Ten
Steps To Channel-Neutral Media Planning
Before we begin focusing on the media side of your campaign,
we analyze the goal to be achieved. The creative message and
the media you use to deliver it work hand-in-hand.
1 Set up a multidisciplinary team
We make sure all key stakeholders are involved. Great energy
and creativity can come from getting the right mix of talents.
We bring to bear people who are good at:
- audience insight
- generating ideas
- using media
- the relevant channels
- brand management.
2 Run a collaborative process
Run a program workshop where we explore possibilities.
These need clear leadership, but an objective
outsider can often help. These sessions should always involve
the whole team.
3 Establish and agree upon the core
problem to be solved
We then define the desired outcomes clearly,
not in terms of communication objectives
but in terms of changes in desired behavior
and attitudes. We express the outcomes as hard numbers to:
- concentrate the mind
- help choose options
- help design evaluation plans.
4 Redefine what your organization considers
as communication
We consider all the possible contacts between
your initiative and its audience - from advertising
through to service delivery. Ask how your
audience uses different media and plot a
customer journey.
5 Get the communications budget in
one pot
The case for media-neutral planning needs
to be made at a high level so total budget
pictures are seen in one view.
6 Understand how your audience behaves
Understand the whole customer journey. We
get the audience to walk us through what
it is like to deal with your program. What
is its real meaning and value in their lives?
Compare these factors with your web of influence to help us choose
the right channels.
7 Create one core brief to generate
and define a big idea
Get the whole team working together at the
same time to create one core brief. Once
the communications plan is agreed upon, get
them all to agree to it before generating
channel-specific briefs. This core brief
will need to cover:
- the agreed upon problem
- the agreed upon objectives
- the key insights - brand, consumer
and media
- the desired brand response
(rather than proposition or message -
which you should address in the individual
channel briefs
- the core organizing
idea.
The core idea will be added to the
brief once the team has worked it through. Then we test
how much the idea inspires creative people to run with it and whether
it has currency with your audience.
8 Agree on the communications plan
We choose channels on their 'fitness for
task' (which will include cost but also several
other often ignored criteria). It should
emerge from:
* an understanding of how the audience behaves;
* how you contact and influence your audience;
* what the moments of truth are;
* what the organizing idea is; and
* how best to go about achieving the brand's
objectives.
It is a messy and creative process in itself,
and is more qualitative than quantitative - which is why
it is not just about 'media planning' in the traditional
sense.
It is more about the best way to achieve behavior change
than media response. We still, however, follow
the normal economic rigors of the media
process.
9 Execute with conviction
An overall Creative Director is assigned
to inspire all disciplines and ensure coherence
and consistency. We also try to exploit all
the opportunities that the idea inspires.
With a strong idea, we can extract a great
deal of extra value as the campaign takes on a life of its own and
exploits non-paid-for media opportunities such as PR, viral marketing
and word-of-mouth.
10 Design evaluation before starting
Media-neutral evaluation is more difficult
because of the need to untangle the mix of
media. But if you have defined your desired
outcomes, it is possible to measure these
rather than simply using proxy measures like
awareness. We constantly revisit tracking to capture new media and
other influences.
We often use qualitative research to understand
your audience's relationship with your program
and its many contact points.
This allows us to measure the importance of these interactions
rather than simply counting how many and where they are.
Finally, we analyze to answer the question
of whether the effort has been worthwhile.
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