What’s the worst job in Marketing ? Media planning has long been a backwater: unglamorous, driven by arcane algorithms, and frequently relegated to afterthought status. The Marketing team spends weeks debating and gaining agreement to the annual marketing plan goals, key initiatives, advertising, etc. And then, whoops–almost forgot–we need a media plan ! But, media planning is at the edge of a virtual revolution.
The media changes build on existing trends to more performance based Advertising Agency compensation models by Procter & Gamble, Coke and others. Reach, frequency and gross rating points are now giving way to a world where program and ad impact have as much currency as impressions. GRP’s as we’ve known them will become relics. What’s driving the change?
Exploding Digital
It’s obvious but needs restating: the marketing world is moving from a TV centric model to a web centric model. The brand web site is becoming an increasingly important platform for engaging both prospects and customers. Social and other web-based media options continue to grow and evolve at an accelerating pace: forums, webcasts, podcasts, blogs, Twitter, webinars, etc. Spending is shifting on-line as well. And more digital means more measurable. Click thru, site visits and conversion rates are only the beginning as marketers become increasingly sophisticated with digital measurement. All this means that future media plans will be more creative, complex and measurable. A good guide to this area is “The Online Advertising Playbook: Proven Strategies and Tested Tactics From the ARF.”
Program and Ad Impact Innovation
Advertisers have long done pre-market testing of ads. But with the advent of very large web-based consumer panels like Nielsen IAG, companies have the ability to measure consumer engagement with individual programs. No longer does a basic demographic define the media buy. Two programs with the same demographics could have vastly different consumer engagement. Are consumers more engaged with “The Office” or “Lost” ? Now we know. And this means that the same ad performs better in some programs than others, based on program fit and viewer engagement. Is your ad more effective in “The Biggest Loser” or “American Idol”? Now we know.
Mike Kleha, Director of Media & Metrics at Merck and Co. says: “IAG’s data allows us to go beyond the rating point, and gives us a deeper insight into the mind of the consumer. This allows us to do a better job of targeting our messages to where they will be more effective and provide the most consumer value.” Simple demographic driven media plans will no longer suffice. CMO’s will demand media plans that take into account both quantity and quality.
Creative & Media Integration Trends
Big advertisers like Unilever are increasingly going directly to media companies even before creative development with a set of objectives and asking them to create an integrated plan which helps deliver the brand objectives. This “reverse upfront” media planning process is designed to keep costs low and better integrate creative and media buying. Media companies will increasingly develop a media plan concept that matches the brands objective, and this in turn will drive both creative and usage of the full gamut of TV, digital, mobile, interactive, in-program placement, etc.
This new media landscape demands new constructs and new skills, as in surveys CMO’s say they are nowhere close to realizing the opportunity in new media. GRP’s and TRP’s will need to evolve to measures which incorporate both quantity and quality–something like ERP’s: Effective Ratings Points. Marketing organizations will need new capabilities to negotiate this increasingly complex world. Welcome to Marketing in the brave new media world–a place where you ignore the heightened role of media planning at your peril.
Author: Randall Beard
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Programmable pressure cooker
