Identifies and plans the most effective way of using each channel and to leverage or create the opportunities

PLANNING

If strategic planning is about identifying innovative, efficient and effective ways to communicate with the consumer, then the implementation process is about ensuring the message is placed in the right environment and the right time at the best cost. The process of implementation planning is to bring the strategic plan to life with specifics and recommendations on how to implement the activity and develop a final estimate of costs. Examples of the recommendations and functions of this process include the following:

Environment

• Genre of TV programs
• Magazine or newspaper titles and specific sections
• Radio stations
• Bus and road routes
• Cinema complexes
• Online sites
• Mobile advertising vehicles
• Ambient opportunities eg. Postcards, coffee cups, gyms, bars and clubs, shopping centres
• Period – best time to reach them
• Day of week
• Time of Day (in media terms we refer to Day parts)
• Shape
• Preferred size and shape of creative material
• Cost
• Proposed cost by media / market to deliver the final plan
• Maximising negotiations to get the best value

A final media plan including a recommendation on the above is then submitted to the client for approval.

Aside from creative sizing and costs, magazines and newspaper plans will usually include a list of titles and issue dates, radio will include station combinations and dayparts, cinema may include titles and number of cinemas, Outdoor will generally include the number of sites and formats by region.

Television is generally less specific with this plan outlining TARPs, reach and frequency, dayparts and program genres with perhaps a list of preferred programs. It will not include a full listing of all the programs as this is not possible to advise until the buying process has been completed and all programs have been checked for their availability.

PREPARATION

Once all the approvals have been submitted the Buying team is briefed on the recommendations and final plan.

This is where the buying team familiarises themselves with the needs of the plan and considers all potential opportunities that could leverage the activity (either through better placement or better rates). It is quite often during this stage that a group of people from the agency will participate in a brainstorming session to help maximise ideas for implementing the plan.

There is a large amount of media research that will help the buying process, information on the performance of individual programs against a target group, the number of readers for a print title for a target group, the performance of radio stations at different times of the day etc. etc. As with all research, the information is historical and whilst this is helpful in identifying trends, it does not guarantee what may take place in the future. Therefore the buyer must be very aware of all the upcoming opportunities that may influence their decision.

For example if the planner was aiming to buy a 30 second spot on television in program ‘A’ – yet at the same time another channel is televising the Olympics Opening Ceremony (where most of their target will be watching) you can’t expect program ‘A’ to deliver the same results as it has in the past.

This scenario is played out across all markets in every week against a variety of different program formats. Equally other media also runs special features/events so the buyer must be armed with all the information about each media and their upcoming plans to assist them making their purchase decisions.

The type of information to be gathered when preparing for a buy is as follows:

• Television program formats.
• Television program availability lists (to show which programs are available to purchase).
• Ratings/Audience information for the target market group.
• Rate card information.
• Reach and frequency requirements.
• List of special features in print titles and special events in other media eg. Survey promotions.
• On radio.
• List of major events and holiday periods (this may influence viewing patterns).
• Details of sports schedules for television, radio, print and the internet.