MEDIA PLAN

MEDIA PLAN

This is a document which has to convince the client that a logical recommendation has been made. It must inform the buyers who are to execute the plan exactly what is required of them. The Media Plan provides media planning & buying services for all media including TV, cable, radio, print, outdoor, transit, online and new media. A plan that sets forth the exact media vehicles to be used for advertisements and the dates and times that the advertisements are to appear.

The best media plans are developed with a complete understanding of the marketing communications and business objectives of the client's campaign. This is understood from the media brief that is provided by the client to the advertising agency. The firms then develop customized, integrated media planning and buying of media across all disciplines.

The media plans and buys seek to accomplish the following:

Media planning and buying (print, radio, television):

• Increase media visibility, impact and value while achieving overall efficiency
• Establish customized focused media objectives for target, geography, timing and communications levels
• Prioritize reach and frequency and assign weighting factors to response levels
• Negotiate the lowest possible rates
• Maximize exposure through value-added opportunities
• Track results for quick adjustments and optimization of media performance
• Identify special events and guerilla marketing approaches for uncluttered exposure

MEDIA PLANNING

The media person figures out where you’re advertising should run. He or she looks over all the media vehicles that might be useful and recommends the most effective environment for your message. He or she also tries to determine how to spend your advertising rupees most effectively and backs up recommendations with solid statistical data and other information.

Media planning will mean budgetary constraints, allocating funds and the physical scheduling of events through the press, television, cinema, radio, outdoor advertising or the new medias like internet or SMS, etc.

STEPS IN MEDIA PLANNING:

1. DECIDING ON TARGET MARKETS:

Every media plan begins with target audience. The target audience can be classified in terms of age, sex, income, education, occupation and other variables. The audience can also be classified as children, teenagers, young adults, office goers, newly married couples, parents, grandparents, etc.

The classification of the target audience helps the media planner to understand the media consumption habits, and accordingly choose the most appropriate media or media-mix The media planner can also select the most appropriate programme (in case of radio and TV) to insert advertisement.

Matching media and market

Advertisers must always attempt to match the profile of the target market with the demographic characteristics of a given medium’s audience

Let us consider an example of cigarette advertising. The target market for this is men in the age group of 25 to 60 years. The advertiser would consider placing ads in magazines having a predominantly male readership. Advertising in magazines having a predominantly female readership would be mostly wasteful for this product. It may be true that rarely does any magazine have a 100 percent male readership. Even so, when selecting a predominantly men’s magazine, the advertiser would minimize wasteful expenditure.

Some media, such as general interest consumer magazines and newspapers, network radio and television offer to an advertiser the means of transmitting ad messages to a cross-section of the consumer market. Against this, some other media, such as spot radio and television, special interest magazines, business publications, and some business newspapers offer the means of reaching selective group of audience. The selectivity offered by some media is useful for advertisers, for it enables them to reach a distinct target market with minimum waste. In fact, a great deal of information on the media about their demographic characteristics is provided by the media themselves.

The objective of any media planner is to achieve the best possible matching of the media and the market.

2. DECIDING ON MEDIA OBJECTIVES:

The media planner has to decide on the media objectives. Media objectives often are stated in terms of reach, frequency, gross rating points and continuity.

Media objectives

You can contribute most to the media process in the definition of objectives (what you want the plan to accomplish)

Before media planning can start, companies have to define the marketing objectives of the product/ idea proposed to be advertised.

For example, if a professional camera manufacturer decides to launch an automatic camera to expand his market, his marketing objective would be to reach those segments of the population who are photo enthusiasts but do not want to be hassled by the intricacies of operation of professional cameras, the fun loving people who want to capture moments of joy and togetherness. The manufacturer may also target the existing professional camera users to consider a replacement in order to have the pleasure of an automatic camera, which obviously will be faster, having mastered the manual one. The marketing objective, hence, would be to extend distribution into new geographic markets or income groups as also the current users of cameras

The following could b the media objectives

1. To reach photo enthusiasts of that age and income group who are the chief purchasers.
2. To concentrate the greatest weight in urban areas where the target audience would normally be found and where new ideas gain a quicker response.
3. To provide advertising support at a consistent level except when it needs extra weight during announcements and the holiday season, when such target buyers are planning to visit exotic places or to meet their kith and kin.
4. To select those media, which will help strengthen the creative strategy and help demonstrate convenience, ease of shooting and, of course, excellent results. The “Hot Shot” camera with the’Khatak’ sound became an instant success with the photo enthusiasts in the late eighties in India.
5. To reach target buyers through those media to gain greater frequency and lesser cost per opportunity

Media objectives are built around answers to five questions: who, when, where, how often, and in what way?

WHOM DO YOU WANT TO REACH?

This refers to defining of the target audience.

Defining the target audience objectives is a critical activity in a media plan. The audience consists of people in a specific age, income, educational, occupational, social and ethnic group.

While choosing the media one must bear in mind that the target is never a faceless mass of people. They are definable to precision.

Not “primary emphasis on men” but “70 percent of messages directed to men, 30 percent to women.”

Let us take the example of a few product categories to understand the concept more closely.

Dove is premium soap, the most expensive of all the brands available in the Indian market. The product is targeted not at the very young but at the busy woman, be age a professional or mother of young children, whose whole life “revolves around children” or the “lazy” one, not getting any time to bother abut her looks. Such a woman is modern but not a feminist. Dove, which claims to have ¼ moisturizer, is an answer to her lifestyle. If she uses Dove, the need for cream or moisturizer is taken care of. Such a woman is up-market, mobile, moving in social circles, is successful and above all, wants to look good and feel good. And most importantly, money is no consideration for her in such purchases. The choice of the media hence, would keep in view their psychographic profile. Magazines, like Femina, Savvy and Stardust against Sarita Mukta or Women;s Era would be preferred. Television, of course, will have the multiplier effect.

WHEN DO YOU WANT TO REACH THEM?

Do people buy your product year-round, or [primarily in the summer, or on weekends or just when it rains? Some products are keyed to holidays-crackers for Diwali, colours around Holi, etc. On the basis of this we may decide whether you want the money to be spread evenly or thinly over the year. We may concentrate it in some periods, while it may not be advisable to advertise at other times.

For example, if the advertising is aimed at school children, drawing their attention on fun products around examination time is of no use. Similarly, if the product is targeted at the Indian rural folks, the harvest season, which comes twice a year, will not be the right time as their attention would be towards their crop

Also, the higher the price tag, the longer the longer the lead-time. Travel to Europe peaks in the summer, for example, but the decision is made in the spring.

Hence, allocate the media to periods when people decide to buy, not necessarily when they make the purchase.

WHERE DO YOU WANT TO REACH?

The next decision is with respect to the geographical distribution of media. Whether to advertise nationally or locally-maybe the hardest decision for national marketers. The problem arises mainly in case of television or radio, where the amount of money to be spent is very huge and hence the amount of money to be allocated to each region has to be decided. The same applies to other media also, especially outdoor and cinema, whose regional distribution is closely controlled.

All business is local-and varies all across the country.

Hence it is essential to be specific in describing the key markets and what percent of business they represent.

The brand development index (BDI) identifies your best markets in terms of sales per thousand populations. You may sell more in Mumbai than Chennai, but Chennai people may be better customers.

Beyond markets, you’ll want to identify where your prospects live in terms of country size, city size, suburbs, etc.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU WANT TO REACH THEM?

The issue of advertising intensity is a complex question. It involves concepts of audience reach and frequency and impact.

The media objectives, however, should include goals for the minimum number of messages necessary to make a sale, and how those messages should be timed.

IN WHAT WAY DO YOU WANT TO REACH THEM?

The best environment for the copy, for example. Does it require color or action? Would it be more effective in a news medium or one that offers service information to women? Should it have an impact on the trade (to get displays) or on employees (to improve morale)? Special considerations like these must be considered as objectives.

BOROSOFT MEDIA STRATEGY

Overview

Pre-launch market research indicated that BoroPlus & Boroline found usage primarily as skin creams for the problem of dry skin in winters, rather than for their antiseptic properties.

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• Targeting women, the brand focused its usage as a face cream thereby creating perceptions of a ‘cosmetic’ antiseptic cream, unlike other antiseptic creams that were seen as multi-purpose, family products.

• In the very first season the brand achieved a 9% share of the Antiseptic Cream market for dry & chapped skin.

• Over the next three years, the brand strategy was to reinforce the non-sticky positioning, provide rational support for the use of a nonstick cream & create cosmetic associations with the brand, thereby enhancing brand imagery.

Key Issue

• The brand mapping exercise indicated that while BoroSoft was clearly being perceived to be high grooming, its associations with the attribute of ‘protection’ was lacking.

• And in a category that is largely functional, it is important for a brand to be perceived as providing the key category benefit –protection from winter dryness’.

Communication Task

• To strengthen the ‘protection’ association of BoroSoft Antiseptic Cream for the

problem of skin dryness, while continuing to maintain the cosmetic associations of the brand.

Target Audience

• Females, 18-35 yrs., SEC A, B, C.

• Core Target Audience: Current users of BoroPlus & Boroline.

The brand packaging was given a new look in the year 2000 as the brand

communication focussed on positioning it as a face cream.

Media Strategy

• Being a seasonal product (for dry skin), the majority of the brand’s sales occur in the winter period from November to February.

• Therefore, high decibel TV advertising in these winter months has been the media strategy, in order to achieve high top-of mind awareness in a short period.

• The TA being women, the programme selection primarily consists of popular family soaps.

3. MEDIA EVALUATION

After the objectives are defined there is a need to evaluate each media in order to reach a conclusion about the type of media that will be most effective for the accomplishment of the objectives.

The objects of the evaluation are:

1. To see which media are feasible.
2. To pick the main medium.
3. To prepare for the decision on how it should be used.
4. To see whether there are suitable supporting media if required.

Creative suitability:

There may be obvious reasons why a particular medium is especially suitable for the campaign or another is unsuitable, a coupon is to be included or the absence of colour is critical. Often the preference of the creative group is not backed up by concrete evidence but they have strong views nevertheless about the media to use and those not to use.

The agency is not in the business of reaching consumers with exposures of advertisements (which tend to be the media department’s natural criterion), but in the business of selling the product. So if the creative choice looks at all reasonable in media terms, it is usually sensible for the planning to accept it.

Sometimes the creative choice is unreasonable and may have been reached without full consideration of the alternatives.

An idea:

Sometimes a media idea, or better an idea which involves media and creative content, is ‘obviously’ right or simply a novelty, which is expected to attract attention and so work. A press advertisement in the shape of the product, using publications that have never before carried this type of advertising, a radio commercial announcing ‘officially’ there is now no shortage of the product, a TV commercial that starts with silence and black screen, a poster that looks like a shop window and so on. Sometimes a change is as good as an increased budget.

Proven effectiveness:

When there is evidence that a particular medium is the most efficient, the choice is obvious. The evidence may come from the tests on our own product or from a study of competitor’s activities.

The advertiser often insists on using the same medium as before, even without testing its effectiveness. The best predictor of an advertising schedule is the schedule for the previous year. This is not always laziness. It is partly because the media scene is not very different from year to year: media change is dictated by a major shift in the market place, a new medium, a new definition of the target, or a new advertising idea. Advertisers resist change because it involves more risk than to continue with a proven, viable strategy.

Availability and timing:

The type of product or copy claim may prevent the use of a medium- this is most likely to rule out TV, on which, for example cigarettes are not advertised. The flexibility required by the advertiser, for example being able to cancel or change advertising at a few days’ notice, may also rule out a medium-for example it may make colour press impossible.

Competition:

“We can’t come off the box, that’s where our competitors are.”

‘Look, there’s no advertising for this product in women’s magazines: let’s dominate there.’

Of the two policies- match the competition or avoid it- the first is more common in media choice. This may be because the main purpose of the advertising is defensive- to reassure existing buyers and reassure existing buyers and diffuse competitors’ attacks. It may also be a fear of leaving him to dominate a medium. Or the medium normally chosen is simply the most suitable for that product group. Or the consumer and the trade have come to expect the advertising to be in that medium and look for it there, so it works best there.; on the same principle, shops often do better together in the High Street than scattered over the town.

These arguments apply to large advertisers: McDougalls will not leave spillers to be the only large flour manufacturer on TV, nor Cadburys leave TV to Mars. But for the small budgets it could be inefficient to hit competition at knee-level. A small advertiser might do better to dominate a less used medium.

4. CHOOSING AMONG MAJOR MEDIA TYPES:

The media planner has to know the capacity of the major media types to deliver reach, frequency, and impact. The major advertising media along with their costs, advantages, and limitations are to be well understood. Every media plan requires that specific media types be selected – Doordarshan, Direct mail, satellite TV, newspapers, magazines, etc. Media planners must consider several variables before choosing among major types:

Ø Target –audience media habits:

This is the most important factor. Housewives watch more of television, whereas, working women go for magazines. Again television programmes have different viewers. For instance, “world this week” is viewed by teenagers and young adults. Therefore, it would be advisable to advertise during “World this week” such products which are of interest to teenagers and young adults. Radio and television are the most effective media for reaching teenagers.

Ø Products:

Products that require demonstration can suit for television. For example, the demonstration of the use of a vacuum cleaner by Eureka Forbes. Financial advertising such as new issue of shares is good in newspapers. Women's dresses are best shown in color magazines, and Polaroid cameras a best demonstrated on television. Media types have different potentials for demonstration, visualization, explanation, believability, and color.

Again there are media restrictions on certain products. For instance, alcoholic drinks and cigarettes cannot be advertised in press as well as on DD and AIR, hence these two options are totally ruled out.

Ø Message:

The type of message dictates the type of media. For example, an ad that features technical information is best suited for specific magazines. Again, an ad from retailer announcing major sale on discount requires more of local newspapers.

Ø Cost Factor:

Television is very expensive, where as, radio is very economical. However, cost is not the only factor, even if it is calculated on the basis of cost per- person reached. The impact of the media is to be taken into account.

5. SELECTING SPECIFIC MEDIA VEHICLES:-

Once a decision is made on media types, specific media vehicles within each medium must be chosen. For instance, the media planner may take a decision to select only magazines. The question now appears in which magazines. There are several classes of magazines- General interest like Reader’s digest, Women Interest magazines like Femina, Savvy, Elle, Business interest magazines like Business India, Business Today. If the decision is to select Business Interest Magazines- then the media planner may consider the following:

ü Business India

ü Business World

ü Fortune India

ü Dalal Street Journal

ü Business Today

ü Advertising & Marketing

Checklist for media selection

Objectives

Factor	Reach	Frequency	Continuity	Pulsing
Ad budget
Low budget
High Budget
Competition
Heavy
Large budget of a competitor
Marketing objectives of a competitor
New products for mass markets
Improving market share – new uses
Pull Effect
Awareness, recognition of corporate status
Copy
Technical and complex
Rational, high frequency to begin with them
Emotional
Creative, newsworthy
Dogmatic, surge to begin with, then
Consumption pattern
Seasonal purchases, expect peak periods with
Irregular purchases
Inducing favorable attitudes to impulse buying
Elaborate decision making to buy the product, alternate
Consumer loyalty
Brand choice – regular products
Lengthening of purchase cycle

6. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS:

The planner should then decide on the amount of funds that would be allotted to each media type and vehicle. Here the planner will decide on the number of units of each media vehicle. The media selection is a trade off.

With a given budget, what is the most cost-effective combination of reach, frequency, and impact? Reach is most important when launching new products, flanker brands, extensions of well- known brands, or infrequently purchased brands, or when going after an undefined target market. Frequency is most important where there are strong competitors, a complex story to tell, high consumer resistance, or a frequent-purchase cycle.

For instance, if the media planner selects television, then he should decide on the programmes and the number of ads of specific duration (10-20-30 seconds) in each program.

Suppose the planner selects TV and within it the serial Son Pari and the Hindi Feature film. Then how many ads and what duration should be inserted at the time of Son Pari and that of Hindi Feature film must be decided. Accordingly, money must be allotted. Again if the advertiser selects television and magazines, then amount must be allotted to each media type and the specific programmes and magazines.

As far as magazines are concerned, the planner should decide on:

ü Whether to use color ads black and white ads.

ü Whether to use full page or double – spread page.

ü How many publication issues to be used.

Accordingly funds are to be allotted among various magazines- page size wise, color wise and repetition wise.

Media cost and media ability

To get the most out of the advertising rupees spent, the primary concern of the advertiser is media selection. The cost of buying space or time is weighed against the number of audience secured by such advertising. In fact, buying advertising space or time is nothing different from buying commodities. Usually, the question is asked: “How wide an audience do I get for every rupee I spend?”

The media cost should be commensurate with the measure of the media’s ability to carry the message to the target audience.

Media ability covers such qualitative values as audience characteristics, editorial personality, and contribution advertising effectiveness; above all it refers to a “media image” capable of enhancing the perception and communication value of a given message.

For example, Channel A and Channel B deliver the same message and the same extension of advertising exposure to the same audience; but if, say, Channel A has a better reputation for honesty and good editorials, the advertisement in this may receive a higher perception and communication among its audience than if it is inserted in Channel B.

The selectivity offered by some media is useful for advertisers, for it enables them to reach a distinct target market with minimum waste. In fact, a great deal of information on the media about their demographic characteristics is provided by the media themselves. The objective of any media planner is to achieve the best possible matching of media and the market.

The media ability is measured under the following heads:

1. Distribution Measurement: Expressed in the number of copies circulated.

2. Audience Measurement: Expressed in terms of audience size, audience composition and the amount of audience exposure.

3. Exposure Measurement: The advertiser looks for the ability of the media to create advertising exposure. Once the media have produced the desired exposure, the quality of the message will determine the subsequent impact in terms of perception, communication and behavioral response.

Magazines have different images in the eyes of readers, such as thorough coverage of subject matter; impartial and accurate reporting; stimulating reading; modern and up-to-date; good style of writing; personalized, etc.

However, the availability of media during specific hours of the day or night has an important bearing on media selection. In various television or radio programmes, time may not be available even if the advertiser is prepared to pay premium rate. This is true of newspapers, too. Sometimes, a specific space in the total layout is not available. Some advertisers ask for space on the front page, which may not be available because it has already been booked, and is no longer unreserved.

Summarizing media selection factors, we may say that they are:

1. Media characteristics, such as editorial environment, flexibility, frequency and durability;
2. Nature of the target market;
3. The nature and type of the product;
4. The nature of the distribution network; and
5. Overall cost of the medium

7.MEDIA BUDGET

Show me the money

There are two primary methods of determining your advertising budget more specifically. First is the cost method, which theorizes that an advertiser can’t afford to spend more than he has. This seems to be the most popular method used in associations.

The second method, the task method, is used when associations base their advertising budgets on the amount of money needed to attract the customer or sell the product. An association using the task method typically determines how much money is needed based on past expenses to produce results.

Start small

Unless you are launching a national campaign, build your advertising budget based on local and regional pricing and opportunities. Consider advertising opportunities with other professional organizations.

A local charity sponsors a chamber of commerce event. Chambers have business people who are more than willing to share their time, talents, and checkbooks. Sometimes the results can be two-fold: a donation and a new volunteer for your cause. Word-of-mouth advertising could be the best dollar you ever spent.

What will this cost?

Your budget will determine when and where you can advertise. There are four basic ways to determine what your budget should be. And don’t forget, your budget doesn’t just include media costs, but production costs as well.

Task Objective Method - This is just a way of saying, how much you have to spend to reach your objective. For example, you want to reach 50 percent of your audience. How many people do you have to reach? How many times do you have to run an ad? How much does each ad cost?

It identifies how much and what kind of media can be purchased at various budget levels. It selects a level that buys what is desired for the brand. Tracking past results and replicating past successes represents another way of pricing the brand's ad budget.

Historical Method - This method uses a base budget and then increases the budget each year by a certain percentage. For example you have $10,000 to spend this year, then next year you increase it 5% to be $10,500.

Percent-of-Sales Method - For this, you can take a percentage of your sales as your advertising budget. The tricky thing is that you have to forecast your sales. Here is the formula to help you along:

Step 1: Past Advertising Rupees = % of Sales

Past Sales

Step 2: % of Sales X Next Year’s Sales Forecast = New Advertising Budget

(Average advertising budget will run about 20% of your sales.)

Combination Method - You are never stuck with one method. Many companies chose multiple methods and pick a plan that is right for them. You need to evaluate your situation. How much can you afford and what will it take to reach your objectives?

Affordable Method -

•Funds remaining after budgeting for everything else are dedicated to communications

Problems:

•No strategic orientation

•Can lead to under- or over-investment in advertising

When most of us try to determine how much to invest in the future we go through the same drill. Based on how much we make, we deduct our monthly and special expenses, put a little emergency money aside and the rest gets invested (if anything is left over). We invest sometimes for a quick return, but for the most part we are looking assure our future with equity. Marketers do much the same thing to arrive at advertising budgets, since they represent an investment in both the short and long-term future of their brand.

Among the many methods employed is the Share of voice method to determine the budget allocation, wherein the budget is set by spending to a share of media money spent in the marketplace among all competitors in the brand's category. And there is the good old A/S ratio where the marketer examines the amount other competitors in the category spend in relation to sales and then approximates that level for his own brand. Sometimes, in a fit of even-handedness, all of these methods are used and a compromise is struck.

8. MEDIA SCHEDULING:

The media planner should then prepare a media schedule. Media scheduling refers to the programming of media insertions. This seeks to establish when the messages are transmitted in order that the media objectives are achieved at the lowest possible costs.

The scheduling depends on a number of factors:

Ø Advertising objectives: if objectives are short term, then the placements should be concentrated over a short period of time. Conversely if awareness has to be created or a new brand is to be built, then the frequency of placements need not be so intensive and can be spread over a longer period so that learning can occur incrementally.

Ø Nature of product- consumer usables, durables or industrial

Ø Nature of sales-whether seasonal or regular sales.

Ø Product lifecycle- whether introduction, growth, maturity or decline.

Ø Pattern of competitor’s programmes.

Ø Entry of new competitors.

Ø Availability of funds for advertising.

This involves the scheduling and timing of advertisement. The schedule shows the number of advertisements that are to appear in each medium, the size of the advertisements, and the date on which they are to appear. There are many ways of scheduling any advertising programme. No single way can be said to be best for all advertisers. Each advertiser must prepare a specific schedule most suitable for its market and its advertising objectives. What may be good for one advertiser and his product may be bad for another. Even for the same advertiser, the best at one stage of the product life cycle may not be suitable at another stage.

An advertiser, for example, may schedule to buy six pages space in a monthly consumer magazine. Alternatively, he may buy one-page space every month for the first three months; then he may not buy space for the next three months; and then again take one-page space every month for the next three months .There may be a variety of schedules of advertisements.