Page 39 - SM Aug-Sep-2014

Media strategy: OpiniOn Help … Richard Lord reported, it would still only be marginally short answer is that we shouldn’t. All ahead of outdoor and a long way behind media should be looked at holistically and the decision as to what to include in radio – let alone print and tV. this is laments the lack of the media mix must be based on sound astounding for a medium that is as nobody understands understanding that truly measurable and results-driven and age-old media selection principles. as digital is. media planners 1. What are my campaign objectives? and marketers have How to treat digital 2. Who is my consumer? digital media! for digital and its So how should the digital medium 3. What media does he/she use? be treated by advertisers and their 4. What media types will best help to place in the wider achieve the objectives? media mix. agencies? the answer, i believe, lies 5. Additionally, what role should be in adopting a fully consumer-centric approach to media. i don’t believe assigned to each media type in the for one second that the consumer mix? While one media type might differentiates between tV, radio, be really good at achieving certain ince immerSing mySelf in the digital or print. to him or her they objectives, other media types will digital media world after many are all just media platforms to be achieve other goals. Syears in more traditional strategy consumed seamlessly, based on a and planning roles, i have come to one need for relevant news, information, the above points are how we decide conclusion … nobody really understands entertainment – or whatever else the whether we use tV, radio or print. So digital! clients don’t fully understand it, mood suggests. why not digital? Why is it that, after media strategists and planners don’t all of the data has been analysed and understand it and even digital people optimised and we have the perfect mix don’t really understand it. of tV and print, someone will say: “hey, Sure, on a cognitive level, clients, Digital has we’ve got r50 000 left in the budget, creatives and media people alike been treated let’s give it to digital. maybe they can do appreciate that digital should be a part like a stepchild some facebook?” of their media plans. But they don’t it makes me wonder why marketers really know why, they don’t understand and/or their agencies are surprised what for, and they certainly don’t know when, under these circumstances, how much money they should be putting the lines between traditional and digital doesn’t seem to work. indeed, into it. in other words, they fail to realise digital media are blurring more and it becomes a ‘catch-22’ situation: what digital’s role is within the media more. twitter is now our source of news, digital is never allocated the budgets mix and what digital can bring to the youtube is just another tV channel, that it deserves because of the party. our iPads are our newspapers, and perception that “it doesn’t really work”… for far too long, digital has sat on the we watch tV and chat about what and so, of course, it doesn’t. periphery of mainstream media and we are watching via social media on been treated like a stepchild, with only our cellphones. We listen to the radio The language of digital occasional pennies thrown at it. this and enter the station’s competitions So why do we do this? Because most is evidenced by the fact that nielsen’s via mmS, USSD (Unstructured of us don’t understand the digital Adex (which gauges advertising Supplementary Service Data, or short platform, and those who work in digital expenditure) only measures digital as codes), tweets and texts. haven’t done themselves any favours a 3% medium in South Africa. granted, We mix and match our mediums, by declining to assist traditional media this 3% is woefully understated as starting on one device and fnishing on people to understand the new medium. only a handful of local websites are another – all depending on what our they speak a different language – mostly measured and the computation only need is at that specifc moment. And in three-letter acronyms about mPUs, takes into account display advertising, believe me; these habits aren’t only cPcs and cPms (to name just a few). while completely ignoring search, social limited to top-end lSm 10 consumers. they sit in separate teams, are Twitter is now our source and mobile media ads. So, if the consumer doesn’t allocated to different divisions, or of news, YouTube is just But even if we said that ad spend differentiate, why should we treat digital work at independent and specialised another TV channel and our iPads are our newspapers on digital media was double what is any differently to other media? the digital agencies. they make no effort >> 36 36 August–September strategicmarketing 37 strategicmarketing August–September 2014 strategicmarketing August–September 2014