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Mediasmith Anvil |
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Volume 6, Issue 3
June 13, 2007 |
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How to be
a Rock Star Media Planner |
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By David L. Smith Introduction Thinking about a career in media planning? Or
looking for a way to jumpstart your media planning career? Why not aim for
the top? This industry is always looking for great people
at all levels, and there seems to be no ceiling for true talent. So, here are
some things you can do to make sure that you not only sustain your career
growth but do so at the highest level. The best part is that you can do most
of this within the confines of your job. Read on for my tips! Find your niche Learn one thing better than anybody in the
agency. Specialists and experts are highly valued. Pick
something that you do regularly (competitive analysis, R/F runs, demographic
analysis, third-party ad serving analytics, and emerging technology…you get
the picture) and go as deep as you can with it. Take reach and frequency analyses as an example.
Don’t just learn how to do them in the medium you are working in; study up on
use of these tools for other media and experiment. You may learn some things
from one medium that you can apply to others. Then, learn how to accurately
combine reach and frequency data from disparate media into an overall plan
R/F. And learn how different plans of the same level show varying frequency
distributions. Whatever you are studying read the documentation
and take all of the training that is available.
Then, apply what you have learned and quietly let those around you know that
you can help them out when they are tackling this tool or process. The word
will spread, and you will gain respect and visibility among higher-ups. Then,
over time, broaden yourself by taking on other initiatives to grow your
expertise and reputation. Think like a producer Learn how to do everything, or know someone who
does. Tap into the other experts in your media
department. They may be people outside of your chain of command. They may
even be in another office of your company. When asked for help, people are
generally flattered and will go out of their way to assist in solving your
problem. Keep the big picture in mind: develop a true
understanding of all media from a management standpoint and know
someone who is an expert in each. If there is no expert in your company, find
someone willing to learn it, or learn it yourself. This includes TV, radio,
newspapers, OOH, magazines, web, search, WOM, guerilla and emerging
technologies like web video, VOD, third screen, UGM, podcasting and blogs, as
well as user-generated advertising, RSS, advergaming, social networks and
virtual worlds (there are more examples almost every day). |
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Mediasmith Morsel DoubleClick, a leading provider of
digital marketing technology and services, recently shared the results of
their consumer survey entitled: “Ad
Attitudes: How People Really Feel About Advertising”. Among key the
findings:
Editors’ comment: This is
certainly more proof of the branding effect of internet advertising in that
more people are visiting stores or web sites after exposure than are actually
clicking on the banner.. |
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Pick up the loose initiative If you ask, there are always things on
management's plate or within the maintenance of a brand that have not been
gotten to. Find out what they are and take them on. Again, following the
rules above, you don’t actually have to do all the work, just see that
it gets done. For example, work with other planning or buying
groups in your agency to collect all of the buys done in a single medium by
vehicle on a post analysis versus pre-buy or planning basis. You will learn a
lot by looking at the variations on pre-buy versus post-buy, and by studying
the trends, you will learn which vehicles have the
potential to over deliver. This is something you and others can use in your
future planning. Make your superiors know that you will deliver
and go the extra mile on these projects; they have great visibility. Make friends with the
creatives Find ways to generate ideas in concert with them. A while back at another agency, I found out that
one of the head creative guys on the most visible account loved bowling. So
we did that for lunch! It became easier to talk once we found common ground. Sometimes the collaboration flow starts socially.
Sometimes it starts in hallways. Don’t count on it happening in meetings. Go
out of your way to make it happen. Pull one of the creative team that you connect
with aside after a group problem-solving meeting. Offer to go into greater
depth with them on a specific area that came out of the ideation. You just
might strike up a great partnership that extends far beyond the life of the
project at hand. One of the other ways to make friends with the
creatives is to make their work famous. Finding ways to buy media that stands
out helps the client and makes you a creative favorite. Create a kick-ass media plan It is OK to have a goal to make your work famous,
and it helps you keep the big picture in mind. In everything you do, look to
go that extra mile. Find ways to build frequency across many media types
using the tactics above. Be sure to make the plan measurable, whether it is a
branding or a DR campaign. Figure out ways to pull all of the data together
so you are able to document your success. This also makes it easier to sell
through to the client in the first place. I cannot overemphasize this point,
especially with new technologies and new media. If there is not an established standard metric,
work with the media seller and the research companies to come up with an
effective one. For most digital media, there are more data than most agencies
can ever hope to digest. Dig into it and find some data points you’ll be able
to extract along the way that will document your success. What are the elements of a winning plan? ·
Start with a good media brief that results in clear objectives. ·
Make sure that the client has signed off
on the objectives. (The best objectives are ones that the client edits. That
way you are sure they read them!) ·
Create the obvious alternative
strategies, then create a few that overreach rather than just meet
expectations. This could be a medium never used by the client, a higher
budget level (making your case for the spend) or a
new treatment within a medium. ·
Don’t be shy about coming up with ideas
that leak over into the creative realm. They would do the same. |
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Mediasmith Morsel |
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Toot your own horn Write an article or two and be willing to appear
in public showing off your work, including the reason you succeeded. iMedia and
other venues are always looking for good case studies on effective plans that
worked. There may be some aspects of your client’s data that is confidential,
but there may be other aspects that are acceptable to discuss. Many of the
speaking venues in our industry are open to proposals, as well. Be persistent
and you will find places to talk about your work. Writing is not that difficult. The hardest part
is finding a topic, followed quickly by getting started. In this case, you
know the topic: it is your favorite plan. I get started by opening up my word processor or
notepad and jotting down as many ideas as I have. Then I organize them and
proceed to flesh them out. Pretty soon, I have a first draft. You’ll find a lot of people within your
organization who are willing to help proof and make your writing better. And,
you’ll find the trades very willing to discuss publishing your work, if it is
quality. Let others toot your horn Win an Effie and countless other awards for your
work, creating demand for your services inside and outside of your
organization. This can be done. Maybe not the first time around, but if you
keep learning, keep the big picture in mind, collaborate, experiment with new
media and document your success, you can win. You don’t have to start with an Effie or After
all, as they say, “you can’t win if you don’t enter.” |
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Mediasmith Morsel According to a soon to
be released study by E-Poll:
“Multi-Platform Viewing of Video
Content”, over a quarter of males (26%) ages 13 to 34 watch video on
devices other than TVs. These select non-TV devices include desktop computers
(of which 75% view video content), laptop computers (46%), portable video
players (16%), iPods (13%), and mobile phones
(13%). Of those who watched video content online, over half (55%) said they
were interested in transferring the content to their television sets.
However, only 13% of respondents said they had actually made such a transfer,
and almost half of all respondents didn't know making such a transfer was
possible. Editors’ comment: The
convergence of internet and TV, bringing internet to the TV is almost upon us
through a technology application called OTT or over the top. This connects
the internet over the top of your cable or satellite box directly into your
new flat panel display in the living room. Stay tuned for more on this
technology from the Anvil. |
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A version of this article originally appeared in imediaconnection |
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Contact Mediasmith, Inc. |
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