21st Century Media Strategy – the Challenge of Getting It Right

Back in the 20^th century when commercial broadcast television first became viable, media buying and planning to support brand development was simple: you just had to have a seven figure budget. Then you could roadblock commercials on the three available networks (ABC, CBS and NBC), collect your 15% commission and—like ad legend David Ogilvy—buy a mansion in the south of France and pontificate for the rest of your natural days.

Not so today!

With the advent of cable—like it or hate it—television media content fragmented all over the landscape. Then came the Internet and streaming video, which added literally millions of opportunities and media avails in video distribution, click-through banner ads, native advertising and—shudder—the viral event, where a video or photo or witty saying suddenly is “liked” and pushed out for free by millions of people all over the planet.

Radio has also changed and fragmented dramatically, going from an AM/FM “boombox” to multiple terrestrial, satellite and digital formats like SirrusXM, Pandora, Spotify and iTunes. The capacity to specifically target audience through radio formats (talk, all-news, sports, comedy, religious) contributes directly to the car becoming a “buying environment” (And is aided by “Portable People Meters — PPM — to dial into what people listen to). People driving or riding in vehicles hear or see key messaging on radio and outdoor billboards, and like everywhere else, they grab their smartphones and log in (while hopefully not driving).

Meanwhile, newspaper advertising tanked and many newspapers retreated also to the Internet to seize advantage of the exploding tablet and smartphone mobile market. Today, Web strategists don’t say “Mobile first” because they like two-syllable words.

While newspapers shrank during the first part of the 21^st century, and print media itself—including magazines—went through some hard times, they also underwent a reinvention process during and following the 2008-2010 Great Recession. Today, a smarter, leaner, savvy print sector earns its pay up against its digital rivals, forming in fact a complementary opportunity for strategic integration.

With all of this fragmentation and emergence of new media, what happens to media planning, buying and strategy?

The bad news is that it can be complicated. Very complicated. In the early days of the commercial Internet, media planners sometimes just shoved budget into online just to have a presence – there were no meaningful metrics or data for real planning.

Today, that’s not the case. Plenty of data about roaming eyeballs and digital real estate is available, which combines strategically with the tried and true media platforms of print and electronic.

So how does one select, match and place media strategically in 2014 or beyond?

That’s the good news: The strategy points remain largely the same. Further, people still have their own preferred media for information consumption, which can be tracked and is predictable to a point.

Relevancy: demographic information, including media consumption, is better than it has ever been. An analysis of content should give a strategist ample information to determine the best target media for a given group of consumers.

However, with the fragmentation of TV media and the re-emergence of older programming, entirely new audiences now love Gilligan’s Island, Family Feud and other old Boomer and pre-Boomer shows.  That means there are plenty of alternatives, which increases the challenge of regularly reaching your target audience and market.

Cost and Placement: While TV commercial prices are still steep in many markets, advances in technology now allow very precise targeting and airing of key messages, whether video or text. Newspaper and magazine buys generally include negotiated placement of online ads on related properties, which is a double bonus.

Reach and Frequency: These standard metrics are still key in evaluating any media plan, but the reach and frequency performance can be greatly extended through mobile media. How many communication devices were present in America’s living room during the Super Bowl? Can you believe five? Besides a digital TV (and its messaging capacity), there were tablets, smartphones and laptops, all pulling in informational bandwidth from multiple sources. How many millions of impressions from ads, native ad spots, targeted content or click-through banners contributed to brand development and consumer awareness during through 270 minutes? That phenomenon is here to stay.

A key point? Every sound strategy for media still has a lot of digital and traditional blocking and tackling required for success. Online media increasingly is a preferred platform, particularly for young demographics and markets were tablet and smartphone penetration is high.

Obviously, a 20^th century media strategy and viewpoint likely won’t deliver effectively (unless your program is almost exclusively focused on older Boomers). But an integrated cross channel plan, drawing on new media platforms—tablets, smartphones and PC/Macs—coupled with tried and true traditional media—outdoor, TV, radio, direct mail, PR—will fill the bill nicely.

Do your homework, and meet the media strategy challenge of getting it right!

By Kara DeArman, Media Strategist, The MEK Group