Media Decision

-By Vinay N MShweta GaneshBindhu A S

Introduction to Media Decision Types of Media and Characteristics Media Mix Decision Selection of Media Evaluating Media Plan Effectiveness

Plan of Presentation

Media decisions in advertising can take many different directions depending on the product being sold.

There are many different types of media that can be used. 

Introduction to Media Decision

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Media Terminology

Media Planning - A series of decisions involving the delivery of messages to audiences.

Media Objectives - Goals to be attained by the media strategy and program.

Media Strategy - Decisions on how the media objectives can be attained.

Media - The various categories of delivery systems, including broadcast and print media.

Broadcast Media - Either radio or television network or local station broadcasts.

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Media Terminology

Print Media - Publications such as newspapers, magazines, direct mail, outdoor, and the like.

Media Vehicle - The specific message carrier, such as the Hindu or News hour Show.

Coverage - The potential audience that might receive the message through the vehicle.

Reach - The actual number of individual audience members reached at least once by the vehicle.

Frequency - The number of times the receiver is exposed to vehicle in a specific time period.

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Media Classification Levels

There are two types of media for communication - mass media and interpersonal media. ◦ Interpersonal media is an expensive medium but

highly useful for focused reach. ◦ On the other hand mass media like television, or

radio, or newspaper are cost efficient and characterized by wide reach.

Media Types and Characteristics

1. TelevisionFollowing are the specific characteristics of television:

It is more impact-full as it is the combination of sound, sight, and motion,

It has broad reach and mass coverage, It is highly intrusive medium, It has high absolute cost but cost per

thousand is moderate.

Advantages and Disadvantages

2. RadioFollowing are the specific characteristics of radio:

It can reach out to remote audiences,  It is most cost efficient among all mass

media, Radio can reach mobile population, Radio has local market identification.

Advantages and Disadvantages

3. NewspaperFollowing are the specific characteristics of newspaper:

Newspaper is a better option to provide detailed information,

A publication have different editions for different areas, so there is a geographic flexibility in newspaper,

Newspaper have different sections, so there is opportunity of targeting special interest groups,

Newspaper are vehicle for coupon delivery.

Advantages and Disadvantages

4. MagazineFollowing are the specific characteristics of  magazine:

There are magazines for sports, corporate, business, women. children, etc., so we can say magazines have specific audience selectivity, as they are specialised,

Magazines have longer life, Magazines provide them opportunity for

message scrutiny, and geographic and demographic flexibility.

Advantages and Disadvantages

5. Outdoor Following are specific characteristics of outdoor media:

Outdoor media is easily noticeable, and it provides 24 hours coverage,

Outdoor is location specific media, it has local market presence,

Outdoor media is Cost efficient medium, It can be good reminder media.

Advantages and Disadvantages

6.InternetAdvantages Online advertising is multi-dimensional  Online advertising owns most vigorous

consumer group  Online advertising making features low cost,

fast speed, and flexible revision. Strong interaction is the biggest advantage of

Internet media Online advertising draws high attention form

the audience

Disadvantages Customers Ignore Ads Viewing Problems Expensive Ad Prices Too Many Options

Which media should the advertiser use? Media planners craft a media mix by

considering a budget-conscious intersection between their media objectives and the properties of the various potential media vehicles.

That is, they consider how each media vehicle provides a cost-effective contribution to attaining the objectives, and then they select the combination of vehicles that best attain all of the objectives.

Media Mix Decision

When making media mix decisions, planners look to a whole spectrum of media, not just to traditional media vehicles such as TV, radio, and print.

Media Mix Decision involves 2 decisions:◦Media Concentration vs. Media Dispersion◦Media Category Selection

Media Mix Decision

The media concentration approach uses fewer media categories and greater spending per category.

This lets the media planner create higher frequency and repetition within that one media category.

Media Concentration vs. Media Dispersion

Media planners will choose a concentration approach if they are worried that their brand's ads will share space with competing brands, leading to confusion among consumers and failure of the media objectives.

For example, when Nestle launched its 99% fat-free cereal Fitness, the similarity of ads actually increased the sales of the competing Kellogg's Special K Cereal.

Media Concentration vs. Media Dispersion

Media dispersion approach when they use multiple media categories, such as a combination of television, radio, newspapers and the Internet.

Media planners will use dispersion if they know that no single media outlet will reach a sufficient percentage of the target audience.

Media planners also like the dispersion approach for the reinforcement that it brings -- consumers who see multiple ads in multiple media for a given brand may be more likely to buy.

Media Concentration vs. Media Dispersion

For example, a concentrated approach using only ads on the Internet might reach only 30% of the target consumers because some consumers don't use the Internet.

Similarly, a concentrated approach using national news magazines might reach only 30% of the target audience, because not every target customer reads these magazines.

But a dispersed approach that advertises in print magazines as well as on Web sites might reach 50% of the target audience.

Media Concentration vs. Media Dispersion

Every media plan requires that specific media types be selected – Televison, Direct mail, satellite TV, newspapers, magazines, etc. Media planners must consider several variables before choosing among major types.

Media Category Selection

Target –audience media habits:This is the most important factor. Housewives watch more of television, whereas, working women go for magazines. Again television programs 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.

Media Category Selection

Products:Products that require demonstration can suit for television.

Financial advertising such as new issue of shares is good in newspapers.

Again there are media restrictions on certain products. For instance, alcoholic drinks cannot be advertised in press as well as on DD and AIR.

Media Category Selection

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.

Media Category Selection

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.

Media Category Selection

Other factors:There are several other factors such as media life, media flexibility, etc.

Media Category Selection

Selection of Media

Budget◦ What is your overall budget for advertising?  Will

your budget give you the coverage you want? A firm that has a limited budget for advertising will limit the amount of coverage certain media can provide.

◦ You will need to strike a balance between budget and coverage.

Campaign Objectives◦ One factor that will influence the budget and

coverage question is the objective of the campaign. If the objective is to raise the brand awareness of the firm amongst the teenage market then this will influence any decisions you make above.

◦ You may need to spend a little more on certain publications in order to meet your objectives.

Target Audience◦ The media you selected is obviously influenced by

the target audience. A firm must select media that the target audience is associated with e.g. the magazines or paper that they read, or the social networking site they use.

Focus◦ What is the message focus going to be? Will the

message be emotional and work on guilt or will the message be clear cut and say why the firm is better than the leading player?

Readership of Media◦ What is the readership of the media you wish to

select?

Circulation of Media◦ A firm will need to find out what the overall

circulation of the media chosen is. So how many publications are sold, and exactly who reads them.

Timing◦ When do you want the advertising campaign to

start? Is it specific to a particular time of the year e.g. Easter or Christmas?

Accountability is increasingly important in media planning, as more advertisers expect to see returns on their investments in advertising.

Because media spending usually accounts for 80 percent or more of the budget for typical advertising campaigns, the effectiveness of media plans is of particular importance.

Evaluating Media Plan Effectiveness

As a result, media planners often make measures of the effectiveness of a media plan an integral part of the media plan.

Sales results are the ultimate measure of the effectiveness of an advertising campaign.

But sales result is affected by many factors, such as price, distribution and competition, which are often out of the scope of the advertising campaign.

It is important, therefore, to identify what measures are most relevant to the effectiveness of media planning.

The effectiveness of media planning should be measured with multiple indictors.

The first measure is the actual execution of scheduled media placements.

What to Measure?

◦ Did the ads appear in the media vehicles in agreed-upon terms?

Media buyers look at "tear-sheets" - copies of the ads as they have appeared in print media for verification purposes.

◦ For electronic media, media buyers examine the ratings of the programs in which commercials were inserted to make sure the programs delivered the promised ratings.

◦ If the actual program ratings are significantly lower than what the advertiser paid for, the media usually "make good" for the difference in ratings by running additional commercials without charge.

The most direct measure of the effectiveness of media planning is the media vehicle exposure.

Media planners ask: ◦ How many of the target audience were exposed to

the media vehicles and to ads in those vehicles during a given period of time?

This question is related to the communication goals in the media objectives.

If the measured level of exposure is near to or exceeds the planned reach and frequency, then the media plan is considered to be effective.

Several additional measures can be made of the target audience, such as:

Brand awareness: how many of the target audience are aware of the advertised brand?

Comprehension: does the target audience understand the advertised brand?

Conviction: is the target audience convinced by ads? How do they like the advertised brands?

Action: how many of the target audience have purchased the advertised brand as a result of the media campaign?

The measured results of brand awareness, comprehension, conviction and action are often a function of both advertising creative and media planning.

Even effective media planning may not generate anticipated affective responses if the ads are poorly created and not appealing to the target audience.

On the other hand, ineffective media planning may be disguised when the ads are highly creative and brilliant.

Thus, these measures should be reviewed by both creative directors and media planners to make accurate assessments of the effectiveness of the media plan.

The measurement of the effectiveness of a media plan can be conducted by the advertising agency or by independent research services

Using methods such as surveys, feedback, tracking, and observation. Each method has its strengths and weaknesses.

How to Measure?

Surveys can be conducted among a sampling of the target audience in the different periods of a media campaign, such as in the beginning, the middle and the end of the campaign.

Surveys can ask questions about the target audience's media behavior, advertising recall, brand attitudes and actual purchase.

Surveys

Radiowatch, for instance, conducts monthly surveys on advertising recall of radio commercials in England.

Radiowatch surveys 1000 adults age 16-64 and asks them which radio commercials they remember hearing.

In the April 2006 survey, the most-recalled ad was for T-Mobile, with 46% of respondents recalling the ad. An ad for McDonald's had 36% recall, while the ad for Peugeot received 18%.

Feedback can be collected to measure the media and ad exposure of the target audience.

Feedback devices such as reply cards, toll-free numbers, coupons and Web addresses can be provided in ads so that tallies of the responses or redemptions can be made to estimate the impact of advertising media.

Feedback

Advertisers often use a different code in direct response ads to identify different media vehicles.

For example, in the April 3 2006 issue of BusinessWeek, the reply card for subscribing to the magazine had a code of JS6D1, whereas the reply card bound into the May 29, 2006 issue of the magazine had a code of JS6E2.

In short, by reviewing the different codes recorded, media buyers can assess the response rate of each media vehicle.

As you can see from the Radiowatch example, one advantage of surveys over feedback devices is that surveys reach people who have taken no action on the product, whereas feedback devices require the consumer to mail back, click or call a toll-free number.

In this way, surveys can help media buyers evaluate the effectiveness of an ad in relation to other ads, whereas feedback devices help them evaluate the effectiveness of one media vehicle over another.

Tracking is measurement method that media buyers use to track the effectiveness of online ads.

When a user visits a Web site or clicks on a banner ad, Web servers automatically log that action in real time.

The logs of these visits and actions are very useful for media buyers, because the buyers can use them to estimate the actual interaction of audience members with the interactive media.

Tracking

Ads on the Web, or a flyer on Facebook

Finally, in the physical world, media buyers can use observation to collect audience reaction information at the points of purchase or during marketing events.

For example, researchers can be stationed in grocery stores to observe how consumers react to in-store advertising or how they select an advertised brand in comparison of other brands.

Observation

The advantage of observation is that it provides rich, detailed data on how consumers behave in real situations in response to the marketing communication.

The downside is that direct observation is more costly to conduct and tabulate.

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