Tweet
mp
Media PlanningBMM-Semester-V
By: M H Lakdawala
Media Planning
Definition one: the process of deciding how to most effectively get your marketing communications seen by your target audience.
Definition Two:
A process for determining the most cost-effective mix of media for achieving a set of media objectives.
•Goal: maximize impact while minimizing cost
•Media is often the largest MC budget item
Definition: Three:
The design of a strategy that shows how investments in advertising time and space will contribute to achievement of marketing objectives.
Definition four:
Media planning is about determining the best Media Mix (i.e., the best combination of one-way and two-way media) to reach a particular target for a particular brand situation.
Media Planner- The person at the advertising agency who develops and executes your media plan.
Media planners perform four basic functions:
1. Conduct media research
2. Determine media objectives and strategies
3. Determine the media mix
4. Do the actual media buy
•Decisions:
–Which audience?
–Where?
–When?
–How long?
Various functions of Media Planning in Advertising?
1. Proper media planning enables the selection of the right media: selection of the right media is crucial in the entire planning process. How best can I reach my target audience? Is the question kept in mind?
2. It helps to allocate the advertising funds to the right products in the right media: for example, ads for chocolates will be placed in a slot where there is maximum children viewer ship. And channels like Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network or between 5-7 pm when most children watch cartoons.
3. It indicates the period or the season in which the advertiser need to concentrate advertising efforts: for example all the paint advertisements concentrate on the festive seasons. A few months before the festival like Diwali the ads are released.
4. It helps achieve the advertising objectives.
5. It minimizes wastages of advertising funds: when money is used in the right direction there are minimum wastages. A media plan helps the ad agency to obtain approval form the client. Proper media planning will help the advertiser to reach the right target audience. It helps to finalize the frequency of advertisements: how many repetitions of the advertisement should be done and are required also specified in a media plan.
Media Plan- the document or flow chart which details the tactics used to accomplish your media objectives.
THE COMPONENTS OF THE MEDIA PLAN
A thorough knowledge of the characteristics of the various advertising media is somewhat like knowing the vocabulary to a language without the grammer. Like a vocabulary, media characteristic don’t allow you to put the pieces together into a meaningful whole. A media plan is made up of many elements in addition to a descriptive analysis of the various media. While there is no standard format, the following elements are found in most national plans:
Media Plan components
Or
Criteria Considered in the Development of Media Plans
1. The media mix
2. Target market coverage
3. Geographic coverage
4. Scheduling
5. Reach versus frequency
6. Creative aspects and mood
7. Flexibility
8. Budget considerations
1. Media mix: The media mix has to reach the target consumer. It the advertiser wants to reach men between 25 and 55 who are professional, the Economic Times will be obviously a more appropriate choice than Femina. But sometimes matching consumer profiles with media characteristics becomes a lot more difficult. For example: Media planners will find it difficult to decide which kind of households can be reached by the Hindi feature film TV slot v/s the 9 O’clock serial slot. A thorough analysis of the target market will help in making this match and will reduce wastage of media expenditure.
2. Target market coverage: Audience can also be described in psychographics terms – activities, interest, and opinions forming a life style, personality traits, and brand preferences. After having a complete picture of our target audience, we undertake the study of the media’s readership in terms of demographic, economic and psychographics terms.
3. Geographic coverage: Media strategy is based upon market coverage. If media planners want to market products nationally, they will select all-India newspapers and magazines. However, if market is limited to a particular region, they shall select vernacular media popular in that region. In this way, media planners do not waste resources by advertising product in the regions in which it is not available. They have to see how strong a product is in a particular geographical region and advertise more in high potential areas.
4. Scheduling: Media scheduling decisions are the decisions about the timing, continuity and size of the ads. We have to see when to advertise, for how long, and for what time period. We have to see the size and placement of our ad.
5. Reach versus frequency: There should be an attempt in the media objectives to balance the reach and frequency. There should be an appropriate message weight at the same time. This will help us realize our advertising plan. To face heavy competitive campaign, we should have greater frequency to ensure the repetition of the message. It is not so important to have a wider reach. While advertising an innovation, a greater reach is preferred, to a greater frequency. It is also important to have a large message weight. Once the media objectives are set, we are ready to develop strategies to realise them.
6. Creative aspects and mood: Creative considerations such as the quality of reproduction, the colour effect, special effects, have to be considered. The medium must be appropriate for the ad message. For example: The ads for ice cream would be reproduced better in colour and therefore black and white newsprint is not appropriate. Media decisions have to be made in consultation with the creative team that has actually produced the ad. Within the medium selected, decisions related to unit buying, is also influenced by the creative team. There is a constant tug-of-war between the creative team and the media team . the creative team wants larger space, more TV and radio time and superior quality of POP material, while the media team along with the finance department of the client looks for economy and maximizing the effect of every rupee spent on the media.
7. Flexibility: The ability of the media to adapt to changing and specific needs of advertisers is flexibility. Certain media allows such flexibility with respect to the advertised message, the geographical coverage and the ad budget For example: the times of India group of publication may offer advertisers the flexibility of placing ads in different editions of the paper. So if, for instance, Parle’s find that competitive activity has increased in Delhi, it may use the Delhi edition of Times of India to combat competitor’s activity.
8. Budget considerations: A choice of media will depend to a large extent upon the size of the advertising budget. Certain media types may be too expensive for the funds available.
Media Buyer responsibilities:
Media Buyer is responsible for purchasing media space or time, as well as developing the campaign and researching how it will be most effective for the client. Their mission is to find a combination of media that will enable the marketer to communicate the message in the most effective manner possible at the minimum cost.
1. Providing inside info
Media buyers are important information sources for media planners. Close enough to day-to-day changes in media popularity and pricing to be a constant source of inside information
2. Selecting Media Vehicles
Choose the best vehicles that fit the target audience’s aperture. The media planner lays out the direction; the buyer is responsible for choosing specific vehicles
3. Negotiation
Media buyers pursue special advantages for clients. Locate the desired vehicles and negotiate and maintain satisfactory schedule and rates
4. Preferred Positions
Locations in print media that offer readership advantages. Preferred positions often carry a premium surcharge
5. Billing and Payment
It is the responsibility of the advertiser to make payments to various media
The agency is contractually obligated to pay the invoice on behalf of the client
6. Monitoring the Buy
The media buyer tracks the performance of the media plan as it is implemented, as well as afterward. Poorly performing vehicles must be replaced or costs must be modified
7. Make-Goods
A policy of compensating for missed positions or errors in handling the message presentation. Ensure that the advertiser is compensated appropriately when they occur
8. Post-campaign Evaluation
Once a campaign is completed, the planner compares the plan’s expectations and forecasts with what actually happened. Provides guidance for future media plans
Media planning process:
Media planning is the process of designing a course of action that shows how advertising space and time will be used to contribute to the achievement of the marketing and advertising objectives.
The media plan is created by the media planner from information about the market and prospective customers. Media decisions are primarily based on the creative strategy established for the campaign and the characteristics of the target market. Through market research, facts about the target market are accumulated and generalized into a consumer profile. This along with the basic copy strategy and copy requirements is analysed by the media planner, taking into account the size of the advertising budget.
This analysis is followed by matching the audience characteristics of various media with the consumer profile and by evaluating the adaptability of the physical format of the media to copy requirements. Finally, through the exercise of judgment concerning dimensions of coverage, reach, frequency, continuity, ad size... the media plan emerges.
With all the advertising decision making the ultimate responsibility for choosing media rests with the advertising/ brand manager.
The Media Planning Steps?
There are 5 steps in the Media planning process:
1. Market analysis
2. Media objectives
3. Media strategies
4. Media Mix
5. Budget and Media Buying
Step one: Market analysis
The goal of a market analysis is to determine the attractiveness of a market and to understand its evolving opportunities and threats as they relate to the strengths and weaknesses of the firm. Detailed situation analysis is done find out the following information:
David A. Aaker outlined the following dimensions of a market analysis:
• 1. Market size (current and future)
2. Market growth rate
3. Market profitability
4. Industry cost structure
5. Distribution channels
6. Market trends
7. Key success factors
8. Market Size
Step 2: Setting media objectives:
Media Objective:
The specific goals an advertiser has for the media portion of the advertising program. In the media planning context, you need to establish firm objectives for your plan in order to demonstrate how it will help your brand achieve its marketing goals.
Media objectives are in harmony with the advertising and the marketing plans. Thus while launching a new product or repositioning an existing product, there are specific objectives which will guide our media decisions. These objectives must be measurable. It facilitates co-ordination and evaluation once the campaign is over.
There are broadly five elements in media objective statements:
1. Target Audience
2. Reach
3. Frequency
4. Message Weight
5. Message Distribution
1. Target Audience: How to reach
Which is the audience for our product? This happens to be the most important consideration in the media decisions. We first examine our market plans and advertising plans. These provide us details about the audience in terms of age, religion, sex, education – these are demographic characteristics.
We can describe it in terms of their income and occupation. Audience can also be described in psychographics terms – activities, interest, and opinions forming a life style, personality traits, and brand preferences. After having a complete picture of our target audience, we undertake the study of the media’s readership in terms of demographic, economic and psychographics terms.
Agencies conduct their own media research. Even media itself provides a demographic profile of their readers. There are readership surveys to guide us. We have to select those media vehicles whose demographic profile matches the target audience of our product.
We can target our product to a segment of the market. Then we have to select that media vehicle which reaches this segment.
We may have to use another media vehicle to reach some another segment; It should, however, be seen that a united image is projected and consistency of message is maintained through different media mix.
2. Reach
Reach indicates a percentage of target audience who is exposed at least once in a given period to a particular media vehicle. It does not matter how many times they actually see or hear the ad message.
Though reach measures exposure, it does not actually measure those who have noticed a particular ad.
The objective of reaching target audience is calculated irrespective of the fact whether these people have taken cognizance of our ad. It is a term that is used for all media (print, TV, radio) and indicates the number of people who are actually exposed to the medium in a given period, which is normally linked to the periodicity of the medium.
While deciding about the reach, the time period selected is either four-weeks or corresponds to the purchase-cycle of the product.
Determinants of Reach
1. More prospective customers are reached by a media schedule using multiple media rather than a single medium
Another influencing factor is the number and diversity of media vehicles used
Reach can be increased by diversifying the day parts used to advertise
3. Frequency
Frequency indicates the number of times people in the target audience are exposed to a media vehicle during a given period of time. Average frequency gives the average number of times people or households in our target audience are exposed to a media vehicle.
Average Frequency = Total Number of Exposures
Total Audience Reach
If 1500 people in the target audience tune in an FM radio programme 3 times during a four week period, and 1500 people tune in 6 times, the calculation would be Total Number of exposures = (1500 x 3) + (1500 x 6)
= 13,500
Total audience reach = 1500 + 1500
= 3000
Average frequency = 13500 = 4.5
3000
In our example, we reach 3000 people 4 ½ times on an average. It does not necessarily mean that everyone has 4.5 exposures. It is just an average. Generally, a single exposure may not work either in creating an awareness or provoking someone to buy.
The more the exposures, the better the impact. Besides, more exposures make us rise above the competitive noise. It is good to plan how many times we would like our audience to see the message in a given medium. While introducing a new product, we need more frequency. When the ad size is small, we need more frequency. When the message is complex, we need more frequency. Higher frequency helps us stand out in the clutter.
We have to decide the effective frequency- it is not frequency, which is needed to communicate effectively with the target audience. It is a difficult thing to settle.
There can be a minimum frequency and maximum frequency to be effective. Lesser frequency makes the communication ineffective. Higher frequency may be a waste of ad resources. There can be also ad fatigue if there are too many repetitions.
Just as the situation analysis leads to establishment of marketing and communications objectives, the media situation analysis should lead to determination of specific media objectives. The media objectives are not ends in themselves. Rather, they are designed to lead to the attainment of communications and marketing objectives. Media objectives are the goals for the media strategies.
4. Message Weight
The sum of the reach number of specific media vehicles in a given media plan gives the message weight. Here while summing the reach, duplication or overlapping is ignored. Message weight is expressed in terms of gross impressions or gross rating points (GRP).
The total size of the audience for a set of ads or an entire campaign.
Message weight can be expressed as:
a. Opportunity to see: The possible exposure of the advertising message to one audience member is called an opportunity to see (OTS).
b. Gross Impressions: It is the total number of potential exposures (audience size by the number of times the ad message is used during a period). Gross impressions are a summation of exposures of the target audience to media vehicles in a media plan.
Each exposure is counted as one impression.
Suppose an advertiser puts advertisements on a programme of a TV channel viewed five times by 6000 people in the target audience and seven times by 6000 people in a four week period.
Also suppose during the same four week period, the ad is put another programme of a second TV channel viewed 3 times by 3000 people in the target audience, the gross impressions would be:
Gross impression = (6000 x 5) + (6000 x 7) + (3000 x 3)
= 81000
The first group receives 30000 impressions, the second group receives 42000 impressions and the third group receives 9000 impressions. Thus in all 81000 impressions are received during a four week period.
As duplication is ignored between the media vehicles while summing up the impressions, we use the term gross.
c. Televisions households: Because gross impressions are often expressed in millions and are awkward to handle, media planners prefer to use percentages - or a rating, for example, a rating of TV households is the percentage of homes exposed to an ad medium. A rating of 20=20% of the households with TV sets; televisions households, or (TVHH).
d. Gross Rating Points (GRPs) - the total weight of a specific media schedule, computed by multiplying the reach, expressed as a percentage of the population, by the average frequency.
GRP is the combined measure of reach and frequency indicating the weight of a media plan
•The more GRPs, the more “weight” a plan has
GRP is a unit of audience measurement, commonly used in the audio-visual media, based on reach or coverage of an ad. A single GRP, usually, represents 1 per cent of the total audience in a given region.
For a mass media like a TV channel, message weight is expressed in gross rating points (GRPs). It is a sum of the rating points of all programmes in the TV media plan. One rating point indicates one percent of the target audience. GRPs of the entire media plan are given by
GRPs for TV are calculated generally for a week or a month. Television Rating points (TRPs) are available in India calculated on the basis of the panel method. The ultimate business of TV is to deliver the eyeballs. It is obviously an issue of audience share. Gross impressions in print media are counted for every ad in every media vehicle used during the whole campaign.
There should be an attempt in the media objectives to balance the reach and frequency. There should be an appropriate message weight at the same time.
This will help us realize our advertising plan. To face heavy competitive campaign, we should have greater frequency to ensure the repetition of the message. It is not so important to have a wider reach.
While advertising an innovation, a greater reach is preferred, to a greater frequency. It is also important to have a large message weight. Once the media objectives are set, we are ready to develop strategies to realize them.
The Simple Formula to Calculate GRPs
Gross Rating Points (GRPs) = Reach x Frequency
Print example
50 reach X 5 insertions = 250 GRPs
Broadcast example
6 (rating) X 5 (frequency) = 30 GRPs
Gross impressions are a summation of exposures of the target audience to media vehicles in a media plan. Each exposure is counted as one impression.
Suppose an advertiser puts advertisements on a programme of a TV channel viewed five times by 6000 people in the target audience and seven times by 6000 people in a four-week period. Also suppose during the same four week period, the ad is put another programme of a second TV channel viewed 3 times by 3000 people in the target audience, the gross impressions would be:
Gross impression = (6000 x 5) + (6000 x 7) + (3000 x 3)
= 81000.
For a mass media like a TV channel, message weight is expressed in gross rating points (GRPs). It is a sum of the rating points of all programmes in the TV media plan. One rating point indicates one percent of the target audience. GRPs of the entire media plan are given by
GRPs of Media Plan = Proportion of target audience reached x average frequency
GRPs for TV are calculated generally for a week or a month. Television Rating points (TRPs) are available in India calculated on the basis of the panel method. The ultimate business of TV is to deliver the eyeballs. It is obviously an issue of audience share. Gross impressions in print media are counted for every ad in every media vehicle used during the whole campaign.
There should be an attempt in the media objectives to balance the reach and frequency. There should be an appropriate message weight at the same time. This will help us realize our advertising plan. To face heavy competitive campaign, we should have greater frequency to ensure the repetition of the message. It is not so important to have a wider reach.
While advertising an innovation, a greater reach is preferred, to a greater frequency. It is also important to have a large message weight. Once the media objectives are set, we are ready to develop strategies to realise them.
5. Message Distribution:
Message-distribution objectives define where, when, and how often advertising should appear. To answer these questions, a media planner must understand the following:
Audience size - simply the number of people in the medium's audience. In print media, for example, Audit Bureau of Circulation actually counts and verifies the number of subscribers (circulation) and multiplies by the number of readers per copy (RPC) to determine total audience.
Production of the message is managed both centrally and locally depending on the needs of the clients and the distribution of the message in the region. Some agencies that create and execute the marketing mix for multinationals with extensive product lines organize their staff according to the marketing demands.
Two agencies in particular use a combination of central, regional and local personnel to target their client's customers worldwide. Depending on the scope of the brand and the regions to be targeted, these agencies would accordingly distribute the creation, production and execution of the message. The goal in this case is to produce the most effective message for each market.
Step 3: Media Strategy
Media strategy is the way we seek to realize our media objectives. When formulated correctly, it enables an advertiser to rise above the clutter of ads, and stand out in the competition.
Media strategy expects media planners to be creative in using the media. The use of the media should complement and supplement each other. The ad should be consistent with the editorial environment of the media. The placement should be strategic. The media’s creative potential is fully used.
The ad should provoke readers to look at it more than once. It should be engaging enough, say incorporation of a crossword puzzle in the copy of the ad. We can use non-traditional media like a Tamasha show or a magic-show. Media can be used to build credibility.
Factors Influencing Media Strategy
a) Target Market Profile
b) Nature of the Message
c) Geographic Market Priorities
d) Timing of Advertising
e) Reach/Frequency/Continuity
Media strategy has to cover decisions taken in the areas of:
a. Geographic selectivity
b. Scheduling of the ads
c. Media selection
d. Cost efficiency of the selected media.
a. Geographic Selectivity
Our media strategy is based upon our market coverage. If we market our products nationally, we will select all-India newspapers and magazines.
However, if our market is limited to a particular region, we shall select vernacular media popular in that region. In this way, we do not waste our resources by advertising our product in the regions in which it is not available.
.
We have to see how strong a product is in a particular geographical region and advertise more in high potential areas. Marketers may measure the sales strength in particular market by making use of two ratios – the brand development index and the category development index
Brand Development Index:
To determine BDI, a market’s brand sales percentage is divided by the total population percentage of that market multiplied by 100.
The brand development index (BDI) measures the sales strength of a brand in a particular area.
BDI = Percentage of brand’s total all – India sales in the market x 100
Percentage of total Indian population in the market
This index enables a media planner to allocate the media budget by setting his priorities.
Category Development Index:
To determine CDI, a market’s category sales percentage is divided by the total population percentage of that market and multiplied by 100.
It measures the sales potential of product category. Thus it takes into account the potential of all competitors selling the same category.
CDI = Percentage of product category’s total all India sales x 100
Percentage of total Indian Population in the market
These numbers over 100 are considered good but comparing the BDI to the CDI provides the most insight.
Brand and Category Analysis
b. Media Scheduling
Media scheduling decisions are the decisions about the timing, continuity and size of the ads. We have to see when to advertise, for how long, and for what time period. We have to see the size and placement of our ad.
Timing: Advertising message can be timed in four ways depending upon our objectives
I. To time the message in such a way that the customers are most interested in buying that type of a product, e.g., fridges in summer, soft drinks in summer, woolens in winter, gift items during Deepavali.
II. To time the message in such a way that it stimulates demand in the lean period, e.g., ice creams in winter, holiday resorts in monsoons.
III. To time in such a way that it by-pass competitive campaigns, e.g., Pepsi commercials are to be aired when there are no Coke commercials.
IV. To time in such a way that the message is carried by the media when the audience is receptive to it, e.g., household products in the afternoon slot of TV when housewives watch TV.
The importance of time element must be understood in the purchase behavior of the customer by doing suitable research.
Most Organizations Use One of These Three Scheduling Strategies
Three Scheduling Methods
1. Continuity: When an ad is run in the media for a long period without any gap, we are using continuity scheduling. It is used for those products, which are in demand round the years. The ads are in the form of reminder.
2. Alternative to continuity is fighting where advertising runs for some period and then there is a gap, and again it runs for some period. The interval between two advertising runs comes after a flight. The message can be schedule to correspond to peak purchasing periods or at a time when the audience is most receptive.
When we have a media mix alternative flights are adjusted in such a way in different media that overall continuity is achieved.
3. Pulsing is another option.
It represents a consistent low-level advertising activity, and addition of pulse to make a high-level of advertising during certain periods. A pulse is a period of intense advertising activity. The pulses can occur at the start while launching a new product. There can a promotional pulse of one shot, e.g., financial advertising of a company’s issue. Bursting is a technique for scheduling TV ads. Here the commercial is repeated on the same channel time and again to reinforce the message for a short period.
Timing and Duration as Media strategies
Timing:
• a. Steady schedule or continuous
• b. Flight
• c. Pulse
Duration:
• a. Reach
• b. Frequency
• c. GRP
• d. CPRP
• e. CPT
• f. BDI
• g. CDI
c. Selecting the Media
An advertiser can choose a single medium or a mix of media to take its message to the target audience. Media mix – a combination of several media is used when it is not possible to reach the target audience by one single medium adequately and with a good impact.
Marketers segment a market, and a suitable media can be chosen to match a specific segment. Creative execution becomes varied when a media mix is used. In a media mix, one medium can be used to promote a product and the other as reminder, thus reinforcing each other. A combination must be synergistic, where the sum total of effects is greater than the sum of individual medium’s effect.
Each media has a particular readership or viewer ship. We have to understand the size and the characteristics of the readership or viewer ship.
We have to match the target audience of our product to the demographic characteristics of the readers/viewers of the media as far as possible. Media research helps us in this matching the product and the media.
Each medium has different alternation value. But attention given to a medium also depends upon the message and its execution. Each medium has a motivation value whereby it stimulates readers to respond. Each medium has its own editorial environment provided by its contents which surround the ad
This environment should be compatible with the product and its benefits. The environment should also be consistent with the mood of the desired audience. A commercial of an air-line is not consistent with the news of an air-crash.
The audience mood is not conducive to the reception of the message. Several media provide an environment of respectability. We have to consider the placement of the ad and the editorial material and keep on changing the same if necessary.
Our competitors also via with us for the attention of the same target audience. We must understand their media strategy, budgets and mixes. It helps us in setting our strategy correctly. We can confront them head on. We can change the media mix. We can bypass a media selected by them. We can change our geographic allocation. A competitor’s share of voice can be studied. It is given by:
Share of voice = Brand Expenditure
Product Category expenditure
We have to decide whether we can match a competitor’s share of voice or exceed it. We can use another medium in which there is a large share of voice for us.
We should not forget that we never buy media. We only buy audiences. The client pays the agency to buy the audience attention to his brand.
Size and Placement
The decisions about the size of the ad and its placement are also important in scheduling. There are several size options in print media right from a small portion of the page to a full page to several pages.
In electronic media, we have options to select commercials for various lengths of time, 10-seconds, 30-seconds or 60-seconds. The size decision is based upon our objectives, the creative execution necessary, the budget and the reach and frequency decisions.
A full-page ad does not cost twice the half-page ads. It is less than that. By sacrificing the size of the ad, we can save costs but we miss on attention. But we can buy more ads of lesser space if we sacrifice size, and thus a higher frequency objective may be satisfied by reducing the size. The small ads can be made more effective by having suitable layouts and copy.
Placement of the ads in the medium also affects the impact of the ad. Covers are the preferred medium for their impact in magazines.
The placement near important editorial matter is also preferred. Media charge slightly higher if we specify a particular position and so we must do a proper cost-benefit analysis.
d. Cost Efficiency of selected Media:
The cost of advertising in various media must be analysed properly. We have to compare the cost of different media. It helps us select the best media to optimize our objectives.
Cost per thousand (CPM) is one yard-stick to compare the costs of different media. It is the cost of reaching a thousand persons.
The formula for CPM is:
Cost per Thousand = Cost of media unit x 1000
Gross Impression
To illustrate, if we take a full page ad at a price of Rs. 50000 in a magazine to reach one lac people, our CPM would be
Cost per Thousand = 50000 x 1000
100000
= Rs. 500
CPRP: Cost per rating point
The cost of reaching one percent of the target population. CPP is calculated by dividing the cost of the schedule by the gross rating points. National and regional advertising buyers frequently use this cost efficiency measure, since it can be applied across all media.
The cost per rating point is used to estimate the cost for TV advertising on several shows.
Cost per rating point = Commercial time cost
Percentage of audience.
Step four: Selecting Media Mix
Media mix means the advertising strategy encompasses the use of more than one type of advertising media to get its message across the target audience.
A combination of media types is known as the media mix. No advertiser can rely only on one medium to reach his audience.
Selecting broad media classes
Purpose: To determine which broad class of media best fulfils the criteria. Involves comparison and selection of broad media classes such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and others. The analysis is called intermediate comparisons. Audience size is one of the major factors used in comparing the various media classes.
Selecting media within classes:
Purpose: To compare and select the best media within broad classes, again using predetermined criteria. Involves making decisions about the following:
1. If magazines were recommended, then which magazines?
2. If television was recommended, then
i. Broadcast or cable television?
ii. Network or spot television?
3. If radio or newspapers were recommended, then
a. Which markets shall be used?
b. If network, which program (s)
c. If spot, which markets?
d. What criteria shall buyers use in making purchases of local media?
What criteria shall buyers use in making purchases of local media?
a. Media use decisions- Broadcast:
b. What kind of sponsorship (sole, shared, participating, or other)?
c. What levels of reach and frequency will be required?
d. Scheduling: On which days and months are commercials to appear?
e. Placement of spots: In programs or between programs?
Media use decisions-Print:
a. Number of ads to appear and on which days and months.
b. Placements of ads: Any preferred position within media?
c. Special treatment: Gatefolds, bleeds, color, etc.
d. Desired reach or frequency levels/
Media use decisions-Other media
1. Billboards
i. Location of markets and plan of distribution
ii. Kinds of outdoor boards to be used.
2. Direct mail or other media: Decisions peculiar to those media.
The Media Mix
Media mix means the advertising strategy encompasses the use of more than one type of advertising media to get its message across the target audience. A combination of media types is known as the media mix. No advertiser can rely only on one medium to reach his audience.
Even a small advertiser having a small media budget has thousands of media from which to choose. A typical media mix for consumer products, such as a soft drink, will include television, outdoor, POP and even the print media. this combination plays a crucial role in reaching the maximum number of consumers at the minimum cost.
Once a media plan is ready, the decision is to be made about the media mix. Selecting the media mix involves several considerations.
Factors considered while selecting a media mix
The media plan which is derived from the marketing and advertising plan has set a broad framework for media decisions. The execution of this plan depends upon the following considerations:
1. Budget: A choice of media will depend to a large extent upon the size of the advertising budget. Certain media types may be too expensive for the funds available. For example: the cost of national transmission over Doordarshan may be too high for an advertiser. The cost of maintaining a neon sign cannot be afforded by small budget advertisers.
2. Competitor’s Strategy: Media decisions of one advertiser are influenced by the competitor’s strategy. Some years ago only large advertisers used television in India. But with the runaway success of Nirma detergent, manufacturers large or small used television to gain maximum exposure, with the hope of creating another success story. An advertiser tries to reach the same audience as its competitors. He may also attempt to find specific target groups not reached by his competitors. In both these cases he considers his competitor’s strategy before deciding his media mix.
3. Frequency v/s Reach. As explained in the earlier section, frequency and reach are important considerations in the media plan. Frequency refers to the number of times the advertiser reaches the same person, while reach refers to the total number of people covered. The greater the frequency with which you reach the same person through media selection, smaller the reach will be and vice –versa (assuming a limitation in the size of the budget). An advertiser will need to know the quantitative data about media audience in order to make more accurate frequency and reach decisions.
For example: If an advertiser uses radio, he may be able to afford to broadcast the advertising jingle every 30 minutes, and this increases the frequency of the radio listeners exposure to the advertised message. But the reach of this message is limited and will not cover those who are not listening to the radio. With the same budget, the advertiser can buy less radio time, place a few insertions in the print media and buy some television time. This combination will reduce the frequency at which an individual consumer is exposed to the advertised message but will increase its reach. Thus, there is always a trade-off between these two considerations.
4. Increasing distributors’ support: Although consumer media are selected primarily to affect the consumer, the impact of media upon distribution channels, that is the middlemen, is also important. Effective use of advertising media lends support to the middlemen’s selling efforts. Middlemen are more likely to support a brand that has greater exposure in the local media. Retailer sometimes runs their own tie-in advertising along with the producer’s advertisement, in the same media.
5. Continuity: A decision must be made about how long an advertisement campaign should be run on one media. There is a cumulative advantage from continuity, as a greater audience will be reached in Terms of both frequency and coverage by advertisements continually placed in one medium. The same medium will have some new audience. For products such as toothpaste, soaps, that are frequently re-purchased, continuity is a more important consideration. But products that are purchased infrequently may find it more suitable to use a variety of media in order to reach varied audience. For example: the ads of Sintex water tanks.
6. Flexibility: The ability of the media to adapt to changing and specific needs of advertisers is flexibility. Certain media allows such flexibility with respect to the advertised message, the geographical coverage and the ad budget For example: the times of India group of publication may offer advertisers the flexibility of placing ads in different editions of the paper. So if, for instance, Parle’s find that competitive activity has increased in Delhi, it may use the Delhi edition of Times of India to combat competitor’s activity.
7. Franchise Position: Advertisers using a particular medium over a period of time may enjoy special franchise positions. Special page positions in magazines and newspapers may be reserved for them. For example: The back page of Business India may be booked by Bajaj Auto while the inside back cover of India Today