Advanced Media Planning

Book excerpt: Media planning consists of formulating a media strategy to deliver the creative so as to best meet the brand's advertising objectives, and then implementing that strategy in an accurate and cost-effective manner. Given that approximately ninety percent of advertising dollars are spent in media, a sound understanding of media planning is essential for the researcher and professional media planner alike. Although this book provides a novel and advanced approach to media planning, the basics are covered as well, making the book suitable for trainees. The authors argue that current media planning is still too conventional, that while reach and frequency are not incorrect, they are certainly too simplistic for modern media planning. This book introduces the advanced concept of using reach patterns in making the reach decision, and develops the method of factoring in effective frequency when making the frequency decision. Reach patterns are an entirely new concept. Effective frequency, while not new, needs proper definition and an operational formula for its calculation, both of which are provided here. Other new concepts are introduced and shown to be necessary for choosing an appropriate media strategy. The media planning software, `Media Mania', designed by Peter Danaher, can be downloaded using the following link: http://www.mbs.edu/Media-Mania-Software/.