planner should not attribute the success or failure of a campaign on solely one factor or a single vendor.
Don't judge a vendor by a rep
The above recommendations will help media planners avoid favoring vendors where relationships have been established. What about the opposite? It is also important for planners to avoid writing off an ad vendor because they had an unpleasant encounter with one of its representatives. In these instances, it's even more crucial for media planners to set their preferences aside and make choices based on data and research. If a campaign requires ample management from a vendor, planners can politely ask for a different representative. The vendor wants to encourage lasting partnerships, so they will usually oblige to maintain the relationship on their end.
Finding a balance
Each campaign is different and can be based on a variety of goals and objectives. To account for this, planners should approach each project with a fresh perspective and notice when past experiences are impacting current campaign planning. In a perfect world, marketers could disregard earlier vendor relationships, but the knowledge gained with each execution can be helpful in other instances. The disconnect can be seen when working with vendors that reach similar verticals or age groups. While planners should make an effort to treat the campaigns as unique, tapping into this baseline information can help optimize new buys -- especially when timelines are short. Media planners need to find the appropriate balance where insights do not become assumptions. Assuming that one campaign will generate similar results with different variables can be dangerous.
The consolidation of ad networks
Media fragmentation is a challenge digital media people face every day. The diverse landscape of media platforms forces planners to choose where they purchase ad space, and these decisions directly impact the users they reach. Although fragmentation has been a growing problem over the last decade as digital platforms have evolved and matured, most predict that this era may be over. Ad networks are beginning to consolidate into vertically specialized groups. This merging will allow media planners to more effectively use the billions of bulk impressions available on a monthly basis to reach their target audiences through a shorter list of media vendors. It will also afford media planners easier access to best-of-breed targeting technologies. With these evolutions on the horizon, marketers can reevaluate how they buy digital media properties and make sure buying habits are sensible.
Conclusions
These suggestions are meant to illuminate underlying biases that might affect how marketers buy media space. It will never be possible for media planners -- or anyone else -- to be completely unbiased. However, it is a good goal and a mental check. By acknowledging that there are tendencies to favor vendors, media planners can be aware of their biases and make corrections if needed
