Media Planning: Objectives, Strategies, and Plan Development

Big Strategic Decisions • Media Objectives – Goals that the communication campaigns seeks to accomplish • Media Strategies – Actions to attain objectives – Achieve advantage over competitors • Need to move beyond the “what will media do to my target” mentality to the question of “what will my target do with the media?”

Need to Understand Basics • Audience Measurement and Accumulation • Reach and Frequency Concepts • Target Market Definition • Competitive Expenditures Analysis • Geographic Market Analysis • Media Strengths and Limitations • The Media Mix • Media Relations

Media Objectives • Respond to Competition • Tailor to the Creative • Segment the Target Market • Balance Reach and Frequency • Target Strong Localities • Establish Scheduling Pattern • Support Promotions • Prioritize Budgetary Demands • Establish Criteria for Success – Communication Goals or Sales Goals

And Core Strategic Issues 1. Brands presence in any medium should be large.

2. Communicate when consumers are buying.

3. Message strategy strongly affects media strategy.

Things you must know before planning 1. Know the marketing problems and opportunities 2. Know the complexities of strategy 3. Know how the product will be sold 4. Know how to neutralize the competition 5. Know the costs of strategies

Elements of Media Strategy • Must always consider the following: – Target Market – Reach and Frequency – Creative Strategy – Continuity – Cost Efficiency – Budgetary Constraints

Creative Media Strategy • Dare to be innovative – Strategy should differ from competition – Creative should not depend on $ – Start with numbers, then go beyond – Secure an advantage over competition – Risk, but not just for the sake of it

Tensions Between Strategies • Four Closely Related Elements: – Reach, Frequency, Continuity, and Market Coverage – Budgetary Constraints • Can’t reach everyone (R) as many times as you want (F), with year round (C) coverage in all good potential markets (MC) – Must decide what deserves emphasis

Strategic Alternatives • Flighting or Pulsing • Heavy Introduction Effort • Heavy-Up Scheduling • Geographic Market Weighting • Mixing/Combining Media • Share-of-voice

Determining Media Value • Primary Objective Criteria • Secondary Objective Criteria • Subjective Criteria

Primary Objective Criteria • Demographic Target Delivery • Strategic Target Delivery • Psychographic Target Delivery • Category User Coverage • Cost Efficiency

Secondary Objective Criteria • Pass Along/Buzz Factor • Content Compatibility • Special Issues • Media Imperatives • Production Quality • Coverage Trends • Geographic or Production Flexibility • Positioning Opportunities

Subjective Criteria • Tone • Respect • Leadership • Believability

Media Plan Checklist • Marketing Objectives • Marketing Strategies • Copy Strategy Statement • PR Strategy Statement • Executive Summary of Plan • Media Objectives • Media Strategy • Media Plan Details and Documentation • Flowchart • Summary

Media Flowchart Essentials • Name of the Brand and the Year of Plan at Top • Horizontal,w/Months as Columns along Top Row – Starts with first month of campaign – Each week with own column within month • Left Side of the Page Contains Media Information – Each medium class used – Commercial length or size – If spot plan, each market group and number of markets/percent coverage per group • Bottom Row contains R/F by month, along with effective reach. Both National and Spot • Very Bottom and Far Right, Media Expenditures by Month and Medium - Can be on a separate sheet

The value of a media plan is related to how well it delivers the designated marketing targets at the lowest cost with the least amount of waste. The total number of target impressions, coupled with the reach and frequency associated with those impressions, within the designated budget, form the nucleus of an effective media plan