Description
introductory document on Media management in advertising.
MEDIA
INTRODUCTION
One of the challenges faced by marketers in markets is inadequate awareness about brands, product and its usage. It is observed that low awareness level leads to ? High inertia to adopt new products. ? Reluctance to pay additional premium to pay for national brands ? Rampant usage of counterfeit brands. It is hence necessary to create awareness as well as preference for your brands among your audience. This calls for extensive advertising and mass marketing for attracting and retaining the target markets. An urge to increase the market share and beat the competition is the aim of every company. And all this is possible through advertising. Effective advertising refers to informing the public about the right product at the right time through the right medium. A right message through the wrong medium at the wrong time would definitely lead to a waste of resources. To get the most out of the advertising rupees sent, the primary concern of the advertiser is media selection. The cost of buying space or time is weighed against the number of audience secured by such advertising. Media ability covers such qualitative values as audience characteristics, editorial personality, and contribution to advertising effectiveness; above all it refers to “media image” capable of enhancing the perception and communication value of a given message. Hence, the media plays a very important role in entire process of reaching the target audience and retaining them.
ELEMENTS OF MEDIA
Evaluation of a particular medium for inclusion in a campaign rests upon what it contributes to the cumulative effect. Any medium comprises of 4 elements. • Character • Atmosphere • Reach and frequency • Cost In addition to this, we should also realize that the “value” contributed by the medium also depends upon the – size of the advertisement or length of the commercial and the position of the advertisement.
By the word “character”, we mean the objective characteristics of the medium; type of coverage, seasonal implications etc. By “atmosphere” we mean the effect on the mind or emotions of the mood and circumstances in which the advertisement in the medium is perceived by the audience. We shall now see these two elements in detail. (1) CHARACTER There are ten aspects to character. - Geography - Class - Age - Power to reach special groups - Physical characteristics of the medium - Assistance to selling - Duration of interest - Timing - Impact or repetition - Indirect effects on influential groups like retailers Geography. The coverage of every medium is limited by area. Coverage may be limited, as with a national newspaper to a national basis. Within this lies another limitation, as in a national paper may also have a strong degree of coverage in some areas and lighter degree in others. Coverage may also be limited as with a television or radio station to a specified “region. Within this it is further influenced by fluctuating factors like signal strength, booster transmitters or pattern of relay services. This factor is important not only to small regional advertisers but also to national advertisers whose sales patterns and resistance varies from region to region. Class. Most media have overwhelming bias towards any social economic class, being read and seen so widely that the class distinction is largely eliminated. But there are also many media in which the class bias is obvious or atleast definable eg. High priced fashion magazines are biased towards high society women. Age groups: The age factor may be extremely important for some products. For eg. Its no use trying to sell toothpaste to people with false teeth. General observation and common sense shows that certain types of media vehicles, by the virtue of their content itself, appeal to certain age groups rather than others. In contrast, certain other media evidently have equal chance of reaching all age groups eg. Posters, billboards etc. Power to reach special groups. Even within socio-economic groups there are certain special groups that could be important to advertisers. Different media are available for reaching a pre-selected target audience as required by the advertiser. Eg. The Motoring Times targets males interested in Motor vehicles.
Physical characteristics of the media: Another important character aspect is the physical characteristics of the medium. Whether it is oral, written or visual. Whether it admits movement or not, etc. For eg. A message that requires demonstration would use the television medium, but which require personal interactive demonstration would use exhibitions or POP demos. Assistance to Selling: Another aspect of character is the degree to which the medium assists the process of selling. Some advertisements aim at hard core selling where as some require the creation of a prestigious atmosphere. Mediums differ in the level of assistance to selling. For eg. Mediums like POPs have a high level of assistance as compared to television. Choosing the medium according to the advertising objective is extremely important. For eg. Using only down-to-earth mediums for the brand building exercise of expensive cosmetics would not only be detrimental to the brand but also poor returns for the money spent. Duration of interest. The time given by the audience to the advertisements in a particular medium is another very important aspect. Some advertising messages are just reminders so mediums which have only a few seconds of observer time like posters serve the purpose. But other messages may require mediums with higher duration of interest. Timing. The moment at which the message is seen or read is also of immense importance. For eg. For products that have a casual or impulse buying pattern, its imperative that the media used for advertising used is as close to the point of purchase as possible. The day of the week, month, time of the day, season etc also affect the degree to which the message is effective. Impact and repetition. The characteristics of the medium also affect the impact offered by the medium. For eg. An inch-high font size might be effective on a full page newspaper ad, but a foot high font size is totally ineffective for a hoarding. The cost of the medium also determines the ability to use it for repetitions. For messages where repetition is more effective then lengthy “once in a whiles”. Using TV for short advertisements is more effective then for longer duration films. Indirect effects on influential groups like retailers. Another important value of the advertising budget is that it gives the retailer confidence to stock the goods and to display them prominently. This confidence can be formed only when the retailer respects the ad or sees the ad in the course of events. This many a times becomes an important deciding factor between two equivalent media. For eg. For a women’s product sold through grocers, if the choice is between a women’s magazine and a daily newspaper, it is more likely that the grocer will see the ad in the newspaper, thus the newspaper is a more efficient medium.
(2) ATMOSPHERE The character of a medium is essentially a very objective and largely physical aspect. The other element is the subjective and atmospheric aspect of any medium. “Atmosphere” is the mood of the audience and the relationship between the message and the atmosphere of the medium carrying it. Evaluating atmosphere begins with drawing the distinction between media whose primary function is advertising eg. Posters, and media whose objective is different eg. Entertainment for television channels, where the advertising matter is the intruder, whether acceptable or otherwise. Many media have the ability to reach customers when they are deciding their purchases. Any advertising message at this moment is not only acceptable but is also considered helpful. This increases the level of assistance to selling tremendously. For eg. A magazine that talks about beauty and fashion is highly effective in telling its readers about the latest beauty products available. The atmosphere of this particular medium is highly conducive to the advertisements of beauty products. POPs as an example, rates very high on atmosphere as it is not only acceptable but also extremely relevant to the context. The customer is there to buy and these aid the process of selection. On the other hand, cinema, radio and television fall into the opposite category where advertising is generally intrusive. Another aspect of atmosphere is the character of the medium, the atmosphere in which the medium is viewed Cinemas are generally a cheerful escape for the audience into a world of glamour and fantasy. Advertising for happy, glamorous products would be more effective in this case rather than for hard core household products. The newspaper would be more effective for news oriented messages like an upcoming discount, or a sales promotion. Another variation of atmosphere lies in the “prestige” of the medium and particularly in its capacity to instill confidence in the buyer about the goods. For eg. National daily papers are more effective as a selling media rather than local weekly papers because their credibility is much higher. This aspect is two way, it follows the “company-you-keep” concept, where not only does the advertisement derive its atmosphere from the medium but also vice-versa.
MEDIA VEHICLES
Deciding to include advertising in the communication mix process is a relatively easy decision compared to deciding which media and media vehicle (for example which magazine or which cannel on TV, etc.) Most of the advertising budget gets spent on the media (and not the creative or production side).This is why a careful planning, negotiating and knowledge skills are very important. Expert media planners and buyers got the best out of the advertising by finding the right spaces or places for an ad campaign at the lowest cost.
There are a wide variety of media available today for the advertisers to choose from. The decision is depended on a lot of factors at the same time it is a very crucial decision since the success of the campaign is highly depended on the media selection aspect.
TYPES OF MEDIA VEHICLES
? Broadcast media: 1. television 2. radio ? Narrowcast media: 1. video and cable TV, 2. cinema ? Print: 1. Newspapers: (a) daily (b) Weekly (c) Sunday (d) Weekend supplement 2. Magazines: (a) Consumer magazines: general interest or special interest. (b)Business publications: trade publications, institutional publications, etc. ? Outdoor: (a) Billboards (b)Transit media ? Rural media ? New media BROADCAST MEDIA Broadcast media are quite young in comparison to the printed word. Fundamentally there are two main forms of broadcast: television and radio. Advertisers use these classes of media in order to reach mass audiences with their messages at a relatively low cost per target reached.
The media allows the advertisers to add audio and /or visuals to their messages. The media gives life and energy to the advertising message which is not really possible through other media. However people are normally unable and unwilling to become actively involved in the broadcast advertising message. They cant consume the pace at which the meaasge is seen and understood as the time is very short due to the cost aspect. The advertisers are also unable to provide excessive details and information. As a result the medium becomes more suitable for low involvement products. Advertising messages through the broadcast media use a small time period, normally 15 or 30 or 60 seconds depending on their budget and the availability. NARROWCASTING The word "narrowcasting" is particularly unique to the industry of media specifically that of broadcast media. It is, according to the dictionary, the ability to "aim a radio or TV program or programming at a specific, limited audience or consumer market." The practice came to the forefront with the advent of cable television. As this specialty media has matured, narrowcasting has become a fine art. In the earlier days of Indian television, the two major networks (doordarshans) dominated programming and sought to obtain the widest audience possible. They avoided programming content that might appeal only to a small segment of the mass population and succeeded in their goal by reaching nearly 90% (combined) of the television viewing audience on a regular basis. The networks maintained their stronghold until competition emerged through the addition of many independent stations, the proliferation of cable channels and the popularity of videocassettes. These competitors provided television audiences with many more viewing options. Consequently, the large numbers previously achieved through mass-oriented programming dwindled and "narrowcasting" took hold. With narrowcasting the programmer or producer assumes that only a limited number of people or a specific demographic group will be interested in the subject matter of a program. In many ways, this is the essence of cable television's programming strategy. Following the format or characteristics of specialized magazines, a cable television program or channel may emphasize one subject or a few closely related subjects. For example, music television is presented on MTV (Music Television), or Channel V, CMM.ETC, CNN (Cable News Network) offers 24-hour news coverage; ESPN (Entertainment Sports Network) boasts an all sports format; and Star TV, Zee etc, covers the family entertainment segment. Other cable channels feature programming such as shopping, comedy, science-fiction, or programs aimed at specific ethnic or gender groups highly prized by specific advertisers
NEW MEDIA Recent technological advances have increased the range of new media available to the advertisers to communicate with their prospects and the consumers. New media allows for far greater level of interactions between the advertiser and the receiver. The new media would include internet and short message service (SMS). New media is different from traditional media on a number of fronts, bu the most important beingthe time that elspses between message receipt and response. With new media the advertisers can target tightly clustered audiences with well defined messages.
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INTERNET ADVERTISING The World Wide Web is a hybrid medium, which shares characteristics with mass communication as well as interpersonal communication. The medium combines the ability of the mass media to disperse a message to a wider audience with some of interpersonal communication’s possibilities of feed-back and interaction. From a marketing view point, one of the implications of this is that exposure and action advertising and transactions can be integrated. Since the medium is interactive, users of the World Wide Web play a much more active role in the communication process than users of traditional mass media. Where traditional mass media are characterized by an information push, the communication processes on the Web are driven by a basic information pull, meaning that the control balance of the communication process has shifted in favor of the user. The immense body of information available to the individual user further pushes the control of the communication process towards the user, and has lead to a highly fragmented content structure that allows the individual user to pursue his specific interests. Internet advertising has gained significant momentum across the world and has become a part of the media mix that is being considered by advertisers worldwide.
TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING V/s INTERNET ADVERTISING
TRADITIONAL ADV. (TA) TA is static. Space is not a restricting factor The proportion of advertising to editorial is high sometimes 50:50. Does not evoke immediate action. Response to the action is not immediate.
INTERNET ADV. (IA) It is dynamic with multimedia- supporting text and graphics video sound all together. Space is a problem, as regards size of the banners etc. A web page would be 91% editorial and 9% advertising. Invokes immediate action as you at-least need to click on the ad. First response is immediate as when the user clicks, the person is directed to other web page with more details. The user has high attention level and concentration while using the net, and hence they notice the ad. (please refer the chapter) This can be very focussed. Advertisements catch users when they are on the lookout for some thing. For example the search is for travel on a search engine there are ads of travel agents on the net. This is quite possible with Internet advertisements. Both copy and graphics are restricted by the banner size specifications. There are no such constraints.
dvertisements are passively received.
Advertising does not always target a very focussed audience. Advertisements are ubiquitous.
Difficult to track the exact number of people who saw the advertisement. Ads are graphic intensive and avoid copy overload. The costs would be prohibitive to reach a global audience.
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SMS - Selling Made Smarter!
Introduction A significant addition to the increasing list of communication carriers, is that of SMS, Short Messaging Service. SMS has become the fastest, easiest and the most convenient way to communicate today. For reasons personal or professional, SMS works across purposes. The most recent application of SMS has been to reach out to the consumer offering him products and services just as any of the other mass media would. Be it in the form of promotions or advertising or even sales, the functionality of SMS usage is crossing all barriers. The Media Clutter Amongst the sea of communication channels hitting the consumer constantly, the actual message usually gets lost. Many a times, the possibility of the right message reaching the right target is also dwindled, not ruling out the fact that this has a direct impact on the costs shelled out for such activities. Unlike the mass media, SMS enables micro targeting, which ensures that there is no spillover of the communication. The use of this medium also allows the consumer to react to the communication on the spot, which helps measure the effectiveness of the campaign. Then there is always the option to explore the possibility of this medium being used to propagate word-of-mouth. Every single target that the communication is being sent to carries the potential to be the originator of a new chain of targets. It just depends on how interesting and action-provoking the message designed is for the chain to remain continual. SMS has graduated from a mere add-on service into a communication channel alongside voice calls in India. Media players too have picked up the pulse and are using this medium for many of its unique advantages. HBO promoted 'The Mummy Returns' contest via SMS which allowed consumers to respond using the Internet and SMS. The response to the warm-up contests was overwhelming with over 5000 responses received in the first week itself! BBC World, in its marketing of the ongoing quiz show `University Challenge', used SMS along with radio and the Internet (yahoo.com) as a medium for entries, and received more than 15,000 entries on SMS alone. Radio Mirchi broke new grounds in FM Radio interactive programming by auctioning a date with Kareena Kapoor. Listeners had to SMS their bid to 8888. The auction could be played by anyone with an access to a mobile phone. The bidding for the lunch date began with Rs 5,000 and on the first day of the two-day auction, there were already more than 1,800 responses and the bid has crossed Rs 85,600 in Mumbai alone. The proceeds of the auction were donated to Nav Nirman Foundation, a home for the poor, addicts and the mentally challenged.
Why use SMS advertising? When compared to other media, SMS was found to be the most efficient as SMS messages have to be read before they are deleted. Medium Reach Cost Strike Rate Television One of the Highest Very High Good Radio Medium Medium Poor Internet (Banner) High Medium Dropping Email High Extremely Low Extremely Low Print Media (Flyers) Low High High Billboards Medium Medium Medium Moving Media Medium High Medium Telephone Medium High Medium Fax Low Medium Low Standard Mailers High High Medium Personal Interaction Low High High SMS EXTREMELY EXTREMELY LOW EXTREMELY HIGH HIGH The only disadvantage of SMS advertising is – it is restricted to just 160 characters. So the advertising message has to be SHORT and FOCUSED yet POWERFUL! Future of SMS Marketing via SMS is the just the beginning of developing relations with the consumer. A lot of innovation has been observed in this aspect which has given more than the desired results. Selling via SMS has also started picking up momentum and will soon be at par with the figures of trading on Internet. There is an element of personalization in marketing via SMS, which increases the possibility of participation/ response by the consumer. This single aspect can drive the scope of SMS usage to great heights. Conclusion The fast growing trend of SMS usage for multi-purpose activities has generated the need to find out more about the profile of people who welcome SMS as a regular feature of their life. SMS developed in the quest for getting into the depths of not only the demographics of such users but also their psychographics and media habits.
INNOVATIVE MEDIA Innovative media focuses on alternative platforms of advertising which open up new avenues for advertisers. As technological breakthroughs facilitate better modes of communication, the emergence of new media has enhanced reach on several levels. The result is new advertising vehicles which are wider in reach, specific in targeting and most of all, lower in cost. i. Voice Reach: Voice Reach advertising is an exciting new medium for advertisers which enables them to broadcast audio messages to a precisely defined target audience. The idea behind this service is simple and powerful. It allows people to communicate with each other within and across cities, at the cost of a local telephone call. How it works is as follows. A person in Mumbai can call up a local number and leave a message for his friend, relative or business associate in Mumbai and Delhi. The system will deliver the message to the recipient's mailbox or voicebox, which can be accessed by calling a local number in Delhi. Thus, it provides the convenience of listening to a familiar voice, which otherwise is a rare occasion and expensive. It is cheaper than long distance calling, more convenient than e-mail and requires no knowledge of the Internet or PC. To hear/access the messages posted in their inbox, users have to hear a commercial announcement. These announcements are targeted according to the profile submitted by users at the time of registration. This service is not just convenient, but also completely free. Moreover, all the technology required to use this service is a telephone. All these factors promise to make the Voice Reach service immensely popular. Advertising & Promotions Voice Reach is undoubtedly an advertising platform with massive potential. As expected, this enormously valuable service is drawing users across all ages, occupations, socio economic classes and geographical areas of India. Advertisers, in effect, not only have an ever-growing user base to target, they also have the advantage of reaching out to their specific target group. Voice Reach advertising promises: o Better one-to-one marketing capabilities than the Internet o Guaranteed ad consumption : The advertisement comes before a user hears or sends messages o Target-based advertising o Interactive Advertising Commercial announcements are just the beginning of a strong line-up of services which Voice Reach offers.
Customised Promotions & Contests Everybody runs contests. But are these contests really effective? How many people do they reach? How many people respond? How many people actually remember to fill up a postcard, or send a fax (if they can), or remember to send an e-mail. The fact is - very few do. Geography is no longer a limiting factor, your audience can now be an active part of your contests just by dialing a local number. Make your television programs more interactive, let your viewers talk to you. Your viewers, anywhere in India, can call a local number and leave a message for you. These messages in turn will be delivered at your doorstep. A very valuable service for any broadcaster on television or radio. Voice Reach, thus, is the perfect medium to carry messages from the viewer to the broadcaster, enabling your audience to enter your contests with a simple phone call. Highlights o Customised contests - National Participation through a local calls. o Making TV shows more interactive o Messages transferred over a local telephone could be • Requests • Feedback • Queries • Opinion polls ii. The Vidiwall: The Vidiwall is an intensely captivating advertising medium which truly represents the best of today's technology. The Vidiwall is essentially a mega screen capable of broadcasting high quality audio-visuals, banners, logos & slides of stunning size, resolution and picture quality. Placed at Mumbai's premier shopping plaza, Crossroads, the Vidiwall is fast being recognized as a medium that grabs attention like nothing else. Vidiwalls, a trademarked Philips solution, have been adapted for dedicated Point-Of-Sale and Point-Of-Information usage. Known to have a tremendous impact on people, the Vidwall is a highly effective tool to maximize brand recall. The Vidiwall is an exceptional means for advertisers who wish to target Mumbaiites. Crossroads boasts of shopper strength of 10,000-20,000 footfalls per weekday and 32,000-60,000 footfalls per weekend. The minimum cummulative of which is 4,76,000 footfalls per month. The consumer profile of Crossroads' visitors ranges from SEC A/B/C+ lying in a Catchment area of Colaba to Bandra. Another interesting facet that speaks of the involving effect that the Vidiwall has on Mumbaiites is its arresting nature...the mean for one-time viewers of the Vidiwall is 2.9 mins, whereas, the mean for 2 or more time viewers is 4.3 mins. A clear indicator of its addictive nature.
INNOVATIVE RURAL MEDIA In addition to the conventional media vehicles, a lot of innovative mediums are used in rural advertising and marketing. Some of the most striking ones are: iii. Puppetry
Puppetry is the indigenous theatre of India. From time immortal it has been the most popular form and well-appreciated form of entertainment available to the village people. It is an inexpensive activity. The manipulator uses the puppets as a medium to express and communicate ideas, values and social messages. Life Insurance Corporation of India used puppets to educate rural masses about Life Insurance; enlisting the help of the literacy house in Luck now. These plays were shown to the audience in villages in UP, Bihar, & MP. The number of inquires at local Life Insurance Companies during the period immediately following the performance was compared with normal frequency and found to be considerable higher. The field staff of the corporation also reported a definite impact on the business. iv. Folk Theater
Folk theaters are mainly short and rhythmic in form. The simple tunes help in informing and educating the people in informal and interesting manner. It has been used as an effective medium for social protest against injustice, exploitation and oppression. Government has used this media for popularizing improved variety of seeds, agricultural implements, fertilizer etc. Punjab Agricultural University produced Two Audio Cassettes. A) Balliye Kanak Biye - Wheat Cultivation. B) Khiran Kepah Narme - Cotton Cultivation. Both were well received by farmers. BBLIL used Magician quite effectively for launch of Kadak Chhap Tea in Etawah. v. Demonstration:
"Direct Contact" is a face-to-face relationship with people individually and with groups such as the Panchayats and other village groups. Such contact helps in arousing the villager's interest in their own problem and motivating them towards self-development. Demonstration may be A. i. Method demonstration ii. Result demonstration B. i. Simple Demonstration ii. Composite Demonstration In result demonstration, help of audio -visual media can add value. Asian Paints launched Utsav range by painting Mukhiya's house or Post office to demonstrate that paint does not peel off.
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Wall Paintings
Wall Paintings are an effective and economical medium for advertising in rural areas. They are silent unlike traditional theatre .A speech or film comes to an end, but wall painting stays as long as the weather allows it to. Retailer normally welcomes paintings of their shops, walls, and name boards. Since it makes the shop look cleaner and better. Their shops look alluring and stand out among other outlets. Besides rural households shopkeepers and panchayats do not except any payment, for their wall to be painted with product messages. To get one's wall painted with the product messages is seemed as a status symbol. The greatest advantage of the medium is the power of the picture completed with its local touch. The images used have a strong emotional association with the surrounding, a feet impossible for even a moving visual medium like television, which must use general image to cater to greatest number of viewers. SWOT OF 5 TYPES OF MEDIA Selecting Advertising Media In addition to decideding upon the content, style and tone of the advertising message, the media through which the message will be communicated to the target audience must also be selected, be it television, newspaper, magazine, radio or other. In order to select the most appropriate media, consideration should be given to the advantages and disadvantages of each of the available types of media. In the table below we have identified commonly accepted advantages and disadvantages of each of the major media. This is followed by more detailed consideration of each of these media in latter sections of the article. Media Strengths and Weaknesses Media Strengths Television • Dynamic attention getting media, combining visual, sound and animated stimulus • Strong potential Impact & High market coverage • Good at demonstrating products • Enabling targeting
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Weaknesses High level of initial expenditure required ‘Now you see it, Now you don’t’ media, in that commercials are on the screen and gone within seconds Poor at communicating lengthy technical information Time consuming to
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through selection of viewing channels and slots between specific programme Role model advantage: here the advertisers have celebrities as endorsers. Celebes are role models of the youth and the youth always ape to be like them Creation of AIDA: advertising in TV attracts Attention that creates an Interest and Desire that can lead to Action in the form of final purchase.
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produce an ad TV ads alone do not suffice: in order to make the campaign successful TV ads have to be supported with other media like print or radio. Ads are very short to provide any detail information. Statutory controls: the TV ads have to adhere to the I&B rules. Surrogate advertisements have been banned
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Newspaper
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Targeting is possible through profiling readership Good level of market coverage Local advertising possible Inexpensive medium when used selectively. Reinforcement medium
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Static media, not suitable for product demonstration Potential for poor reproduction, sometimes limited to black and white print Quality of paper used is not very effective and reduces the attractiveness of ads Possibility of an individual advert being lost on a page of adverts Short-life span, i.e. yesterdays newspapers become today’s rubbish Informal reading: people may skip ads Audio communication
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Radio
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Mass use of radio by
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audience, particularly in cars on the way to work and home. 90% of India has access to Radio which is unmatched by any other media Very effective for reaching the large rural audience. High geographic and demographic reach Targeting is possible through selection of channel and programme Low literacy rates mean that the people hardly read newspapers and radio is the only medium that they can understand. They can’t afford a TV set. Therefore radio is the most popular.
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only Misunderstanding: sometimes there might be a misconception regarding the radio ad as it is only heard. Now you hear it, Now you don’t Lower attention levels than television from the audience RJ needs training: it is very important that the Radio Jockey is trained enough to deliver the ad. Sometimes the voice really matters. If the voice is irritating then there is a chance that the campaign may flop.
Magazines
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High quality reproduction, of color images Targeting is possible through specialist publications Coffee table effect – advert can be referred back to Good pass on readership Longer life span & reference value Good supplement to TV: magazines reach special target groups which is not possible
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Static media, not suitable for product demonstration Control of the positioning of adverts is often under the control of magazine editor, rather than the sponsor Lengthy lead-time between advert being placed and magazine being published
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only through TV ads.
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High repeat exposure to advert hence long life Relatively low cost Low levels of competition, in terms of advertising clutter It offers geographic selectivity. The marketer can vary the ad message according to the particular segment of the market.
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Outdoor
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Little audience selectivity / targeting possible Static media, not suitable for product demonstrations Difficult to monitor effectiveness Potential for damage, via weather and graffiti Outdoor advertising when employed on a national basis proves to be expensive.
Note All of the above media share one common characteristic, and as a result one common weakness, in that they are one-way communication, not requiring the audience to respond and thus not motivating the audience to pay attention in the same way required of twoway communication.
MEDIA MIX
After understanding the various aspects of each media separately and the advantages and the limitations of each, we can conclude that no single media would be able to reach the target population individually. The advertisers need to prepare an extensive media mix in order to accomplish their objective of maximum reach and frequency. Considering the advertising company’s marketing objectives will arrive this at, its target market, media characteristics, and it’s matching with the target market. Also, the overall advertising budget does influence the nature of such a mix, in addition to t he available gross audience. The primary need for a combination of media naturally arises from the necessity to reach more people in more ways than any single medium can encompass. There are few other needs too.
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The need for getting the campaign message over to different types of public, such as professional people as well as consumers, or retail traders as well as both. The combination of a short term and a long term element in the campaign’s objective, which cannot be satisfied within the limits of a single medium; e.g., the need for building up the product’s reputation while giving reminder at point-ofsale. The superimposition of a piece of marketing news, such as a new size or a special pack, on top of a steady long-term development of the brand image. The combination of a need for detailed and perhaps technical specifications with a more superficial appeal to a much wider market. The different attitudes which different sections of the population bring to the choosing of a given product, and the consequent need to catch each section in the appropriate mood. Competitive circumstances which necessitate a strong temporary impact superimposed on the steady long-term effort. Differences of buying psychology at different times of the year, e.g., holiday seasons compared with normal seasons.
CONCLUSION The importance of media can not be underestimated when considering planned communications. Each of the main classes and types of media that are available to advertisers have their own strengths and weaknesses. In addition, each media type has its own properties that are important to each situation faced by individual advertisers. Hence each selection and deployment should be based on a contingency approach. The general media are facing increased competition from the technology driven media. This has resulted in the fragmentation of the market and increased choice for advertisers in order to customize messages for particular, precise and well defined target markets.
MEDIA PLAN - CONCEPTS The place to start is, understanding media language. Some terms apply to all media; some apply only to broadcast or print.
GENERAL
? Cost per thousand: It is the cost to reach 1,000 things, whether households or
women or children. CPT reduces a variety of different audiences, costs and delivery to one common denominator. Always ask “Cost per thousand what?” COST PER THOUSAND (CPM) = Cost Per Spot ————————————— Number HH Watching ÷ 1000
If a television spot costs Rs.30,00,000 and reaches 3 lac homes, the cost per thousand homes is Rs. 1000(Rs.30,00,000 divided by 3,00,000) The CPT allows cross comparison across different media types and media vehicles.
? Impression: They represent the total number of messages delivered by a media
plan, whatever the media used-the number of people who see a message multiplied by the number of times they see it. The gross sum of all media exposures (numbers of people/homes) without regard to duplication. ? Frequency: frequency refers to the number of times the member of the target audience is exposed to a media vehicle. Factors determining the need for frequency • Complex messages need more frequency • More demanding advertising objectives need more frequency • Highly effective advertising generally requires lower frequency • When theory calls for exposure close to the purchase, higher frequency is needed
? Reach: reach refers to the percentage of target audience who are exposed to the message at least once during the relevant time period. If your media plan gets to four out of five homes, it is said to have an 80% reach. Media Reach In Metros All Media 93.8 93.2 91.9 93.3 Press 67.2 67.6 67.6 67.4 TV 85.6 85.1 81.8 93.3 Cable and Satellite(C&S) 35.2 32.6 37.7 34.8 Radio 30.1 18.5 20.4 24.9
4 mega metros 8 Mini metros 11 Other metros 23 Metros (overall)
Overall Media Reach TV 45 76 33 Press 34 59 24 TV (C&S) 21 23 20 Radio 12 31 05
All India Urban Rural
? Coverage: it is a term often used for reach, however should not be confused with reach. Coverage refers to the size of a potential audience that might be exposed to a particular media vehicle. For media planers, coverage (the size of the target audience) is very important. Reach will always be lower than coverage., as it is impossible to reach 100% of the target audience. For example, the size of the target audience may be 5 lakhs and the numbers of individuals who actually see the advertisement are 3.5 lakhs. Then in this case5 lakhs is the coverage and 3.5 lakhs is the reach of the media vehicle. ? Impact: impacts refer more to TV than to the press. Impact =the total number of people who see the ad multiplied by the number of times they saw it. ? Opportunity to see (OTSs): OTSs are the number of exposures or opportunities that a particular audience has to see a particular advertisement.
Two Philosophies of Media Planning • Both assume a fixed budget, with a forced trade-off between reach and frequency. •Traditional philosophy is to determine frequency needs, and let that drive reach.Current movement is toward maximizing reach and frequency.
PRINT
? Circulation: The number of distributed copies of a publication . ? Primary audience: The number of users who get a magazine at a newsstand or in the mail as subscribers. ? Secondary audience (Pass-along readers): Readers who obtain the publication second hand, (i.e. from a reception room, from a friend/neighbor, etc.) in other words those who do not pay for the publication they are reading. ? Total audience: It is the total o primary as well as secondary audiences. ? Coverage: The percentage of a population group reached by a publication. ? Readership: Total number of individuals in a selected group (e.g., adults, males, females 18-34) that are estimated to recognize, or to have read or looked into a particular publication within an issues life cycle. The technical definition varies, depending on the method used to measure it. However it is measured, readership is a more useful tool for advertisers than is circulation.
TELEVISION
? Television Rating Points: These points were introduced in 1986 to assess the viewer ship of DD programmes by IMRB. The TRP survey is conducted in nine key metropolitan cities of India .The System reports on the daily viewer ship of individuals aged 8 years and above residing in TV owning homes of these cities.
The panel consists of 3214 adult members. Earlier each panel member recorded the viewer ship of different TV programmes in the diary specially given to him. The data then analyzed. The panel has two groups: Primary audience from TV owning household and secondary audience from non-TV owning households but who watch TV at least once a week. Programme’s rating point is the percentage of panel members who viewed those programmes. One TRP is equal to one percent of TV audience. To illustrate, if Ramayana gets 75 TRPs it means 75% panel members watched Ramayana during that week. TRP Weekly Reports provide data on the weekly viewer ship city wise for different programmes. The data are broken down for both the primary audience and the total audience (primary audience plus secondary audience). TRP Monthly Reports give data of frequency of viewing, overlapping of viewership amongst programmes, cumulative reach for different episodes of the same programme. They also give viewer’s profit. TRP reports are a good help for media planners. DD has started publishing weekly TRPs of its programmes. Feedback on viewership data is still not adequate. TRP is not representative enough This diary based system reports on the Quarter Hour ratings for Cable and, Satellite TV channels as well as the state owned terrestrial network. Currently, IMRB is in the process of phasing out this diary system by gradually launching its People Meter based TRP People Meter System. The TRP PeopleMeter System is currently operational in four major metros and is being extended to report on viewership at an All India level with a sample of 5,500 metered homes. ? TRP Constant Watch System The country's only electronic TV audit system currently monitors the advertising and programming appearing on 10 key channels. This system records the precise start and end times for each programme and commercial appearing on these channels. The commercial information is further classified by product category, brand and variant, execution and main message. Similarly, the programming information is also supplemented by programme type, language of programme and main/repeat telecast. In order to understand the calculation of the Rating it is necessary to understand a few terms: ? Television households (TVHH):
With households as the focus of most television ratings, this term was developed to express the number of households which have a television set in them.
The TVHH does not take into account whether the television set is being used. It is simply a hard count of households which contain a TV set and thus have the potential to watch television at all. This is, in effect, the population of TV households in a market (for local ratings) or the nation (for national ratings). ? Households using television (HUT): The number of households using television at a given time. HUT measures the number of households with their televisions on at this moment, regardless of who's watching.This varies by the time of day, the day of the week, the season of the year, and the area of the country. Television viewing goes up in the evening, and in the winter, raising the potential audience (and cost) for your commercial. ? Rating: It measures the number of households tuned into a particular program, as a percentage of the total households which exist in the local market (local ratings) or in the nation (national ratings). The Nielsen Television Index (NTI) is an example of a rating point index for national televisions. The Nielsen Station Index (NSI) is an example of a rating point index for local television ratings. Whatever the name, the formula is as follows: RATING = Households Viewing Program × 100 ———————————————— TVHH
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Example #1: If there are 250,000 television households in the city of Banglore, and 12,500 of them are tuned into a given television program on a particular evening, it can be said that the program has a 5% rating. Example #2: The same rating in different markets makes a substantial difference in the audience delivered to an advertiser. All of the following ratings are the same, but the number of households delivered varies dramatically:
Market Mumbai Chennai
TVHH
Rating Number of Homes 300,000 65,000
6,000,000 5 1,300,000 5
Tamil nadu 381,200 Total target market Target Rating Points =
5
19,060
Total target market exposures Target market population
? Gross Rating Points: This is the sum of rating points for a selected group of programs which an advertiser may wish to sponsor. The following schedule would give the advertiser exactly 14 "points" at a cost of 250,000 Program Rating Points Program A Program B Program C Gross Totals: 3.4 5.8 4.8 14.0 Cost Per Spot (in ‘000s) 40.00 150.00 60.00 250.00
MEDIA PRINCIPLES
How to use reach and frequency
1. Use them to determine if the media plan can achieve the goals of your strategy.If
your advertising objective is to get 50 percent of homes to be aware of your product or to try it, it can’t be done if your reach is less than 50 percent
2. Recognize that reach and frequency are interrelated. As reach goes up, frequency
comes down. You can’t have both unless you add more money and go to a different media plan. Determine the best balance for your objectives.
The relationship between reach, frequency and rating points is expressed in this formula: R x F = GRP If your plan delivers a 90 reach and a 4 frequency, the total GRPs in a four-week period will be 360, or 90 per week.
3. Be aware that the same words in different contexts can mean different things. A
medium that reaches young people or the frequency of newspaper advertisements in a schedule is not the same consumer exposure concept expressed in reach and frequency figures.
Two keys to success: frequency and continuity People’s memories are short. That was the finding of a German psychologist, Hermann Ebbonghaus, in 1885. What Professor Ebbinghaus learned was:
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People forget 60 percent of what they learn within a half-day. The more repetition, the better retention. Forgetting is rapid immediately after learning, and then levels off.
These facts are fundamental to two media issues: first, the relative importance of frequency versus reach: second, the value of continuous advertising.
People forget quickly. Advertisers who seek to reach a broad audience at the expense of sufficient frequency among key prospects risk wasting all their advertising.
If your product is one that people are always in the market for-soap or toothpaste-the need for “reminder” advertising is obvious. But frequency is just as important for products purchased only occasionally-cars, headache remedies. The message must be there when people are ready to purchase.
Repetition aids retention. Most of the great advertising success stories are ones of frequency. Even low-spending brands usually succeed by concentrating messages against a select audience. Don’t aim for a broad target with a small budget. Better to reduce the reach objective and aim for a smaller audience-with sufficient frequency to be effective. This may mean advertising in fewer markets, advertising some products but not others, or advertising only in vehicles that reach a precisely defined group of people. Your message needs continuity as well as frequency, it it’s to be remembered. If money were no consideration, plans would all call for continuous advertising for 52 weeks at high levels. Since that isn’t practical, compromises must be made between effective levels and budgets. And a compromise is reached between bursts and continuous advertising. Each product’s need for frequency depends on its purchase cycle, its stage of development, competition, and the advertising copy.
THE AGENCY PROCEDURE
The various stages through which a media plan evolves within an agency are quite complex. They will vary from agency to agency, and within agencies, from account to account. The variations will depend on the size of the problem to be tackled, the agency’s organization and its relations with its clients. The following figure illustrates the sequence, which will be followed, more or less, in the planning of most large campaigns conducted by sophisticated advertising agencies on behalf of the sophisticated clients.
PLANNING MEETING The initial planning meeting is usually a large one and will comprise senior people working on the account, and possibly the agency management: the account director and his team, and creative and media personnel will take part. In some cases the client may be represented. The purpose of this meeting is formally to evaluate the current progress of the brand, and its market, and the intentions for the period under review (usually the following financial year). The outcome or end result of the meeting should be a draft marketing strategy, which outlines the way in which the agency feels the brand’s targets should best be achieved.
CLIENT APPROVAL This draft will then be discussed with the client, the agency being represented possibly by the management, certainly by the account team. When approved, the marketing objectives from the basis of both creative and media work. DEPARTMENTS WORKING At the next stage the creative and media departments work separately, although it is necessary for them to confer together as frequently as possible. The media plan for the current year will be critically examined for its strengths and weaknesses and the evidence of any available media tests considered. Changes that have taken place in the media scene since the current plan was developed; together with necessary changes in strategy flowing from changed marketing objectives, will be discussed. Most importantly, the likely effect on the media choice of the basic creative appeals, which are being developed, will be taken into account. Creative requirements likely to have a critical effect on the media plan are clearly those of movement and colour. It is likely at this stage that the account team will be in fairly constant touch with both the creative and media departments. Indeed Stephen King has argued very eloquently that there really can be no chicken and egg in the creative media situation; both have to evolve together. From this view has sprung the title of Campaign Planner, although the function he fulfils varies from agency to agency. Media planning, atleast in broad-brush strokes is always part of his assignment; and he may also be concerned with account handling, research and the creative input.
DRAFT MEDIA AND CREATIVE STRATEGIES
From these vital deliberations will flow draft media and creative strategies. These will be submitted to the client for his approval and it is usual for those who have been involved in their creation to be present to argue their case. ANALYSIS OF PLAN AND DATA Once these basic strategies have been approved, detailed work can commence. At this stage it is still necessary for media and creative personnel to plug closely together, since a vital factor for discussion will be size of the space, or length of time, which is required to carry the advertising message. The bulk of media planner’s task is now concerned with the accumulation and analysis of data. It is sufficient to say here that whether a model is used to assist in the production of a plan or not, similar procedures have to be gone through. The principal differences arise because the computer is able to consider may more variables at one time than a planner can without its assistance. For the use of a media model, all judgments have to be quantified. MEDIA SCHEDULE From a computer printout, or from his own calculations, the planner will now have a series of media vehicles, together with number of insertions in each of them. To turn this into a schedule, he needs to consider the spread of the campaign over time; he will then embody the whole of his thinking into a proposal, for submission to the agency plans board.
PREPARING PROPOSAL When this hurdle has been cleared, the total package, usually in the form of a document containing the full campaign plan, marketing, media and creative, together with ancillary recommendations for perhaps research and merchandising, will be presented to the client. The agency presentation team will usually include agency management, together with all senior personnel who have been responsible for creating the plan. Once it is agreed, the schedule is returned to the media department for buying. Of course, if at any stage during the development of the plan there is a rejection, then the re-cycling process has to start and everyone has to try again. The advantage of obtaining client approval of strategies is that the problem is broken down into manageable portions. If the client sees nothing until he sees the final plan, he may well find himself in disagreement with the original marketing strategy, and much time will have been wasted.
THE PROCEDURE DIAGRAM
MEDIA BRIEF
The brief Their media brief was to basically cover these 3 points – • To develop a composite media plan using all available forms of media so as to ensure that the key target markets are reached with the core messages. • To create better awareness of the use of Debit Cards.
• To build the SBI Debit Card “brand”. To encourage more users to use the Debit Card services provided The media brief can be referred to as a checklist for the media planners to help them prepare media plan for a client organization. Media planning is not an isolated function but an integral part of an overall campaign planning. Hence a media planner needs to have a thorough knowledge of all the variables. Media brief gives a background to the whole planning. It will cover details on the product/service, the overall marketing strategy, and the proposition being made. Ideal media brief. In other words, what should it contain to help the media planner in making an ideal plan to help facilitate decision-making at the client’s end? With the proliferation in the media and media markets becoming more complex, given the heterogeneity of the target audience, special efforts are made to prepare the media brief. A good media brief should ideally include the following: ? Marketing information checklist: This should reflect the marketing objectives and proposed strategies, product characteristics, distribution channels, brand category, expenditure level and ad. expenditure of close competitors, ad. expenditure for the current, previous years and proposed appropriation. The objectives: The media brief must indicate the objective or objectives; the proposed advertising is trying to accomplish. This must clearly indicate whether the objective is to introduce a new product, increase awareness about the existing brand, reinforce the current position, reposition the current brand, relaunch a declining brand, elicit direct response, improve or enhance the company’s reputation or change the people’s attitude towards the company, brand or product category. It would also indicate the source of business, i.e., the target audience, profile of the current users, proposed users, etc.
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Product category information: It is pertinent for the media planner to have a thorough knowledge about the product category and the positioning of the brand being handled. This helps in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the brand and also helps in setting achievable targets.
A brief description is required with respect to the product itself, its uses, the pack, the price, the method of distribution,etc. what sales movement are taking place with respect to the product of this category, is the market expanding or is steady. With respect to competitors, how are their brands advertised or promoted.Is it an established brand or a new brand fighting for a bench head. The other information details can be : market share of the various brands, sales volume of each brand, life cycle stage for brand/category (new, mature, stagnating or near extinct), market expansion opportunity, interest level (high/low), responsiveness to advertising, purchase cycle of the product-to help determine the scheduling pattern. ? Geography/location: The media brief helps the planner in knowing his media markets. In other words, for example, if the product is only available in the metros, then the planner will restrict his media options to only those vehicles, which reach the target audience in the metros. In case, however, the product is being launched on all-country basis, the media planner although keeping in view the holistic approach will also keep in mind the consumption pattern in various geographical locations for giving relative weightage to areas, where the product usage is more. Besides this, he will also keep in view the brand development index, sales volume and local market problems and opportunities. Seasonality/timing: Information regarding seasonality of the product is an important consideration for the media planner. In the Indian context, where there are extreme climates in different parts of the country at the same time, some products are season-specific.
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The sale of woolens is always there in the hilly areas especially, Srinagar, Himachal Pradesh and higher reaches of Uttar Pradesh, while in southern India, except probably in some parts of Karnataka, woolens are generally not available. The North experience severe cold for some months, hence one sees a spurt in advertising during this period. Besides, the planner should keep track of the sales pattern, influence factors such as festivals, holidays and the weather, spending considerations, specific sales promotion drive, and client mandated spending constraint, etc. Even in case of rural advertising generally the consumers have a high buying power immediately after the harvest hence showing advertisements at this point of time would be a good strategy then showing it all year round.
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Target audience: it will be futile to aim the advertisements at every body. In that way the effort is diffused and no one thinks the advertisement is meant for him. Hence there should be a precise definition of the people the advertising is to reach. The definition of the target may be a simple.
A profile of those who buy the existing category as also those who buy competitive brands is a very important consideration for the media planner. Buying habits must also include information about buying cycles, purchase points, frequency of purchase, etc. This helps the planner to know the consumer characteristics by category, brand and competitor; demographics-age, income, education, occupation and motivation; special market segments like doctors, architects, children, etc. as also media usage data for heavy users, light users of various media vehicles. ? Budget: At the briefing stage the planner also needs to know the media budgetafter the cost of producing the advertisement and the other expenditures have been deducted.
In a nutshell, the media brief should aim at answering-in which markets are the media to be concentrated; what is the product category-media relationship; how do competitors use the media; who is the media talking to (the specific target audience); and how much weight needs to be placed on various media in terms of ad appropriation.
MEDIA PLAN
This is a document which has to convince the client that a logical recommendation has been made. It must inform the buyers who are to execute the plan exactly what is required of them. The Media Plan provides media planning & buying services for all media including TV, cable, radio, print, outdoor, transit, online and new media. A plan that sets forth the exact media vehicles to be used for advertisements and the dates and times that the advertisements are to appear. The best media plans are developed with a complete understanding of the marketing communications and business objectives of the client's campaign. This is understood from the media brief that is provided by the client to the advertising agency. The firms then develop customized, integrated media planning and buying of media across all disciplines. The media plans and buys seek to accomplish the following: Media planning and buying (print, radio, television):
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Increase media visibility, impact and value while achieving overall efficiency Establish customized focused media objectives for target, geography, timing and communications levels Prioritize reach and frequency and assign weighting factors to response levels Negotiate the lowest possible rates Maximize exposure through value-added opportunities Track results for quick adjustments and optimization of media performance Identify special events and guerilla marketing approaches for uncluttered exposure
MEDIA PLANNING
The media person figures out where you’re advertising should run. He or she looks over all the media vehicles that might be useful and recommends the most effective environment for your message. He or she also tries to determine how to spend your advertising rupees most effectively and backs up recommendations with solid statistical data and other information. Media planning will mean budgetary constraints, allocating funds and the physical scheduling of events through the press, television, cinema, radio, outdoor advertising or the new medias like internet or SMS, etc.
STEPS IN MEDIA PLANNING: 1. DECIDING ON TARGET MARKETS: Every media plan begins with target audience. The target audience can be classified in terms of age, sex, income, education, occupation and other variables. The audience can also be classified as children, teenagers, young adults, office goers, newly married couples, parents, grandparents, etc. The classification of the target audience helps the media planner to understand the media consumption habits, and accordingly choose the most appropriate media or media-mix The media planner can also select the most appropriate programme (in case of radio and TV) to insert advertisement. Matching media and market Advertisers must always attempt to match the profile of the target market with the demographic characteristics of a given medium’s audience Let us consider an example of cigarette advertising. The target market for this is men in the age group of 25 to 60 years. The advertiser would consider placing ads in magazines having a predominantly male readership. Advertising in magazines having a predominantly female readership would be mostly wasteful for this product. It may be true that rarely does any magazine have a 100 percent male readership. Even so, when selecting a predominantly men’s magazine, the advertiser would minimize wasteful expenditure. Some media, such as general interest consumer magazines and newspapers, network radio and television offer to an advertiser the means of transmitting ad messages to a cross-section of the consumer market. Against this, some other media, such as spot radio and television, special interest magazines, business publications, and some business newspapers offer the means of reaching selective group of audience. The selectivity offered by some media is useful for advertisers, for it enables them to reach a distinct target market with minimum waste. In fact, a great deal of information on the media about their demographic characteristics is provided by the media themselves. The objective of any media planner is to achieve the best possible matching of the media and the market.
2. DECIDING ON MEDIA OBJECTIVES: The media planner has to decide on the media objectives. Media objectives often are stated in terms of reach, frequency, gross rating points and continuity. Media objectives You can contribute most to the media process in the definition of objectives (what you want the plan to accomplish) Before media planning can start, companies have to define the marketing objectives of the product/ idea proposed to be advertised. For example, if a professional camera manufacturer decides to launch an automatic camera to expand his market, his marketing objective would be to reach those segments of the population who are photo enthusiasts but do not want to be hassled by the intricacies of operation of professional cameras, the fun loving people who want to capture moments of joy and togetherness. The manufacturer may also target the existing professional camera users to consider a replacement in order to have the pleasure of an automatic camera, which obviously will be faster, having mastered the manual one. The marketing objective, hence, would be to extend distribution into new geographic markets or income groups as also the current users of cameras The following could b the media objectives
1. To reach photo enthusiasts of that age and income group who are the chief purchasers. 2. To concentrate the greatest weight in urban areas where the target audience would normally be found and where new ideas gain a quicker response. 3. To provide advertising support at a consistent level except when it needs extra weight during announcements and the holiday season, when such target buyers are planning to visit exotic places or to meet their kith and kin. 4. To select those media, which will help strengthen the creative strategy and help demonstrate convenience, ease of shooting and, of course, excellent results. The “Hot Shot” camera with the’Khatak’ sound became an instant success with the photo enthusiasts in the late eighties in India. 5. To reach target buyers through those media to gain greater frequency and lesser cost per opportunity Media objectives are built around answers to five questions: who, when, where, how often, and in what way?
WHOM DO YOU WANT TO REACH? This refers to defining of the target audience. Defining the target audience objectives is a critical activity in a media plan. The audience consists of people in a specific age, income, educational, occupational, social and ethnic group. While choosing the media one must bear in mind that the target is never a faceless mass of people. They are definable to precision. Not “primary emphasis on men” but “70 percent of messages directed to men, 30 percent to women.” Let us take the example of a few product categories to understand the concept more closely. Dove is premium soap, the most expensive of all the brands available in the Indian market. The product is targeted not at the very young but at the busy woman, be age a professional or mother of young children, whose whole life “revolves around children” or the “lazy” one, not getting any time to bother abut her looks. Such a woman is modern but not a feminist. Dove, which claims to have ¼ moisturizer, is an answer to her lifestyle. If she uses Dove, the need for cream or moisturizer is taken care of. Such a woman is up-market, mobile, moving in social circles, is successful and above all, wants to look good and feel good. And most importantly, money is no consideration for her in such purchases. The choice of the media hence, would keep in view their psychographic profile. Magazines, like Femina, Savvy and Stardust against Sarita Mukta or Women;s Era would be preferred. Television, of course, will have the multiplier effect. WHEN DO YOU WANT TO REACH THEM? Do people buy your product year-round, or [primarily in the summer, or on weekends or just when it rains? Some products are keyed to holidays-crackers for Diwali, colours around Holi, etc. On the basis of this we may decide whether you want the money to be spread evenly or thinly over the year. We may concentrate it in some periods, while it may not be advisable to advertise at other times. For example, if the advertising is aimed at school children, drawing their attention on fun products around examination time is of no use. Similarly, if the product is targeted at the Indian rural folks, the harvest season, which comes twice a year, will not be the right time as their attention would be towards their crop Also, the higher the price tag, the longer the longer the lead-time. Travel to Europe peaks in the summer, for example, but the decision is made in the spring.
Hence, allocate the media to periods when people decide to buy, not necessarily when they make the purchase. WHERE DO YOU WANT TO REACH? The next decision is with respect to the geographical distribution of media. Whether to advertise nationally or locally-maybe the hardest decision for national marketers. The problem arises mainly in case of television or radio, where the amount of money to be spent is very huge and hence the amount of money to be allocated to each region has to be decided. The same applies to other media also, especially outdoor and cinema, whose regional distribution is closely controlled. All business is local-and varies all across the country. Hence it is essential to be specific in describing the key markets and what percent of business they represent. The brand development index (BDI) identifies your best markets in terms of sales per thousand populations. You may sell more in Mumbai than Chennai, but Chennai people may be better customers. Beyond markets, you’ll want to identify where your prospects live in terms of country size, city size, suburbs, etc. HOW OFTEN DO YOU WANT TO REACH THEM? The issue of advertising intensity is a complex question. It involves concepts of audience reach and frequency and impact. The media objectives, however, should include goals for the minimum number of messages necessary to make a sale, and how those messages should be timed. IN WHAT WAY DO YOU WANT TO REACH THEM? The best environment for the copy, for example. Does it require color or action? Would it be more effective in a news medium or one that offers service information to women? Should it have an impact on the trade (to get displays) or on employees (to improve morale)? Special considerations like these must be considered as objectives. BOROSOFT MEDIA STRATEGY Overview Pre-launch market research indicated that BoroPlus & Boroline found usage primarily as skin creams for the problem of dry skin in winters, rather than for their antiseptic properties. .
• Targeting women, the brand focused its usage as a face cream thereby creating perceptions of a ‘cosmetic’ antiseptic cream, unlike other antiseptic creams that were seen as multi-purpose, family products. • In the very first season the brand achieved a 9% share of the Antiseptic Cream market for dry & chapped skin. • Over the next three years, the brand strategy was to reinforce the non-sticky positioning, provide rational support for the use of a nonstick cream & create cosmetic associations with the brand, thereby enhancing brand imagery. Key Issue • The brand mapping exercise indicated that while BoroSoft was clearly being perceived to be high grooming, its associations with the attribute of ‘protection’ was lacking. • And in a category that is largely functional, it is important for a brand to be perceived as providing the key category benefit –protection from winter dryness’. Communication Task • To strengthen the ‘protection’ association of BoroSoft Antiseptic Cream for the problem of skin dryness, while continuing to maintain the cosmetic associations of the brand. Target Audience • Females, 18-35 yrs., SEC A, B, C. • Core Target Audience: Current users of BoroPlus & Boroline. The brand packaging was given a new look in the year 2000 as the brand communication focussed on positioning it as a face cream. Media Strategy • Being a seasonal product (for dry skin), the majority of the brand’s sales occur in the winter period from November to February. • Therefore, high decibel TV advertising in these winter months has been the media strategy, in order to achieve high top-of mind awareness in a short period. • The TA being women, the programme selection primarily consists of popular family soaps.
3. MEDIA EVALUATION After the objectives are defined there is a need to evaluate each media in order to reach a conclusion about the type of media that will be most effective for the accomplishment of the objectives. The objects of the evaluation are: 1. 2. 3. 4. To see which media are feasible. To pick the main medium. To prepare for the decision on how it should be used. To see whether there are suitable supporting media if required.
Creative suitability: There may be obvious reasons why a particular medium is especially suitable for the campaign or another is unsuitable, a coupon is to be included or the absence of colour is critical. Often the preference of the creative group is not backed up by concrete evidence but they have strong views nevertheless about the media to use and those not to use. The agency is not in the business of reaching consumers with exposures of advertisements (which tend to be the media department’s natural criterion), but in the business of selling the product. So if the creative choice looks at all reasonable in media terms, it is usually sensible for the planning to accept it. Sometimes the creative choice is unreasonable and may have been reached without full consideration of the alternatives. An idea: Sometimes a media idea, or better an idea which involves media and creative content, is ‘obviously’ right or simply a novelty, which is expected to attract attention and so work. A press advertisement in the shape of the product, using publications that have never before carried this type of advertising, a radio commercial announcing ‘officially’ there is now no shortage of the product, a TV commercial that starts with silence and black screen, a poster that looks like a shop window and so on. Sometimes a change is as good as an increased budget. Proven effectiveness:
When there is evidence that a particular medium is the most efficient, the choice is obvious. The evidence may come from the tests on our own product or from a study of competitor’s activities. The advertiser often insists on using the same medium as before, even without testing its effectiveness. The best predictor of an advertising schedule is the schedule for the previous year. This is not always laziness. It is partly because the media scene is not very different from year to year: media change is dictated by a major shift in the market place, a new medium, a new definition of the target, or a new advertising idea. Advertisers resist change because it involves more risk than to continue with a proven, viable strategy. Availability and timing: The type of product or copy claim may prevent the use of a medium- this is most likely to rule out TV, on which, for example cigarettes are not advertised. The flexibility required by the advertiser, for example being able to cancel or change advertising at a few days’ notice, may also rule out a medium-for example it may make colour press impossible. Competition: “We can’t come off the box, that’s where our competitors are.” ‘Look, there’s no advertising for this product in women’s magazines: let’s dominate there.’ Of the two policies- match the competition or avoid it- the first is more common in media choice. This may be because the main purpose of the advertising is defensive- to reassure existing buyers and reassure existing buyers and diffuse competitors’ attacks. It may also be a fear of leaving him to dominate a medium. Or the medium normally chosen is simply the most suitable for that product group. Or the consumer and the trade have come to expect the advertising to be in that medium and look for it there, so it works best there.; on the same principle, shops often do better together in the High Street than scattered over the town. These arguments apply to large advertisers: McDougalls will not leave spillers to be the only large flour manufacturer on TV, nor Cadburys leave TV to Mars. But for the small budgets it could be inefficient to hit competition at knee-level. A small advertiser might do better to dominate a less used medium. 4. CHOOSING AMONG MAJOR MEDIA TYPES: The media planner has to know the capacity of the major media types to deliver reach, frequency, and impact. The major advertising media along with their costs, advantages, and limitations are to be well understood. Every media plan requires that specific media types be selected – Doordarshan, Direct mail, satellite TV, newspapers, magazines, etc. Media planners must consider several variables before choosing among major types:
? Target –audience media habits: This is the most important factor. Housewives watch more of television, whereas, working women go for magazines. Again television programmes have different viewers. For instance, “world this week” is viewed by teenagers and young adults. Therefore, it would be advisable to advertise during “World this week” such products which are of interest to teenagers and young adults. Radio and television are the most effective media for reaching teenagers. ? Products: Products that require demonstration can suit for television. For example, the demonstration of the use of a vacuum cleaner by Eureka Forbes. Financial advertising such as new issue of shares is good in newspapers. Women's dresses are best shown in color magazines, and Polaroid cameras a best demonstrated on television. Media types have different potentials for demonstration, visualization, explanation, believability, and color. Again there are media restrictions on certain products. For instance, alcoholic drinks and cigarettes cannot be advertised in press as well as on DD and AIR, hence these two options are totally ruled out. ? Message: The type of message dictates the type of media. For example, an ad that features technical information is best suited for specific magazines. Again, an ad from retailer announcing major sale on discount requires more of local newspapers. ? Cost Factor: Television is very expensive, where as, radio is very economical. However, cost is not the only factor, even if it is calculated on the basis of cost per- person reached. The impact of the media is to be taken into account.
5. SELECTING SPECIFIC MEDIA VEHICLES:Once a decision is made on media types, specific media vehicles within each medium must be chosen. For instance, the media planner may take a decision to select only magazines. The question now appears in which magazines. There are several classes of magazines- General interest like Reader’s digest, Women Interest magazines like Femina, Savvy, Elle, Business interest magazines like Business India, Business Today. If the decision is to select Business Interest Magazines- then the media planner may consider the following:
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Business India Business World Fortune India Dalal Street Journal Business Today Advertising & Marketing
Checklist for media selection Factor Ad budget Low budget High Budget Competition Heavy Large budget of a competitor Marketing objectives of a competitor New products for mass markets Improving market share – new uses Pull Effect Awareness, recognition of corporate status Copy Technical and complex Rational, high frequency to begin with them Emotional Creative, newsworthy Dogmatic, surge to begin with, then Consumption pattern Seasonal purchases, expect peak periods with Reach Objectives Frequency Continuit y Pulsing
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Irregular purchases Inducing favorable attitudes to impulse buying Elaborate decision making to buy the product, alternate Consumer loyalty Brand choice – regular products Lengthening of purchase cycle
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6. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS: The planner should then decide on the amount of funds that would be allotted to each media type and vehicle. Here the planner will decide on the number of units of each media vehicle. The media selection is a trade off. With a given budget, what is the most cost-effective combination of reach, frequency, and impact? Reach is most important when launching new products, flanker brands, extensions of well- known brands, or infrequently purchased brands, or when going after an undefined target market. Frequency is most important where there are strong competitors, a complex story to tell, high consumer resistance, or a frequent-purchase cycle. For instance, if the media planner selects television, then he should decide on the programmes and the number of ads of specific duration (10-20-30 seconds) in each program. Suppose the planner selects TV and within it the serial Son Pari and the Hindi Feature film. Then how many ads and what duration should be inserted at the time of Son Pari and that of Hindi Feature film must be decided. Accordingly, money must be allotted. Again if the advertiser selects television and magazines, then amount must be allotted to each media type and the specific programmes and magazines. As far as magazines are concerned, the planner should decide on: ? Whether to use color ads black and white ads. ? Whether to use full page or double – spread page. ? How many publication issues to be used. Accordingly funds are to be allotted among various magazines- page size wise, color wise and repetition wise.
Media cost and media ability To get the most out of the advertising rupees spent, the primary concern of the advertiser is media selection. The cost of buying space or time is weighed against the number of audience secured by such advertising. In fact, buying advertising space or time is nothing different from buying commodities. Usually, the question is asked: “How wide an audience do I get for every rupee I spend?” The media cost should be commensurate with the measure of the media’s ability to carry the message to the target audience. Media ability covers such qualitative values as audience characteristics, editorial personality, and contribution advertising effectiveness; above all it refers to a “media image” capable of enhancing the perception and communication value of a given message. For example, Channel A and Channel B deliver the same message and the same extension of advertising exposure to the same audience; but if, say, Channel A has a better reputation for honesty and good editorials, the advertisement in this may receive a higher perception and communication among its audience than if it is inserted in Channel B. The selectivity offered by some media is useful for advertisers, for it enables them to reach a distinct target market with minimum waste. In fact, a great deal of information on the media about their demographic characteristics is provided by the media themselves. The objective of any media planner is to achieve the best possible matching of media and the market. The media ability is measured under the following heads: 1. Distribution Measurement: Expressed in the number of copies circulated. 2. Audience Measurement: Expressed in terms of audience size, audience composition and the amount of audience exposure. 3. Exposure Measurement: The advertiser looks for the ability of the media to create advertising exposure. Once the media have produced the desired exposure, the quality of the message will determine the subsequent impact in terms of perception, communication and behavioral response. Magazines have different images in the eyes of readers, such as thorough coverage of subject matter; impartial and accurate reporting; stimulating reading; modern and up-todate; good style of writing; personalized, etc.
However, the availability of media during specific hours of the day or night has an important bearing on media selection. In various television or radio programmes, time may not be available even if the advertiser is prepared to pay premium rate. This is true of newspapers, too. Sometimes, a specific space in the total layout is not available. Some advertisers ask for space on the front page, which may not be available because it has already been booked, and is no longer unreserved. Summarizing media selection factors, we may say that they are: 1. Media characteristics, such as editorial environment, flexibility, frequency and durability; 2. Nature of the target market; 3. The nature and type of the product; 4. The nature of the distribution network; and 5. Overall cost of the medium 7.MEDIA BUDGET Show me the money There are two primary methods of determining your advertising budget more specifically. First is the cost method, which theorizes that an advertiser can’t afford to spend more than he has. This seems to be the most popular method used in associations. The second method, the task method, is used when associations base their advertising budgets on the amount of money needed to attract the customer or sell the product. An association using the task method typically determines how much money is needed based on past expenses to produce results. Start small Unless you are launching a national campaign, build your advertising budget based on local and regional pricing and opportunities. Consider advertising opportunities with other professional organizations. A local charity sponsors a chamber of commerce event. Chambers have business people who are more than willing to share their time, talents, and checkbooks. Sometimes the results can be two-fold: a donation and a new volunteer for your cause. Word-of-mouth advertising could be the best dollar you ever spent. What will this cost? Your budget will determine when and where you can advertise. There are four basic ways to determine what your budget should be. And don’t forget, your budget doesn’t just include media costs, but production costs as well.
Task Objective Method - This is just a way of saying, how much you have to spend to reach your objective. For example, you want to reach 50 percent of your audience. How many people do you have to reach? How many times do you have to run an ad? How much does each ad cost? It identifies how much and what kind of media can be purchased at various budget levels. It selects a level that buys what is desired for the brand. Tracking past results and replicating past successes represents another way of pricing the brand's ad budget. Historical Method - This method uses a base budget and then increases the budget each year by a certain percentage. For example you have $10,000 to spend this year, then next year you increase it 5% to be $10,500. Percent-of-Sales Method - For this, you can take a percentage of your sales as your advertising budget. The tricky thing is that you have to forecast your sales. Here is the formula to help you along: Step 1: Past Advertising Rupees = % of Sales Past Sales Step 2: % of Sales X Next Year’s Sales Forecast = New Advertising Budget (Average advertising budget will run about 20% of your sales.) Combination Method - You are never stuck with one method. Many companies chose multiple methods and pick a plan that is right for them. You need to evaluate your situation. How much can you afford and what will it take to reach your objectives? Affordable Method •Funds remaining after budgeting for everything else are dedicated to communications Problems: •No strategic orientation •Can lead to under- or over-investment in advertising When most of us try to determine how much to invest in the future we go through the same drill. Based on how much we make, we deduct our monthly and special expenses, put a little emergency money aside and the rest gets invested (if anything is left over). We invest sometimes for a quick return, but for the most part we are looking assure our future with equity. Marketers do much the same thing to arrive at advertising budgets, since they represent an investment in both the short and long-term future of their brand.
Among the many methods employed is the Share of voice method to determine the budget allocation, wherein the budget is set by spending to a share of media money spent in the marketplace among all competitors in the brand's category. And there is the good old A/S ratio where the marketer examines the amount other competitors in the category spend in relation to sales and then approximates that level for his own brand. Sometimes, in a fit of even-handedness, all of these methods are used and a compromise is struck.
8. MEDIA SCHEDULING: The media planner should then prepare a media schedule. Media scheduling refers to the programming of media insertions. This seeks to establish when the messages are transmitted in order that the media objectives are achieved at the lowest possible costs. The scheduling depends on a number of factors: ? Advertising objectives: if objectives are short term, then the placements should be concentrated over a short period of time. Conversely if awareness has to be created or a new brand is to be built, then the frequency of placements need not be so intensive and can be spread over a longer period so that learning can occur incrementally. ? Nature of product- consumer usables, durables or industrial ? Nature of sales-whether seasonal or regular sales. ? Product lifecycle- whether introduction, growth, maturity or decline. ? Pattern of competitor’s programmes. ? Entry of new competitors. ? Availability of funds for advertising. This involves the scheduling and timing of advertisement. The schedule shows the number of advertisements that are to appear in each medium, the size of the advertisements, and the date on which they are to appear. There are many ways of scheduling any advertising programme. No single way can be said to be best for all advertisers. Each advertiser must prepare a specific schedule most suitable for its market and its advertising objectives. What may be good for one advertiser and his product may be bad for another. Even for the same advertiser, the best at one stage of the product life cycle may not be suitable at another stage.
An advertiser, for example, may schedule to buy six pages space in a monthly consumer magazine. Alternatively, he may buy one-page space every month for the first three months; then he may not buy space for the next three months; and then again take onepage space every month for the next three months .There may be a variety of schedules of advertisements.
TYPES OF SCHEDULING STRATEGIES Burst Campaigns: often associated with the awareness objective, the burst campaign compacts media activities into a series of relatively short time frames, with relatively long periods of absence from media activity in between. This pattern may be used when a new product is being introduced. Flighting: Wave method or the flighting method is another kind of scheduling. In flighting, advertisements are bunched with the intention of providing a concentrated impact. is another method of creating an advertising schedule. The phrase advertising flight describes the time when commercials are aired. When flighting is used in relation to a scheduling technique, it refers to a method that has advertising going on and off the air. The advantage of the flighting technique is that it allows a campaign that does not have funds for running spots continuously to conserve money and maximize the impact of the commercials by airing them at key strategic times during the campaign. Frequently when flighting is employed, radio or cable TV will be used to supplement the advertising campaign during the times when television commercials are off the air. This method of media planning allows the messages and themes of the campaign to reach the voter through radio or cable TV, less costly alternatives to broadcast TV. Overview Henko Stain Champion Powder (HSCP) was launched in July 1994 in South India. It was clearly positioned as a brand in the premium segment of detergents among HLL’s Surf Wash Booster (today’s Surf Multi-Action). Battling consumer inertia to try out this new brand was its toughest challenge and carving out pride of association was the other issue. Continuous Campaign: Another approach mostly associated with reminder campaigns, is to extend the time frame of the advertising message over a long period. The campaign provides continuity of the message, although at the cost of the impact. These continuous patterns are often used for mature products, where reminder advertising is appropriate.
Over a long term .this strategy is more appropriate for products and services where the demand is constant or there is a long purchase cycle. There can be perfect continuous advertising, rising continuity or falling continuity. 1. Rising continuity: this pattern is used when the advertising circles around a particular event. E.g. the advertisement for Paints generally increases during the festive seasons like divali. 2. Falling continuity: this pattern may follow an initial burst to launch a new product or to inform a product modification. Pulsing Campaign: A compromise between the burst and the continuous strategy is the development of the pulsing campaign. Here a comparatively low level of media activity is maintained over long period of time, with periodic increases in the expenditure patterns. It is often associated with seasonal or other influences on buyer activities. Normally, scheduling is done for a 4-week period. The six types of schedules available are: 1. Steady pulse: it is the easiest. For instance, one ad/week for 52 weeks or one ad/month for 12 months. 2. Seasonal pulse: ads are scheduled to meet seasonal peaks by appearing in concentrated doses ahead of buying season. Products like Vicks Balm, Glycodin Terp-Vasaka Syrup, and Ponds cold cream follow this approach. 3. Period pulse: Scheduling follows a regular pattern, e.g., media scheduling of consumer durables, non-durables, etc. 4. Erratic pulse: The ads are spaced irregularly. Perhaps, we want to change the typical purchase cycles. 5. Start-up pulse: It is concentrated media scheduling. It launches a new product or a new campaign. 6. Promotional pulse: A one-shot affair it suits only particular promotional theme. Heavy concentration during a period is the characteristic of this scheduling. For instance, financial advertising of company’s issue.
Blitz schedule: The insertion of double-page advertisements in three consecutive issues of a magazine is an example of the blitz schedule. There are many more methods of bunching advertisements. However, the purpose of bunching is to provide concentrated impact with a single issue of the publication. Marathon filler ad: Heard of repeat advertising, but this is incredible. On 8 April, an ad for an obscure oil brand appeared 22 times consecutively back to back on a channel creating some sort of a freak history (TAM ADex has reported). A 30-second commercial for Himgagan Tel ran consecutively 22 times virtually like an 11-minute filler on Reminiscent Television's Punjabi regional language channel Lashkara between 9:26 am and 9:37 am. The "marathon filler ad" aired on "Nachda Punjab Gaunda Punjab" on Tuesday, 8 April. The ADex team reported that at first they couldn't believe their eyes... so they checked the recording again and again but every time the same result came. The impact the extended ad run had on Himgagan Tel sales was disastrous. A drop in purchases of the product among those who saw the ad was observed.
CASE: SBI MEDIA STRATEGY The entire process can be better understood by the use of the media strategy formulated by SBI in order to ensure that the key target markets are reached with the core messages with respect to their various product categories. Their broad categories were classified as: ? Personal Banking Products ? Development Banking Products ? Corporate Communication ? Gold Banking ? Debit Cards ? Internet Banking With respect to the broad categories they had their product segments classified: ? Debit Cards Home Loans…………… Seg A ? Rural Banking ……………Seg B ? Gold Banking………………Seg C ? Car Loan Festive Loan Personal Loan Internet Banking…………….Seg D For the purpose of understanding we would concentrate on the segment A which includes the debit cards.
DEBIT CARDS The brief Their media brief was to basically cover these 3 points – • • • • To develop a composite media plan using all available forms of media so as to ensure that the key target markets are reached with the core messages. To create better awareness of the use of Debit Cards. To build the SBI Debit Card “brand”. To encourage more users to use the Debit Card services provided.
Methodology Their method was basically broken down into 4 main steps – • Defining and quantifying target markets • Identifying media vehicles that are best suited to reach these target markets • Identifying proper time frames for each depending upon the seasonality. • Quantifying the impact of the media plans in terms of reach and effectiveness
The Audience profile in this segment was Males/Females ? Above 25 years of age ? Living in urban and semi urban India ? Gainfully employed or retired (ie in service, business, traders, etc) ? With a MHI in excess of 4000/- p.m. ? Educated to a minimum of 10th std Using NRS V: They decided to advertise on a national scale and based on this using NRS V, estimate this population at 162 million individuals can
Recommended Media
Based on the size of the sample population and keeping the target audience in mind, SBI decided to use the following forms of media to create awareness for their Debit Cards – • Print – Mainline English and regional publications and top end magazines • Television – Mainline news and regional channels • Radio – AIR FM and private FM channels as primary focus • POS at branches o PRINT ? NEWSPAPERS • English Newspapers o Indian Express o Financial Express o Hindu o Telegraph o Deccan Chronicle o Business Standard o Indian Express (South) o Times of India o Hindustan Times • Language Newspapers o Loksatta o Jansatta o Malayala Manorama o Ananda Bazar Patrika o Andhra Bhoomi o Daily Siasat o Hindi Milap o Dinamani o Kannada Prabha o Andhra Prabha o Gujarat Samachar o Dainik Bhaskar o Dainik Jagran ? MAGAZINES ?India Today (English) ?India Today (Hindi) ?Business India
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TELEVISION ? News Channels –
? Star News, ? Aaj Tak ? Zee news would be used ? Sun News for the Tamil Audiences. This was based on the fact that the South was a vast market as there was a high literacy rate in the South and Sun News was the most popular South news channel. Other than this there would also be o Run of Day spots covering the day band o 30 sec TVC’s It was decided that it would be a 3 month campaign and then they would review the campaign to check on the effectiveness of the campaign and if necessary, make the relevant changes. Costs They also decided to have the following number of television spots per channel as well as the cost was calculated. Channel Star News Aaj Tak Sun TV TOTALS RADIO Cost per spot Rs 18,000/Rs 13,500/Rs 48,600 No of Spots 180 240 60 570 Amount Rs 32.40 lacs Rs 32.40 lacs Rs 29.16 lacs Rs 93.96 lacs
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On radio it was decided that FM would be the primary channel to use. This was based on the fact that their research showed that FM was the most common and listened to channel all across the country. They also decided to focus on certain specific cities to use radio as a medium. These cities were – ? Mumbai, ? Delhi, ? Kolkata, ? Chennai, ? Bangalore, ? Lucknow, ? Ahmedabad,
? Indore, ? Pune Like the television campaign it was decided that radio would also be a 3 month COSTS Station Mirchi City Win AIR FM TOTAL Cities Cost per covered Mum, Ahd, Mum. Luck, B’lore Mum, Ahd, Ind Pune Delhi, Kol, Chennia No of spot 4200 2300 4200 2000 720 spots 180 Ind, Pune 180 180 180 22.86 lac 7.56 lac 4.14 lac 7.56 lac 3.60 lac Amount
Rationale Rationale’ or the Logic behind the campaign was that ? A 3 month TV and Radio Campaign would serve as a short burst to build the brand. ? Along with this BLT would also serve as a reminder ? The Print Media would also initiate action amongst the target group.
AT A GLANCE The total expenditure or their budget can be calculated in the following way ? Total TV Spots ? Total Print Advts ? Total Radio spots ? Total Value : Reach of the Campaign - 570 - 33 - 720 Rs 2.47 crores
Within the Target Group of 162 million people it was calculated that the reach of the campaign within the Target group was 156 million. This works out to a reach of 96.29% which is an excellent statistic and goes a long way to show the effectiveness and success of the campaign. ?Reach at gross OTS of 3 plus ? 21.3 million Source : NRS 02, and InTam, excl BLT, Outdoor and POS SPEND BY MEDIA VEHICLE
Te le v is io n 3 8%
Pr int 47 %
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products of SBI that is considered for the above case. SBI has made similar plans for its other products that include ? ? ? ? ? ? Personal Banking Products Development Banking Products Corporate Communication Gold Banking Debit Cards Internet Banking
MEDIA BUYING Planning and buying are two parts of a single operation: spending effectively the advertiser’s money. The two cannot in practiced be separate. The former is the strategy formulation while the later talks about the implementation of the plan. The two jobs are often done by different people, though planner-buyer is also found. MEDIA BUYER: The media person negotiates for advertising time or space, trying to get the most favorable buys in terms of programming or environment and price. He or she is responsible for checking that the advertising runs as planned and bought. A skilled media buyer can save enormous sums by playing one media owner over the other. MEDIA BUYING: Media buying refers to buying time and space in the various selected media. STEPS IN MEDIA BUYING: ? Selection of publication or programmes on Doordarshan, radio or satellite TV. ? Getting approval from the client regarding the selection of publication / programmes. ? Inviting press-media representatives or other media representatives from the selected list of media. ? Finalising package deals far as group publications are concerned. i.e. to obtain concessions in the media charges , if the ad is to run simultaneously in two or three publications of the same group such as Indian Express Group of Publications.
? Negotiating charges for bleed ads. Normally, publications charge 10% more. Negotiations are in respect of waiving the extra charges. ? Negotiations may also take place to obtain premium positioning of the ads such as back cover, spread, etc. ? Non-accredited publications (those which are not recognized by INS) do provide more than 15% commission. Negotiations take place to get more commission from such publications. The benefits of extra commission is passed on by the agency to client (advertiser) ? Media planning department also hold meetings with the producers of serials on DD, Satellite TV, etc. This enables the agency to get serial /programme sponsored by its client. ? The media planning department may obtain a final approval from the client. ? Based on the final approved plan from the media planner, the media operators department books time and space in the media. ? The media operations department makes all necessary arrangement to supply advertising material such as U-matic tapes, audio cassettes, art work and copy, etc.to various madis well before the deadline. ? The billing and checking department checks on monitors the publications/ broadcasting / telecasting of the ad. MEDIA BUYING OUTFITS Media buying agencies also referred to as the Agencies of Record (AORs) have emerged in the recent past. They can be defined as the middlemen or space buyers. Their function, as seen by industry observers is to provide service to, and not replace, the media departments within the advertising agencies. Such media buying agencies, according to Cohen, “offer a specialized service in time buying, particularly in the area of spot broadcasting, with its innumerable combinations of offerings,and its requirement of extensive data on demographics”. Such outfits buy space and time in bulk most of the time putting together many clients, which enable them to avail of discounts and negotiate rates wherever possible. The AORs for their services charge an additional 2.5 percent to the advertising agencies, who retain the remaining 12.5 percent. When the AORs are asked to provide media strategy, they charge an additional 2.5 percent dorm the ad agencies, on whose behalf they work. As it is a new phenomenon in the Indian context, the system lacks transparency and to many it is still shrouded in mystery.
Over the past few years, there has been an increasing use of computers in media planning. Some of the marketing and media research outfits like IMRB have developed software which are sold to the agencies to retrieve media source information with out going through the rigmarole of consulting voluminous media reference books. The data are updated on computers regularly. With a number of databases available, none of them comparable to each other, decision-making, according to Narayanmoorthy becomes subjective for clients, agencies and the media. “It is anybody’s guess on what is actually the correct interpretation of the available data”, laments he. Whatever the media planners’ blues, it sis believed that media planning will gain more importance once the Indian viewers have the benefit of the Direct to Home (DTH) broadcast receiving facility against the present system of receiving channels through the cable operators. From the present estimated 750 hours of cumulative programme choice available to an average India home with access about 40 channels, media planners will have sleepless nights thinking about innovations to lure the “promiscuous” viewer against channel surfing in times to come.
SUGGESTIONS TO BETTER MEDIA PLANS Here are nine suggestions: 1. First, establish marketing objectives. How should the media plan fit with other parts of the business, including the creative direction? Have you given the planner all the latest marketing data? 2. Agree-in advance-on media objectives and strategies. Make sure you understand the implications of the need for impact or continuity, minimum reach or frequency goals, the values assigned to magazines or outdoor. Are the objectives reasonable, or is the budget spread too thin? Air your prejudices early. What have you learned from past experiences? What special needs should be accommodated in the plan? 3. Encourage meetings between media and copy groups. There should be an active understanding of how both work together. The media planner should be at all meetings where media is discussed. 4. Make the timetable reasonable. Schedule work far enough in advance to allow the planner to be thorough and innovative. If there’s not enough time, you’ll get a plan-but maybe not the best one. 5. Look beyond the obvious. Why not direct mail instead of newspapers, or radio instead of TV? Can you deliver your message in half-pages instead of full pages, or even 10-second commercials instead of 30? But don’t look for difference for the sake of difference. Look for what is right?
6. Look beyond the cost per thousand. Efficiency is a starting point, but CPM is the weakest evaluation tool. It measures cost, not effectiveness. 7. Recognize that all media plans are a compromise. Media plans are a balance between options-reach, frequency, weeks of advertising, geography…. and budget. Don’t expect simple answers. Media is simpler in other countries. Geographical differences alone are much greater in India. There are far more media choices here, and media outlets. The cultural differences within India make it difficult to use a single media mix all throughout. 8. Don’t lose perspective. There’s a temptation to forget the total media environment, particularly noise level. A plan that is the biggest in a category may not dominate a medium. Don’t over read small differences in large numbers when selecting between alternatives. Stand back and react to the total plan. 9. Take a media planner to lunch. It pays to see the media group when there is no problem and no urgent need for a plan. That’s the time for updating-and thinking.
SOURCES OF MEDIA INFORMATION
One of the very important requisites of a media planner is familiarity with media choices and various sources of media information. Media information is available from sources within the media itself as well as external sources. Some of the media source books in the Indian context and other database publications often used by media planners include the following. POPULATION CENSUS Census is conducted every ten years. It is the broadest based database offering a profile of the people living in a particular region. The census data provide information about the population size, population strata, age, sex ratio, literacy level, family size and forms, Area, Administrative Divisions, Annual Exponential Growth Rate, Variation in Population, Institutional & Houseless Population, Population Density, Rural Urban Distribution, Broad Age Groups, Number of Literates & Literacy Rates, Work Participation Rates, Religions, Languages Spoken, Number of Households & Household Types, Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes Population etc. It is established practice to conduct a population census once every ten years to obtain information on the size, composition and characteristics of population. The population census is a very important source of statistics for small geographical areas and population
sub-groups. It also provides the base population for compiling population estimates and projections. Population censuses were conducted in 1961, 1971, 1981 and 1991and 2001. In order that more up-to-date information on the population could be made available, a population by-census is also conducted in between two censuses. Thus, in 1966, 1976, 1986 and 1996, there were population by-censuses conducted. The information collected is vital to Government planning and policy formulation, particularly in such fields as education, housing, transport, medical and social services. The data are also important to the private sector for formulating business strategies and to researchers for conducting social and economic studies. TAM -Television Audience Measurement Television, in nearly every country around the world, has become the dominant medium for information, commercial communication and entertainment. This has lead to the everincreasing desire by broadcasters, advertisers and advertising agencies, to have accurate, consistent and detailed information about TV audiences. TAM (Television Audience Measurement) is the specialized branch of media research, dedicated to the quantifying (size) and qualifying (characteristics) of this detailed TV audience information. With the billions of dollars spent annually on TV programmes and commercials, reliable TV audience information is required to evaluate and maximize the effectiveness of this investment. Measuring TV audiences requires state-of-the-art technology to ensure precise and accurate data is collected from the TAM panel homes, easily and effectively Television Audience Measurement Media Research, a 50:50 joint venture between Nielsen Media Research(NMR) / AC Nielsen and Kantar Media Research(KMR) / IMRB, is the only TV measurement system in India. Ratings is the percentage of a given population group consuming a medium at a particular moment. Generally when used for broadcast medium, one rating point equals one percent of the given population group. These ratings are qualitative in nature, similar to a voting system, where the higher the number of viewers the 'better' the programme or commercial. These ratings, if reliable and valid, become the 'common currency' for the market's commercial airtime. Media planners and buyers evaluate the alternative programmes offered to best achieve their advertising goals, broadcasters evaluate the programme or stations popularity and how much to charge an advertisers for commercials during a
programme or on a given channel. In those cases where the channels are funded wholly or partly by public license they provide accountability. INDIAN NATIONAL TELEVISION AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT (INTAM) INTAM, the people-meter-based television audience measurement service of ORGMARG provides minute-by-minute television viewership data. INTAM uses state-of-theart Picture Matching Technology, globally recognised as the most advanced audience measurement method which is currently used in nine countries. INTAM currently reports viewing data for 49 cities and the coverage is gradually increasing. INTAM has a dedicated team of over 90 executives to meets its client's demands. In all, 47 channels (national, regional and international) are reported along with programme and commercial logs. The demographic variables available for analysis are gender, age group, monthly household income, socio-economic classification (SEC) and cable and satellite (C and S) access. INTAM uses both Frequency Monitoring and Picture Matching methods. Picture matching meters are used in C and S homes because cable operators frequently change the transmission frequency. On an average, the changes occur three or four times a day. A TV set is monitored by sampling the relative brightness of a number of pre-determined pairs of areas of the picture. These samples, together with the time at which they were taken, are stored in the meter. Simultaneously, at the central site, samples are taken round the clock for every TV channel and stored. The samples collected from the homes are compared with samples taken from each channel. The channel with which the sample from the home matches is identified as the channel that was watched. The greatest advantage of this technology is that it is independent of the frequency and method of transmission and can handle digital transmission. INTAM offers its subscribers TV Pointer, a Windows-based analysis software developed in-house, the functionality and features of which are divided into four modules. Ratings Analyser This allows the users to evaluate programmes and day-parts in multiples of quarter hours, which facilitates
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Understanding of the audience's preferred channels, programmes and time slots. Planning of broadcast schedules and purchasing and selling programmes, serials and films.
Audience
Evaluator
Complex analyses of viewing behaviour can be done by the minute by
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Reach-Frequency distribution matrix Diagnostic analysis of programme performance
Competitor This allows users to
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Analyse advertising activity, both in terms of the commercial breaks and the spot at various levels, e.g., product category, advertiser, brand, etc. Analyse strengths and weaknesses of commercial channels in terms of channel exploitation by advertisers.
Optimiser Generates an optimal schedule based on characteristics of an existing programme schedule. The campaign objectives could be:
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Maximise reach Minimise cost per thousand (CPT)
Filters can be set up for specific channels, days, day parts and/or programmes. In a nutshell, its intuitive design and special features make TV Pointer the best tool for analysing viewing behaviour in the complex world of Indian television viewing Besides increasing its viewership base, Intam now expects to offer data and information for a larger number of population strata levels than before, as more small towns have come within its fold. The towns included by Intam in the current round of expansion are those with 10-30 lakh populations in Gujarat, 5-10 lakh towns in Punjab and Karnataka and 1-5 lakh towns in UP, Tamil Nadu and AP. In Intam’s portfolio, small towns (1-5 lakh) account for 78 per cent of the households, while the larger towns (5 lakh and above) make up the balance 22 per cent of the households PEOPLE METER The PeopleMeter is the measurement device at the heart of the audience measurement system. There are two primary functions that the meter system has to fulfil:
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Identify what is being watched. Identify who is viewing - which panel members and guests in the home are viewing.
The meter also performs other necessary functions such as:
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Timekeeping - the channel tuning and people registration events need to be logged accurately. Data storage - a secure system is needed to hold data within the meter prior to transferring the viewing data to the central computer for processing. Data communication - within homes where there is more than one meter, data need to be transferred safely to the main meter. Data transfer - from the main meter to the central computer.
Each element of the PeopleMeter is crucial to the accuracy of the overall system. Perhaps the biggest benefit of the People Meter for advertisers is that media buyers will be able to precisely compare the audience reached by a TV schedule with the audience they intend to reach. This is a service, which measures the ratings depending on the way it is compiled and the audience who are asked to measure the ratings. People meters were initiated in 1995 after a decade of debate, testing and critical appraisal. Initially available through the IMRB and MARG in Mumbai, MARG has now extended it to Delhi. Previously or in markets where there are only a limited number of broadcasters, with basic programming and limited activity, it is sufficient to gather viewership data by means of interviews or viewing diaries. Increasing numbers of channels, multiple broadcasting platforms, increased number of TV sets and remote controls per family have lead to a more complex TV environment. Furthermore, the viewer is now faced with the possibility of utilizing the TV screen as a medium for VCR's, including the option of time shifted viewing or video games, Within this dynamic environment, people meters have proved themselves capable of measuring audiences with a degree of accuracy and detail, which surpasses previous alternative measurement systems. People meter are required to measure minute-by-minute TV viewing by the respondents. The process is cumbersome. The interest of the respondent in operating the hardware, the accuracy levels, and achieving representative sample along with the following issues that need addressing:
1. The satellite channels by and large are operated by cable operators, who keep changing the channels at will and with a single dish, they keep rotating. 2. There is room for extra domestic reception among Indians. People watch TV not only at home, but in other people’s homes, bars, hotels and elsewhere. People meters have to account for such viewing also. 3. The definition of viewing also varies. Mechanical viewing to empathetic viewing need to be understood. The other parameter is “in room” vs. “in room and able to watch” to “in room and watching”. Everyone develops ones own way of watching television. 4. Accuracy of performance is another critical matter. Surveys in some countries have shown that a few people who had to leave the room to pick up a phone call or answer the door bell pressed their buttons before leaving the room. There is also a likelihood of a delay of one or two minutes between the sets being tuned in and the first individual button being pressed. 5. People meters are expensive, hence they limit sample size. When the sample size is small, it obviously cannot be representative of a highly complex and heterogeneous population especially of a metro, and when the small panel is changed the general levels of viewing recorded for a station might change substantially. People meters are still of better use for programmers, as they need programme ratings within which the exact switching times are of interest, for advertisers need stringent data, which include station reach, station total viewing and share, minute by minute ratings, programme ratings, commercial ratings, continuous analysis over weeks giving reach, frequency and GRP’s for advertising schedules and special analysis for programmes. People meter: Based on actual viewing Min Q to be a viewer : 15 secs Push button technology High degree of Accuracy Minute by minute viewing Immediate Results Guest Viewing Facility Ability to monitor new stations quickly Accurate Reach & frequency data
Diary method: Based on recalled viewing Min Q to be a viewer : 5 mins every quarter hour Manual self completion 1/4 hour viewing 2/3 week delay in reporting Panel viewing only Delay in reporting new stations
NATIONAL READERSHIP SURVEY [NRS] NRS is a survey on all media, especially the print media conducted by the National Readership Survey Council. This body consists of members from the INS [Indian Newspaper Society], AAAI [Advertising Association of India] and ABC [Audit Bureau of Circulation]. The objectives of the NRS is 1. To provide information that can be used for buying and selling of advertising space in the print media. 2. To provide media users with data on comparative levels vis-à-vis TV/radio, cinema and video. NEED FOR IRS • Audit Bureau of Circulation conducts a six monthly audit of publication sales. But each copy of a publication may be read by more than one person, depending on the frequency and popularity of the publication. This is what is captured in readership surveys like NRS. The survey is done on all-India basis, urban as well as rural, amongst individuals who are 12 years and older. All town classes are covered in the urban area.
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However, only towns with a population higher than two lakh are reported on an individual basis, smaller towns are reported on the basis of socio-cultural regions defined by language homogeneity, financial and economic administration, regionalization of culture and lifestyle, caste and class homogeneity.
What Information does NRS provide? NRS gives information on the macro-parameters like reach of each medium among various audiences defined demographically. • It also gives information on the duplication between media, as well as between vehicles within the same medium • For publications, it gives the number of readers, type of readers in demographic terms, spread of these readers, and lifestyle parameters such as product ownership and consumption patterns Since advertisers who relied on plain circulation data for allocation of their media budgets did not have access to data on the quality of readership each publication has, they did not know whether the money was being used effectively or wasted. The Studies like NRS gives details not only about the number of readers, but also quality of readers, and the duplication of readers with other competitive publications. Over the years, the survey has provided a comprehensive picture of the country's media landscape. It also highlights the vast uncharted territories and the potential of the media, which remains untapped owing to socio-economic factors such as poverty, inequality and poor access to education •
NRS IN INDIA • The NRS in India is one of the largest in the world, with a reporting sample size of over 2,13,000 individuals to track media exposure and changing consumer trends in both urban and rural India. The study covers 514 publications (25 dailies and 289 magazines) and is a useful guide for media analysts and marketing strategists. The field work is conducted by three research agencies IMRB International, AC Neilson-ORG MARG & TNS Mode. Each of these have international affiliates and experience and all-India network. The findings of the National Readership Survey (NRS) 2002 show that India's print media readership base has expanded by 10 per cent over the last two years. Since the last NRS survey in 1999, the print media have acquired 17 million more readers. The data may indicate that different media need not necessarily substitute one another.
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According to the NRS estimates, India's vast media industry reaches 180 million readers, 383.6 million television viewers, 189 million radio listeners and six million Internet users
How does NRS help a media planner? The NRS establishes a product-consumer profile linkage; consumption and ownership pattern among various target segments and their preferences, number of hours devoted in media. NRS provides segment wise readership surveys and overall size of each segment. INDIAN READERSHIP SURVEY [IRS] IRS is a study conducted to assess reach and penetration of all media. The IRS gives information on readership/ viewership/ listnership and net access for Press, Television, Cinema, Radio and the Internet. In addition the IRS captures product user ship information at both the household and the individual level. • The findings of this research are very critical for scientific and accurate media planners, especially for brands where huge budgets are earmarked for marketing/ advertising spends. Using the IRS, you can generate a complete multi-media evaluation of Press, TV, Radio, Cinema and Internet in India. IRS is the largest media survey ever conducted providing a single-source database for demographics, media habits and product / brand usage across 741 towns and more than 2200 villages. The IRS team of ORG-MARG covered the entire country, working exclusively on the IRS every day of the year. The team interviewed more than 200,000 households and 300,000 individuals This all-India survey was conducted jointly with the Media Research Users' Council (MRUC). It provides product / brand penetration information for over 50 different products allowing one to link media habits and product usage data for adults and children from the age of 12.
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PRODUCT OF IRS • IRS Media IRS Media data is collected to capture individual media habits. Readership of over 300 publications both English and languages, viewership of TV, channels and select programmes, additionally information on C& S penetration ,channels received and tuned, listener-ship of radio, visit to cinema and Internet access. Indian Demographics/ Consumer This report gives demographic information of urban and rural India such as age, sex, monthly household income, SEC, education, occupation, family composition, type of accommodation, etc.
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Indian Market Gives penetration at generic level of 79 products, FMCG's, durables covered in the survey. Rural Markets A special market report for rural India on assets like Land holding by type of land, Irrigation source, Electricity, Generator, Tractor, In house toilet, In house bathing facility, Steel cupboard and Time clock 49 Product Profiles Gives details of brand, frequency of purchase, number owned, type, pack-size purchased, years since acquired, etc, depending on whether it is an FMCG or durable product.
doc_193026064.doc
introductory document on Media management in advertising.
MEDIA
INTRODUCTION
One of the challenges faced by marketers in markets is inadequate awareness about brands, product and its usage. It is observed that low awareness level leads to ? High inertia to adopt new products. ? Reluctance to pay additional premium to pay for national brands ? Rampant usage of counterfeit brands. It is hence necessary to create awareness as well as preference for your brands among your audience. This calls for extensive advertising and mass marketing for attracting and retaining the target markets. An urge to increase the market share and beat the competition is the aim of every company. And all this is possible through advertising. Effective advertising refers to informing the public about the right product at the right time through the right medium. A right message through the wrong medium at the wrong time would definitely lead to a waste of resources. To get the most out of the advertising rupees sent, the primary concern of the advertiser is media selection. The cost of buying space or time is weighed against the number of audience secured by such advertising. Media ability covers such qualitative values as audience characteristics, editorial personality, and contribution to advertising effectiveness; above all it refers to “media image” capable of enhancing the perception and communication value of a given message. Hence, the media plays a very important role in entire process of reaching the target audience and retaining them.
ELEMENTS OF MEDIA
Evaluation of a particular medium for inclusion in a campaign rests upon what it contributes to the cumulative effect. Any medium comprises of 4 elements. • Character • Atmosphere • Reach and frequency • Cost In addition to this, we should also realize that the “value” contributed by the medium also depends upon the – size of the advertisement or length of the commercial and the position of the advertisement.
By the word “character”, we mean the objective characteristics of the medium; type of coverage, seasonal implications etc. By “atmosphere” we mean the effect on the mind or emotions of the mood and circumstances in which the advertisement in the medium is perceived by the audience. We shall now see these two elements in detail. (1) CHARACTER There are ten aspects to character. - Geography - Class - Age - Power to reach special groups - Physical characteristics of the medium - Assistance to selling - Duration of interest - Timing - Impact or repetition - Indirect effects on influential groups like retailers Geography. The coverage of every medium is limited by area. Coverage may be limited, as with a national newspaper to a national basis. Within this lies another limitation, as in a national paper may also have a strong degree of coverage in some areas and lighter degree in others. Coverage may also be limited as with a television or radio station to a specified “region. Within this it is further influenced by fluctuating factors like signal strength, booster transmitters or pattern of relay services. This factor is important not only to small regional advertisers but also to national advertisers whose sales patterns and resistance varies from region to region. Class. Most media have overwhelming bias towards any social economic class, being read and seen so widely that the class distinction is largely eliminated. But there are also many media in which the class bias is obvious or atleast definable eg. High priced fashion magazines are biased towards high society women. Age groups: The age factor may be extremely important for some products. For eg. Its no use trying to sell toothpaste to people with false teeth. General observation and common sense shows that certain types of media vehicles, by the virtue of their content itself, appeal to certain age groups rather than others. In contrast, certain other media evidently have equal chance of reaching all age groups eg. Posters, billboards etc. Power to reach special groups. Even within socio-economic groups there are certain special groups that could be important to advertisers. Different media are available for reaching a pre-selected target audience as required by the advertiser. Eg. The Motoring Times targets males interested in Motor vehicles.
Physical characteristics of the media: Another important character aspect is the physical characteristics of the medium. Whether it is oral, written or visual. Whether it admits movement or not, etc. For eg. A message that requires demonstration would use the television medium, but which require personal interactive demonstration would use exhibitions or POP demos. Assistance to Selling: Another aspect of character is the degree to which the medium assists the process of selling. Some advertisements aim at hard core selling where as some require the creation of a prestigious atmosphere. Mediums differ in the level of assistance to selling. For eg. Mediums like POPs have a high level of assistance as compared to television. Choosing the medium according to the advertising objective is extremely important. For eg. Using only down-to-earth mediums for the brand building exercise of expensive cosmetics would not only be detrimental to the brand but also poor returns for the money spent. Duration of interest. The time given by the audience to the advertisements in a particular medium is another very important aspect. Some advertising messages are just reminders so mediums which have only a few seconds of observer time like posters serve the purpose. But other messages may require mediums with higher duration of interest. Timing. The moment at which the message is seen or read is also of immense importance. For eg. For products that have a casual or impulse buying pattern, its imperative that the media used for advertising used is as close to the point of purchase as possible. The day of the week, month, time of the day, season etc also affect the degree to which the message is effective. Impact and repetition. The characteristics of the medium also affect the impact offered by the medium. For eg. An inch-high font size might be effective on a full page newspaper ad, but a foot high font size is totally ineffective for a hoarding. The cost of the medium also determines the ability to use it for repetitions. For messages where repetition is more effective then lengthy “once in a whiles”. Using TV for short advertisements is more effective then for longer duration films. Indirect effects on influential groups like retailers. Another important value of the advertising budget is that it gives the retailer confidence to stock the goods and to display them prominently. This confidence can be formed only when the retailer respects the ad or sees the ad in the course of events. This many a times becomes an important deciding factor between two equivalent media. For eg. For a women’s product sold through grocers, if the choice is between a women’s magazine and a daily newspaper, it is more likely that the grocer will see the ad in the newspaper, thus the newspaper is a more efficient medium.
(2) ATMOSPHERE The character of a medium is essentially a very objective and largely physical aspect. The other element is the subjective and atmospheric aspect of any medium. “Atmosphere” is the mood of the audience and the relationship between the message and the atmosphere of the medium carrying it. Evaluating atmosphere begins with drawing the distinction between media whose primary function is advertising eg. Posters, and media whose objective is different eg. Entertainment for television channels, where the advertising matter is the intruder, whether acceptable or otherwise. Many media have the ability to reach customers when they are deciding their purchases. Any advertising message at this moment is not only acceptable but is also considered helpful. This increases the level of assistance to selling tremendously. For eg. A magazine that talks about beauty and fashion is highly effective in telling its readers about the latest beauty products available. The atmosphere of this particular medium is highly conducive to the advertisements of beauty products. POPs as an example, rates very high on atmosphere as it is not only acceptable but also extremely relevant to the context. The customer is there to buy and these aid the process of selection. On the other hand, cinema, radio and television fall into the opposite category where advertising is generally intrusive. Another aspect of atmosphere is the character of the medium, the atmosphere in which the medium is viewed Cinemas are generally a cheerful escape for the audience into a world of glamour and fantasy. Advertising for happy, glamorous products would be more effective in this case rather than for hard core household products. The newspaper would be more effective for news oriented messages like an upcoming discount, or a sales promotion. Another variation of atmosphere lies in the “prestige” of the medium and particularly in its capacity to instill confidence in the buyer about the goods. For eg. National daily papers are more effective as a selling media rather than local weekly papers because their credibility is much higher. This aspect is two way, it follows the “company-you-keep” concept, where not only does the advertisement derive its atmosphere from the medium but also vice-versa.
MEDIA VEHICLES
Deciding to include advertising in the communication mix process is a relatively easy decision compared to deciding which media and media vehicle (for example which magazine or which cannel on TV, etc.) Most of the advertising budget gets spent on the media (and not the creative or production side).This is why a careful planning, negotiating and knowledge skills are very important. Expert media planners and buyers got the best out of the advertising by finding the right spaces or places for an ad campaign at the lowest cost.
There are a wide variety of media available today for the advertisers to choose from. The decision is depended on a lot of factors at the same time it is a very crucial decision since the success of the campaign is highly depended on the media selection aspect.
TYPES OF MEDIA VEHICLES
? Broadcast media: 1. television 2. radio ? Narrowcast media: 1. video and cable TV, 2. cinema ? Print: 1. Newspapers: (a) daily (b) Weekly (c) Sunday (d) Weekend supplement 2. Magazines: (a) Consumer magazines: general interest or special interest. (b)Business publications: trade publications, institutional publications, etc. ? Outdoor: (a) Billboards (b)Transit media ? Rural media ? New media BROADCAST MEDIA Broadcast media are quite young in comparison to the printed word. Fundamentally there are two main forms of broadcast: television and radio. Advertisers use these classes of media in order to reach mass audiences with their messages at a relatively low cost per target reached.
The media allows the advertisers to add audio and /or visuals to their messages. The media gives life and energy to the advertising message which is not really possible through other media. However people are normally unable and unwilling to become actively involved in the broadcast advertising message. They cant consume the pace at which the meaasge is seen and understood as the time is very short due to the cost aspect. The advertisers are also unable to provide excessive details and information. As a result the medium becomes more suitable for low involvement products. Advertising messages through the broadcast media use a small time period, normally 15 or 30 or 60 seconds depending on their budget and the availability. NARROWCASTING The word "narrowcasting" is particularly unique to the industry of media specifically that of broadcast media. It is, according to the dictionary, the ability to "aim a radio or TV program or programming at a specific, limited audience or consumer market." The practice came to the forefront with the advent of cable television. As this specialty media has matured, narrowcasting has become a fine art. In the earlier days of Indian television, the two major networks (doordarshans) dominated programming and sought to obtain the widest audience possible. They avoided programming content that might appeal only to a small segment of the mass population and succeeded in their goal by reaching nearly 90% (combined) of the television viewing audience on a regular basis. The networks maintained their stronghold until competition emerged through the addition of many independent stations, the proliferation of cable channels and the popularity of videocassettes. These competitors provided television audiences with many more viewing options. Consequently, the large numbers previously achieved through mass-oriented programming dwindled and "narrowcasting" took hold. With narrowcasting the programmer or producer assumes that only a limited number of people or a specific demographic group will be interested in the subject matter of a program. In many ways, this is the essence of cable television's programming strategy. Following the format or characteristics of specialized magazines, a cable television program or channel may emphasize one subject or a few closely related subjects. For example, music television is presented on MTV (Music Television), or Channel V, CMM.ETC, CNN (Cable News Network) offers 24-hour news coverage; ESPN (Entertainment Sports Network) boasts an all sports format; and Star TV, Zee etc, covers the family entertainment segment. Other cable channels feature programming such as shopping, comedy, science-fiction, or programs aimed at specific ethnic or gender groups highly prized by specific advertisers
NEW MEDIA Recent technological advances have increased the range of new media available to the advertisers to communicate with their prospects and the consumers. New media allows for far greater level of interactions between the advertiser and the receiver. The new media would include internet and short message service (SMS). New media is different from traditional media on a number of fronts, bu the most important beingthe time that elspses between message receipt and response. With new media the advertisers can target tightly clustered audiences with well defined messages.
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INTERNET ADVERTISING The World Wide Web is a hybrid medium, which shares characteristics with mass communication as well as interpersonal communication. The medium combines the ability of the mass media to disperse a message to a wider audience with some of interpersonal communication’s possibilities of feed-back and interaction. From a marketing view point, one of the implications of this is that exposure and action advertising and transactions can be integrated. Since the medium is interactive, users of the World Wide Web play a much more active role in the communication process than users of traditional mass media. Where traditional mass media are characterized by an information push, the communication processes on the Web are driven by a basic information pull, meaning that the control balance of the communication process has shifted in favor of the user. The immense body of information available to the individual user further pushes the control of the communication process towards the user, and has lead to a highly fragmented content structure that allows the individual user to pursue his specific interests. Internet advertising has gained significant momentum across the world and has become a part of the media mix that is being considered by advertisers worldwide.
TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING V/s INTERNET ADVERTISING
TRADITIONAL ADV. (TA) TA is static. Space is not a restricting factor The proportion of advertising to editorial is high sometimes 50:50. Does not evoke immediate action. Response to the action is not immediate.
INTERNET ADV. (IA) It is dynamic with multimedia- supporting text and graphics video sound all together. Space is a problem, as regards size of the banners etc. A web page would be 91% editorial and 9% advertising. Invokes immediate action as you at-least need to click on the ad. First response is immediate as when the user clicks, the person is directed to other web page with more details. The user has high attention level and concentration while using the net, and hence they notice the ad. (please refer the chapter) This can be very focussed. Advertisements catch users when they are on the lookout for some thing. For example the search is for travel on a search engine there are ads of travel agents on the net. This is quite possible with Internet advertisements. Both copy and graphics are restricted by the banner size specifications. There are no such constraints.
dvertisements are passively received.
Advertising does not always target a very focussed audience. Advertisements are ubiquitous.
Difficult to track the exact number of people who saw the advertisement. Ads are graphic intensive and avoid copy overload. The costs would be prohibitive to reach a global audience.
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SMS - Selling Made Smarter!
Introduction A significant addition to the increasing list of communication carriers, is that of SMS, Short Messaging Service. SMS has become the fastest, easiest and the most convenient way to communicate today. For reasons personal or professional, SMS works across purposes. The most recent application of SMS has been to reach out to the consumer offering him products and services just as any of the other mass media would. Be it in the form of promotions or advertising or even sales, the functionality of SMS usage is crossing all barriers. The Media Clutter Amongst the sea of communication channels hitting the consumer constantly, the actual message usually gets lost. Many a times, the possibility of the right message reaching the right target is also dwindled, not ruling out the fact that this has a direct impact on the costs shelled out for such activities. Unlike the mass media, SMS enables micro targeting, which ensures that there is no spillover of the communication. The use of this medium also allows the consumer to react to the communication on the spot, which helps measure the effectiveness of the campaign. Then there is always the option to explore the possibility of this medium being used to propagate word-of-mouth. Every single target that the communication is being sent to carries the potential to be the originator of a new chain of targets. It just depends on how interesting and action-provoking the message designed is for the chain to remain continual. SMS has graduated from a mere add-on service into a communication channel alongside voice calls in India. Media players too have picked up the pulse and are using this medium for many of its unique advantages. HBO promoted 'The Mummy Returns' contest via SMS which allowed consumers to respond using the Internet and SMS. The response to the warm-up contests was overwhelming with over 5000 responses received in the first week itself! BBC World, in its marketing of the ongoing quiz show `University Challenge', used SMS along with radio and the Internet (yahoo.com) as a medium for entries, and received more than 15,000 entries on SMS alone. Radio Mirchi broke new grounds in FM Radio interactive programming by auctioning a date with Kareena Kapoor. Listeners had to SMS their bid to 8888. The auction could be played by anyone with an access to a mobile phone. The bidding for the lunch date began with Rs 5,000 and on the first day of the two-day auction, there were already more than 1,800 responses and the bid has crossed Rs 85,600 in Mumbai alone. The proceeds of the auction were donated to Nav Nirman Foundation, a home for the poor, addicts and the mentally challenged.
Why use SMS advertising? When compared to other media, SMS was found to be the most efficient as SMS messages have to be read before they are deleted. Medium Reach Cost Strike Rate Television One of the Highest Very High Good Radio Medium Medium Poor Internet (Banner) High Medium Dropping Email High Extremely Low Extremely Low Print Media (Flyers) Low High High Billboards Medium Medium Medium Moving Media Medium High Medium Telephone Medium High Medium Fax Low Medium Low Standard Mailers High High Medium Personal Interaction Low High High SMS EXTREMELY EXTREMELY LOW EXTREMELY HIGH HIGH The only disadvantage of SMS advertising is – it is restricted to just 160 characters. So the advertising message has to be SHORT and FOCUSED yet POWERFUL! Future of SMS Marketing via SMS is the just the beginning of developing relations with the consumer. A lot of innovation has been observed in this aspect which has given more than the desired results. Selling via SMS has also started picking up momentum and will soon be at par with the figures of trading on Internet. There is an element of personalization in marketing via SMS, which increases the possibility of participation/ response by the consumer. This single aspect can drive the scope of SMS usage to great heights. Conclusion The fast growing trend of SMS usage for multi-purpose activities has generated the need to find out more about the profile of people who welcome SMS as a regular feature of their life. SMS developed in the quest for getting into the depths of not only the demographics of such users but also their psychographics and media habits.
INNOVATIVE MEDIA Innovative media focuses on alternative platforms of advertising which open up new avenues for advertisers. As technological breakthroughs facilitate better modes of communication, the emergence of new media has enhanced reach on several levels. The result is new advertising vehicles which are wider in reach, specific in targeting and most of all, lower in cost. i. Voice Reach: Voice Reach advertising is an exciting new medium for advertisers which enables them to broadcast audio messages to a precisely defined target audience. The idea behind this service is simple and powerful. It allows people to communicate with each other within and across cities, at the cost of a local telephone call. How it works is as follows. A person in Mumbai can call up a local number and leave a message for his friend, relative or business associate in Mumbai and Delhi. The system will deliver the message to the recipient's mailbox or voicebox, which can be accessed by calling a local number in Delhi. Thus, it provides the convenience of listening to a familiar voice, which otherwise is a rare occasion and expensive. It is cheaper than long distance calling, more convenient than e-mail and requires no knowledge of the Internet or PC. To hear/access the messages posted in their inbox, users have to hear a commercial announcement. These announcements are targeted according to the profile submitted by users at the time of registration. This service is not just convenient, but also completely free. Moreover, all the technology required to use this service is a telephone. All these factors promise to make the Voice Reach service immensely popular. Advertising & Promotions Voice Reach is undoubtedly an advertising platform with massive potential. As expected, this enormously valuable service is drawing users across all ages, occupations, socio economic classes and geographical areas of India. Advertisers, in effect, not only have an ever-growing user base to target, they also have the advantage of reaching out to their specific target group. Voice Reach advertising promises: o Better one-to-one marketing capabilities than the Internet o Guaranteed ad consumption : The advertisement comes before a user hears or sends messages o Target-based advertising o Interactive Advertising Commercial announcements are just the beginning of a strong line-up of services which Voice Reach offers.
Customised Promotions & Contests Everybody runs contests. But are these contests really effective? How many people do they reach? How many people respond? How many people actually remember to fill up a postcard, or send a fax (if they can), or remember to send an e-mail. The fact is - very few do. Geography is no longer a limiting factor, your audience can now be an active part of your contests just by dialing a local number. Make your television programs more interactive, let your viewers talk to you. Your viewers, anywhere in India, can call a local number and leave a message for you. These messages in turn will be delivered at your doorstep. A very valuable service for any broadcaster on television or radio. Voice Reach, thus, is the perfect medium to carry messages from the viewer to the broadcaster, enabling your audience to enter your contests with a simple phone call. Highlights o Customised contests - National Participation through a local calls. o Making TV shows more interactive o Messages transferred over a local telephone could be • Requests • Feedback • Queries • Opinion polls ii. The Vidiwall: The Vidiwall is an intensely captivating advertising medium which truly represents the best of today's technology. The Vidiwall is essentially a mega screen capable of broadcasting high quality audio-visuals, banners, logos & slides of stunning size, resolution and picture quality. Placed at Mumbai's premier shopping plaza, Crossroads, the Vidiwall is fast being recognized as a medium that grabs attention like nothing else. Vidiwalls, a trademarked Philips solution, have been adapted for dedicated Point-Of-Sale and Point-Of-Information usage. Known to have a tremendous impact on people, the Vidwall is a highly effective tool to maximize brand recall. The Vidiwall is an exceptional means for advertisers who wish to target Mumbaiites. Crossroads boasts of shopper strength of 10,000-20,000 footfalls per weekday and 32,000-60,000 footfalls per weekend. The minimum cummulative of which is 4,76,000 footfalls per month. The consumer profile of Crossroads' visitors ranges from SEC A/B/C+ lying in a Catchment area of Colaba to Bandra. Another interesting facet that speaks of the involving effect that the Vidiwall has on Mumbaiites is its arresting nature...the mean for one-time viewers of the Vidiwall is 2.9 mins, whereas, the mean for 2 or more time viewers is 4.3 mins. A clear indicator of its addictive nature.
INNOVATIVE RURAL MEDIA In addition to the conventional media vehicles, a lot of innovative mediums are used in rural advertising and marketing. Some of the most striking ones are: iii. Puppetry
Puppetry is the indigenous theatre of India. From time immortal it has been the most popular form and well-appreciated form of entertainment available to the village people. It is an inexpensive activity. The manipulator uses the puppets as a medium to express and communicate ideas, values and social messages. Life Insurance Corporation of India used puppets to educate rural masses about Life Insurance; enlisting the help of the literacy house in Luck now. These plays were shown to the audience in villages in UP, Bihar, & MP. The number of inquires at local Life Insurance Companies during the period immediately following the performance was compared with normal frequency and found to be considerable higher. The field staff of the corporation also reported a definite impact on the business. iv. Folk Theater
Folk theaters are mainly short and rhythmic in form. The simple tunes help in informing and educating the people in informal and interesting manner. It has been used as an effective medium for social protest against injustice, exploitation and oppression. Government has used this media for popularizing improved variety of seeds, agricultural implements, fertilizer etc. Punjab Agricultural University produced Two Audio Cassettes. A) Balliye Kanak Biye - Wheat Cultivation. B) Khiran Kepah Narme - Cotton Cultivation. Both were well received by farmers. BBLIL used Magician quite effectively for launch of Kadak Chhap Tea in Etawah. v. Demonstration:
"Direct Contact" is a face-to-face relationship with people individually and with groups such as the Panchayats and other village groups. Such contact helps in arousing the villager's interest in their own problem and motivating them towards self-development. Demonstration may be A. i. Method demonstration ii. Result demonstration B. i. Simple Demonstration ii. Composite Demonstration In result demonstration, help of audio -visual media can add value. Asian Paints launched Utsav range by painting Mukhiya's house or Post office to demonstrate that paint does not peel off.
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Wall Paintings
Wall Paintings are an effective and economical medium for advertising in rural areas. They are silent unlike traditional theatre .A speech or film comes to an end, but wall painting stays as long as the weather allows it to. Retailer normally welcomes paintings of their shops, walls, and name boards. Since it makes the shop look cleaner and better. Their shops look alluring and stand out among other outlets. Besides rural households shopkeepers and panchayats do not except any payment, for their wall to be painted with product messages. To get one's wall painted with the product messages is seemed as a status symbol. The greatest advantage of the medium is the power of the picture completed with its local touch. The images used have a strong emotional association with the surrounding, a feet impossible for even a moving visual medium like television, which must use general image to cater to greatest number of viewers. SWOT OF 5 TYPES OF MEDIA Selecting Advertising Media In addition to decideding upon the content, style and tone of the advertising message, the media through which the message will be communicated to the target audience must also be selected, be it television, newspaper, magazine, radio or other. In order to select the most appropriate media, consideration should be given to the advantages and disadvantages of each of the available types of media. In the table below we have identified commonly accepted advantages and disadvantages of each of the major media. This is followed by more detailed consideration of each of these media in latter sections of the article. Media Strengths and Weaknesses Media Strengths Television • Dynamic attention getting media, combining visual, sound and animated stimulus • Strong potential Impact & High market coverage • Good at demonstrating products • Enabling targeting
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Weaknesses High level of initial expenditure required ‘Now you see it, Now you don’t’ media, in that commercials are on the screen and gone within seconds Poor at communicating lengthy technical information Time consuming to
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through selection of viewing channels and slots between specific programme Role model advantage: here the advertisers have celebrities as endorsers. Celebes are role models of the youth and the youth always ape to be like them Creation of AIDA: advertising in TV attracts Attention that creates an Interest and Desire that can lead to Action in the form of final purchase.
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produce an ad TV ads alone do not suffice: in order to make the campaign successful TV ads have to be supported with other media like print or radio. Ads are very short to provide any detail information. Statutory controls: the TV ads have to adhere to the I&B rules. Surrogate advertisements have been banned
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Newspaper
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Targeting is possible through profiling readership Good level of market coverage Local advertising possible Inexpensive medium when used selectively. Reinforcement medium
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Static media, not suitable for product demonstration Potential for poor reproduction, sometimes limited to black and white print Quality of paper used is not very effective and reduces the attractiveness of ads Possibility of an individual advert being lost on a page of adverts Short-life span, i.e. yesterdays newspapers become today’s rubbish Informal reading: people may skip ads Audio communication
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Radio
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Mass use of radio by
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audience, particularly in cars on the way to work and home. 90% of India has access to Radio which is unmatched by any other media Very effective for reaching the large rural audience. High geographic and demographic reach Targeting is possible through selection of channel and programme Low literacy rates mean that the people hardly read newspapers and radio is the only medium that they can understand. They can’t afford a TV set. Therefore radio is the most popular.
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only Misunderstanding: sometimes there might be a misconception regarding the radio ad as it is only heard. Now you hear it, Now you don’t Lower attention levels than television from the audience RJ needs training: it is very important that the Radio Jockey is trained enough to deliver the ad. Sometimes the voice really matters. If the voice is irritating then there is a chance that the campaign may flop.
Magazines
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High quality reproduction, of color images Targeting is possible through specialist publications Coffee table effect – advert can be referred back to Good pass on readership Longer life span & reference value Good supplement to TV: magazines reach special target groups which is not possible
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Static media, not suitable for product demonstration Control of the positioning of adverts is often under the control of magazine editor, rather than the sponsor Lengthy lead-time between advert being placed and magazine being published
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only through TV ads.
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High repeat exposure to advert hence long life Relatively low cost Low levels of competition, in terms of advertising clutter It offers geographic selectivity. The marketer can vary the ad message according to the particular segment of the market.
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Outdoor
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Little audience selectivity / targeting possible Static media, not suitable for product demonstrations Difficult to monitor effectiveness Potential for damage, via weather and graffiti Outdoor advertising when employed on a national basis proves to be expensive.
Note All of the above media share one common characteristic, and as a result one common weakness, in that they are one-way communication, not requiring the audience to respond and thus not motivating the audience to pay attention in the same way required of twoway communication.
MEDIA MIX
After understanding the various aspects of each media separately and the advantages and the limitations of each, we can conclude that no single media would be able to reach the target population individually. The advertisers need to prepare an extensive media mix in order to accomplish their objective of maximum reach and frequency. Considering the advertising company’s marketing objectives will arrive this at, its target market, media characteristics, and it’s matching with the target market. Also, the overall advertising budget does influence the nature of such a mix, in addition to t he available gross audience. The primary need for a combination of media naturally arises from the necessity to reach more people in more ways than any single medium can encompass. There are few other needs too.
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The need for getting the campaign message over to different types of public, such as professional people as well as consumers, or retail traders as well as both. The combination of a short term and a long term element in the campaign’s objective, which cannot be satisfied within the limits of a single medium; e.g., the need for building up the product’s reputation while giving reminder at point-ofsale. The superimposition of a piece of marketing news, such as a new size or a special pack, on top of a steady long-term development of the brand image. The combination of a need for detailed and perhaps technical specifications with a more superficial appeal to a much wider market. The different attitudes which different sections of the population bring to the choosing of a given product, and the consequent need to catch each section in the appropriate mood. Competitive circumstances which necessitate a strong temporary impact superimposed on the steady long-term effort. Differences of buying psychology at different times of the year, e.g., holiday seasons compared with normal seasons.
CONCLUSION The importance of media can not be underestimated when considering planned communications. Each of the main classes and types of media that are available to advertisers have their own strengths and weaknesses. In addition, each media type has its own properties that are important to each situation faced by individual advertisers. Hence each selection and deployment should be based on a contingency approach. The general media are facing increased competition from the technology driven media. This has resulted in the fragmentation of the market and increased choice for advertisers in order to customize messages for particular, precise and well defined target markets.
MEDIA PLAN - CONCEPTS The place to start is, understanding media language. Some terms apply to all media; some apply only to broadcast or print.
GENERAL
? Cost per thousand: It is the cost to reach 1,000 things, whether households or
women or children. CPT reduces a variety of different audiences, costs and delivery to one common denominator. Always ask “Cost per thousand what?” COST PER THOUSAND (CPM) = Cost Per Spot ————————————— Number HH Watching ÷ 1000
If a television spot costs Rs.30,00,000 and reaches 3 lac homes, the cost per thousand homes is Rs. 1000(Rs.30,00,000 divided by 3,00,000) The CPT allows cross comparison across different media types and media vehicles.
? Impression: They represent the total number of messages delivered by a media
plan, whatever the media used-the number of people who see a message multiplied by the number of times they see it. The gross sum of all media exposures (numbers of people/homes) without regard to duplication. ? Frequency: frequency refers to the number of times the member of the target audience is exposed to a media vehicle. Factors determining the need for frequency • Complex messages need more frequency • More demanding advertising objectives need more frequency • Highly effective advertising generally requires lower frequency • When theory calls for exposure close to the purchase, higher frequency is needed
? Reach: reach refers to the percentage of target audience who are exposed to the message at least once during the relevant time period. If your media plan gets to four out of five homes, it is said to have an 80% reach. Media Reach In Metros All Media 93.8 93.2 91.9 93.3 Press 67.2 67.6 67.6 67.4 TV 85.6 85.1 81.8 93.3 Cable and Satellite(C&S) 35.2 32.6 37.7 34.8 Radio 30.1 18.5 20.4 24.9
4 mega metros 8 Mini metros 11 Other metros 23 Metros (overall)
Overall Media Reach TV 45 76 33 Press 34 59 24 TV (C&S) 21 23 20 Radio 12 31 05
All India Urban Rural
? Coverage: it is a term often used for reach, however should not be confused with reach. Coverage refers to the size of a potential audience that might be exposed to a particular media vehicle. For media planers, coverage (the size of the target audience) is very important. Reach will always be lower than coverage., as it is impossible to reach 100% of the target audience. For example, the size of the target audience may be 5 lakhs and the numbers of individuals who actually see the advertisement are 3.5 lakhs. Then in this case5 lakhs is the coverage and 3.5 lakhs is the reach of the media vehicle. ? Impact: impacts refer more to TV than to the press. Impact =the total number of people who see the ad multiplied by the number of times they saw it. ? Opportunity to see (OTSs): OTSs are the number of exposures or opportunities that a particular audience has to see a particular advertisement.
Two Philosophies of Media Planning • Both assume a fixed budget, with a forced trade-off between reach and frequency. •Traditional philosophy is to determine frequency needs, and let that drive reach.Current movement is toward maximizing reach and frequency.
? Circulation: The number of distributed copies of a publication . ? Primary audience: The number of users who get a magazine at a newsstand or in the mail as subscribers. ? Secondary audience (Pass-along readers): Readers who obtain the publication second hand, (i.e. from a reception room, from a friend/neighbor, etc.) in other words those who do not pay for the publication they are reading. ? Total audience: It is the total o primary as well as secondary audiences. ? Coverage: The percentage of a population group reached by a publication. ? Readership: Total number of individuals in a selected group (e.g., adults, males, females 18-34) that are estimated to recognize, or to have read or looked into a particular publication within an issues life cycle. The technical definition varies, depending on the method used to measure it. However it is measured, readership is a more useful tool for advertisers than is circulation.
TELEVISION
? Television Rating Points: These points were introduced in 1986 to assess the viewer ship of DD programmes by IMRB. The TRP survey is conducted in nine key metropolitan cities of India .The System reports on the daily viewer ship of individuals aged 8 years and above residing in TV owning homes of these cities.
The panel consists of 3214 adult members. Earlier each panel member recorded the viewer ship of different TV programmes in the diary specially given to him. The data then analyzed. The panel has two groups: Primary audience from TV owning household and secondary audience from non-TV owning households but who watch TV at least once a week. Programme’s rating point is the percentage of panel members who viewed those programmes. One TRP is equal to one percent of TV audience. To illustrate, if Ramayana gets 75 TRPs it means 75% panel members watched Ramayana during that week. TRP Weekly Reports provide data on the weekly viewer ship city wise for different programmes. The data are broken down for both the primary audience and the total audience (primary audience plus secondary audience). TRP Monthly Reports give data of frequency of viewing, overlapping of viewership amongst programmes, cumulative reach for different episodes of the same programme. They also give viewer’s profit. TRP reports are a good help for media planners. DD has started publishing weekly TRPs of its programmes. Feedback on viewership data is still not adequate. TRP is not representative enough This diary based system reports on the Quarter Hour ratings for Cable and, Satellite TV channels as well as the state owned terrestrial network. Currently, IMRB is in the process of phasing out this diary system by gradually launching its People Meter based TRP People Meter System. The TRP PeopleMeter System is currently operational in four major metros and is being extended to report on viewership at an All India level with a sample of 5,500 metered homes. ? TRP Constant Watch System The country's only electronic TV audit system currently monitors the advertising and programming appearing on 10 key channels. This system records the precise start and end times for each programme and commercial appearing on these channels. The commercial information is further classified by product category, brand and variant, execution and main message. Similarly, the programming information is also supplemented by programme type, language of programme and main/repeat telecast. In order to understand the calculation of the Rating it is necessary to understand a few terms: ? Television households (TVHH):
With households as the focus of most television ratings, this term was developed to express the number of households which have a television set in them.
The TVHH does not take into account whether the television set is being used. It is simply a hard count of households which contain a TV set and thus have the potential to watch television at all. This is, in effect, the population of TV households in a market (for local ratings) or the nation (for national ratings). ? Households using television (HUT): The number of households using television at a given time. HUT measures the number of households with their televisions on at this moment, regardless of who's watching.This varies by the time of day, the day of the week, the season of the year, and the area of the country. Television viewing goes up in the evening, and in the winter, raising the potential audience (and cost) for your commercial. ? Rating: It measures the number of households tuned into a particular program, as a percentage of the total households which exist in the local market (local ratings) or in the nation (national ratings). The Nielsen Television Index (NTI) is an example of a rating point index for national televisions. The Nielsen Station Index (NSI) is an example of a rating point index for local television ratings. Whatever the name, the formula is as follows: RATING = Households Viewing Program × 100 ———————————————— TVHH
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Example #1: If there are 250,000 television households in the city of Banglore, and 12,500 of them are tuned into a given television program on a particular evening, it can be said that the program has a 5% rating. Example #2: The same rating in different markets makes a substantial difference in the audience delivered to an advertiser. All of the following ratings are the same, but the number of households delivered varies dramatically:
Market Mumbai Chennai
TVHH
Rating Number of Homes 300,000 65,000
6,000,000 5 1,300,000 5
Tamil nadu 381,200 Total target market Target Rating Points =
5
19,060
Total target market exposures Target market population
? Gross Rating Points: This is the sum of rating points for a selected group of programs which an advertiser may wish to sponsor. The following schedule would give the advertiser exactly 14 "points" at a cost of 250,000 Program Rating Points Program A Program B Program C Gross Totals: 3.4 5.8 4.8 14.0 Cost Per Spot (in ‘000s) 40.00 150.00 60.00 250.00
MEDIA PRINCIPLES
How to use reach and frequency
1. Use them to determine if the media plan can achieve the goals of your strategy.If
your advertising objective is to get 50 percent of homes to be aware of your product or to try it, it can’t be done if your reach is less than 50 percent
2. Recognize that reach and frequency are interrelated. As reach goes up, frequency
comes down. You can’t have both unless you add more money and go to a different media plan. Determine the best balance for your objectives.
The relationship between reach, frequency and rating points is expressed in this formula: R x F = GRP If your plan delivers a 90 reach and a 4 frequency, the total GRPs in a four-week period will be 360, or 90 per week.
3. Be aware that the same words in different contexts can mean different things. A
medium that reaches young people or the frequency of newspaper advertisements in a schedule is not the same consumer exposure concept expressed in reach and frequency figures.
Two keys to success: frequency and continuity People’s memories are short. That was the finding of a German psychologist, Hermann Ebbonghaus, in 1885. What Professor Ebbinghaus learned was:
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People forget 60 percent of what they learn within a half-day. The more repetition, the better retention. Forgetting is rapid immediately after learning, and then levels off.
These facts are fundamental to two media issues: first, the relative importance of frequency versus reach: second, the value of continuous advertising.
People forget quickly. Advertisers who seek to reach a broad audience at the expense of sufficient frequency among key prospects risk wasting all their advertising.
If your product is one that people are always in the market for-soap or toothpaste-the need for “reminder” advertising is obvious. But frequency is just as important for products purchased only occasionally-cars, headache remedies. The message must be there when people are ready to purchase.
Repetition aids retention. Most of the great advertising success stories are ones of frequency. Even low-spending brands usually succeed by concentrating messages against a select audience. Don’t aim for a broad target with a small budget. Better to reduce the reach objective and aim for a smaller audience-with sufficient frequency to be effective. This may mean advertising in fewer markets, advertising some products but not others, or advertising only in vehicles that reach a precisely defined group of people. Your message needs continuity as well as frequency, it it’s to be remembered. If money were no consideration, plans would all call for continuous advertising for 52 weeks at high levels. Since that isn’t practical, compromises must be made between effective levels and budgets. And a compromise is reached between bursts and continuous advertising. Each product’s need for frequency depends on its purchase cycle, its stage of development, competition, and the advertising copy.
THE AGENCY PROCEDURE
The various stages through which a media plan evolves within an agency are quite complex. They will vary from agency to agency, and within agencies, from account to account. The variations will depend on the size of the problem to be tackled, the agency’s organization and its relations with its clients. The following figure illustrates the sequence, which will be followed, more or less, in the planning of most large campaigns conducted by sophisticated advertising agencies on behalf of the sophisticated clients.
PLANNING MEETING The initial planning meeting is usually a large one and will comprise senior people working on the account, and possibly the agency management: the account director and his team, and creative and media personnel will take part. In some cases the client may be represented. The purpose of this meeting is formally to evaluate the current progress of the brand, and its market, and the intentions for the period under review (usually the following financial year). The outcome or end result of the meeting should be a draft marketing strategy, which outlines the way in which the agency feels the brand’s targets should best be achieved.
CLIENT APPROVAL This draft will then be discussed with the client, the agency being represented possibly by the management, certainly by the account team. When approved, the marketing objectives from the basis of both creative and media work. DEPARTMENTS WORKING At the next stage the creative and media departments work separately, although it is necessary for them to confer together as frequently as possible. The media plan for the current year will be critically examined for its strengths and weaknesses and the evidence of any available media tests considered. Changes that have taken place in the media scene since the current plan was developed; together with necessary changes in strategy flowing from changed marketing objectives, will be discussed. Most importantly, the likely effect on the media choice of the basic creative appeals, which are being developed, will be taken into account. Creative requirements likely to have a critical effect on the media plan are clearly those of movement and colour. It is likely at this stage that the account team will be in fairly constant touch with both the creative and media departments. Indeed Stephen King has argued very eloquently that there really can be no chicken and egg in the creative media situation; both have to evolve together. From this view has sprung the title of Campaign Planner, although the function he fulfils varies from agency to agency. Media planning, atleast in broad-brush strokes is always part of his assignment; and he may also be concerned with account handling, research and the creative input.
DRAFT MEDIA AND CREATIVE STRATEGIES
From these vital deliberations will flow draft media and creative strategies. These will be submitted to the client for his approval and it is usual for those who have been involved in their creation to be present to argue their case. ANALYSIS OF PLAN AND DATA Once these basic strategies have been approved, detailed work can commence. At this stage it is still necessary for media and creative personnel to plug closely together, since a vital factor for discussion will be size of the space, or length of time, which is required to carry the advertising message. The bulk of media planner’s task is now concerned with the accumulation and analysis of data. It is sufficient to say here that whether a model is used to assist in the production of a plan or not, similar procedures have to be gone through. The principal differences arise because the computer is able to consider may more variables at one time than a planner can without its assistance. For the use of a media model, all judgments have to be quantified. MEDIA SCHEDULE From a computer printout, or from his own calculations, the planner will now have a series of media vehicles, together with number of insertions in each of them. To turn this into a schedule, he needs to consider the spread of the campaign over time; he will then embody the whole of his thinking into a proposal, for submission to the agency plans board.
PREPARING PROPOSAL When this hurdle has been cleared, the total package, usually in the form of a document containing the full campaign plan, marketing, media and creative, together with ancillary recommendations for perhaps research and merchandising, will be presented to the client. The agency presentation team will usually include agency management, together with all senior personnel who have been responsible for creating the plan. Once it is agreed, the schedule is returned to the media department for buying. Of course, if at any stage during the development of the plan there is a rejection, then the re-cycling process has to start and everyone has to try again. The advantage of obtaining client approval of strategies is that the problem is broken down into manageable portions. If the client sees nothing until he sees the final plan, he may well find himself in disagreement with the original marketing strategy, and much time will have been wasted.
THE PROCEDURE DIAGRAM
MEDIA BRIEF
The brief Their media brief was to basically cover these 3 points – • To develop a composite media plan using all available forms of media so as to ensure that the key target markets are reached with the core messages. • To create better awareness of the use of Debit Cards.
• To build the SBI Debit Card “brand”. To encourage more users to use the Debit Card services provided The media brief can be referred to as a checklist for the media planners to help them prepare media plan for a client organization. Media planning is not an isolated function but an integral part of an overall campaign planning. Hence a media planner needs to have a thorough knowledge of all the variables. Media brief gives a background to the whole planning. It will cover details on the product/service, the overall marketing strategy, and the proposition being made. Ideal media brief. In other words, what should it contain to help the media planner in making an ideal plan to help facilitate decision-making at the client’s end? With the proliferation in the media and media markets becoming more complex, given the heterogeneity of the target audience, special efforts are made to prepare the media brief. A good media brief should ideally include the following: ? Marketing information checklist: This should reflect the marketing objectives and proposed strategies, product characteristics, distribution channels, brand category, expenditure level and ad. expenditure of close competitors, ad. expenditure for the current, previous years and proposed appropriation. The objectives: The media brief must indicate the objective or objectives; the proposed advertising is trying to accomplish. This must clearly indicate whether the objective is to introduce a new product, increase awareness about the existing brand, reinforce the current position, reposition the current brand, relaunch a declining brand, elicit direct response, improve or enhance the company’s reputation or change the people’s attitude towards the company, brand or product category. It would also indicate the source of business, i.e., the target audience, profile of the current users, proposed users, etc.
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Product category information: It is pertinent for the media planner to have a thorough knowledge about the product category and the positioning of the brand being handled. This helps in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the brand and also helps in setting achievable targets.
A brief description is required with respect to the product itself, its uses, the pack, the price, the method of distribution,etc. what sales movement are taking place with respect to the product of this category, is the market expanding or is steady. With respect to competitors, how are their brands advertised or promoted.Is it an established brand or a new brand fighting for a bench head. The other information details can be : market share of the various brands, sales volume of each brand, life cycle stage for brand/category (new, mature, stagnating or near extinct), market expansion opportunity, interest level (high/low), responsiveness to advertising, purchase cycle of the product-to help determine the scheduling pattern. ? Geography/location: The media brief helps the planner in knowing his media markets. In other words, for example, if the product is only available in the metros, then the planner will restrict his media options to only those vehicles, which reach the target audience in the metros. In case, however, the product is being launched on all-country basis, the media planner although keeping in view the holistic approach will also keep in mind the consumption pattern in various geographical locations for giving relative weightage to areas, where the product usage is more. Besides this, he will also keep in view the brand development index, sales volume and local market problems and opportunities. Seasonality/timing: Information regarding seasonality of the product is an important consideration for the media planner. In the Indian context, where there are extreme climates in different parts of the country at the same time, some products are season-specific.
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The sale of woolens is always there in the hilly areas especially, Srinagar, Himachal Pradesh and higher reaches of Uttar Pradesh, while in southern India, except probably in some parts of Karnataka, woolens are generally not available. The North experience severe cold for some months, hence one sees a spurt in advertising during this period. Besides, the planner should keep track of the sales pattern, influence factors such as festivals, holidays and the weather, spending considerations, specific sales promotion drive, and client mandated spending constraint, etc. Even in case of rural advertising generally the consumers have a high buying power immediately after the harvest hence showing advertisements at this point of time would be a good strategy then showing it all year round.
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Target audience: it will be futile to aim the advertisements at every body. In that way the effort is diffused and no one thinks the advertisement is meant for him. Hence there should be a precise definition of the people the advertising is to reach. The definition of the target may be a simple.
A profile of those who buy the existing category as also those who buy competitive brands is a very important consideration for the media planner. Buying habits must also include information about buying cycles, purchase points, frequency of purchase, etc. This helps the planner to know the consumer characteristics by category, brand and competitor; demographics-age, income, education, occupation and motivation; special market segments like doctors, architects, children, etc. as also media usage data for heavy users, light users of various media vehicles. ? Budget: At the briefing stage the planner also needs to know the media budgetafter the cost of producing the advertisement and the other expenditures have been deducted.
In a nutshell, the media brief should aim at answering-in which markets are the media to be concentrated; what is the product category-media relationship; how do competitors use the media; who is the media talking to (the specific target audience); and how much weight needs to be placed on various media in terms of ad appropriation.
MEDIA PLAN
This is a document which has to convince the client that a logical recommendation has been made. It must inform the buyers who are to execute the plan exactly what is required of them. The Media Plan provides media planning & buying services for all media including TV, cable, radio, print, outdoor, transit, online and new media. A plan that sets forth the exact media vehicles to be used for advertisements and the dates and times that the advertisements are to appear. The best media plans are developed with a complete understanding of the marketing communications and business objectives of the client's campaign. This is understood from the media brief that is provided by the client to the advertising agency. The firms then develop customized, integrated media planning and buying of media across all disciplines. The media plans and buys seek to accomplish the following: Media planning and buying (print, radio, television):
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Increase media visibility, impact and value while achieving overall efficiency Establish customized focused media objectives for target, geography, timing and communications levels Prioritize reach and frequency and assign weighting factors to response levels Negotiate the lowest possible rates Maximize exposure through value-added opportunities Track results for quick adjustments and optimization of media performance Identify special events and guerilla marketing approaches for uncluttered exposure
MEDIA PLANNING
The media person figures out where you’re advertising should run. He or she looks over all the media vehicles that might be useful and recommends the most effective environment for your message. He or she also tries to determine how to spend your advertising rupees most effectively and backs up recommendations with solid statistical data and other information. Media planning will mean budgetary constraints, allocating funds and the physical scheduling of events through the press, television, cinema, radio, outdoor advertising or the new medias like internet or SMS, etc.
STEPS IN MEDIA PLANNING: 1. DECIDING ON TARGET MARKETS: Every media plan begins with target audience. The target audience can be classified in terms of age, sex, income, education, occupation and other variables. The audience can also be classified as children, teenagers, young adults, office goers, newly married couples, parents, grandparents, etc. The classification of the target audience helps the media planner to understand the media consumption habits, and accordingly choose the most appropriate media or media-mix The media planner can also select the most appropriate programme (in case of radio and TV) to insert advertisement. Matching media and market Advertisers must always attempt to match the profile of the target market with the demographic characteristics of a given medium’s audience Let us consider an example of cigarette advertising. The target market for this is men in the age group of 25 to 60 years. The advertiser would consider placing ads in magazines having a predominantly male readership. Advertising in magazines having a predominantly female readership would be mostly wasteful for this product. It may be true that rarely does any magazine have a 100 percent male readership. Even so, when selecting a predominantly men’s magazine, the advertiser would minimize wasteful expenditure. Some media, such as general interest consumer magazines and newspapers, network radio and television offer to an advertiser the means of transmitting ad messages to a cross-section of the consumer market. Against this, some other media, such as spot radio and television, special interest magazines, business publications, and some business newspapers offer the means of reaching selective group of audience. The selectivity offered by some media is useful for advertisers, for it enables them to reach a distinct target market with minimum waste. In fact, a great deal of information on the media about their demographic characteristics is provided by the media themselves. The objective of any media planner is to achieve the best possible matching of the media and the market.
2. DECIDING ON MEDIA OBJECTIVES: The media planner has to decide on the media objectives. Media objectives often are stated in terms of reach, frequency, gross rating points and continuity. Media objectives You can contribute most to the media process in the definition of objectives (what you want the plan to accomplish) Before media planning can start, companies have to define the marketing objectives of the product/ idea proposed to be advertised. For example, if a professional camera manufacturer decides to launch an automatic camera to expand his market, his marketing objective would be to reach those segments of the population who are photo enthusiasts but do not want to be hassled by the intricacies of operation of professional cameras, the fun loving people who want to capture moments of joy and togetherness. The manufacturer may also target the existing professional camera users to consider a replacement in order to have the pleasure of an automatic camera, which obviously will be faster, having mastered the manual one. The marketing objective, hence, would be to extend distribution into new geographic markets or income groups as also the current users of cameras The following could b the media objectives
1. To reach photo enthusiasts of that age and income group who are the chief purchasers. 2. To concentrate the greatest weight in urban areas where the target audience would normally be found and where new ideas gain a quicker response. 3. To provide advertising support at a consistent level except when it needs extra weight during announcements and the holiday season, when such target buyers are planning to visit exotic places or to meet their kith and kin. 4. To select those media, which will help strengthen the creative strategy and help demonstrate convenience, ease of shooting and, of course, excellent results. The “Hot Shot” camera with the’Khatak’ sound became an instant success with the photo enthusiasts in the late eighties in India. 5. To reach target buyers through those media to gain greater frequency and lesser cost per opportunity Media objectives are built around answers to five questions: who, when, where, how often, and in what way?
WHOM DO YOU WANT TO REACH? This refers to defining of the target audience. Defining the target audience objectives is a critical activity in a media plan. The audience consists of people in a specific age, income, educational, occupational, social and ethnic group. While choosing the media one must bear in mind that the target is never a faceless mass of people. They are definable to precision. Not “primary emphasis on men” but “70 percent of messages directed to men, 30 percent to women.” Let us take the example of a few product categories to understand the concept more closely. Dove is premium soap, the most expensive of all the brands available in the Indian market. The product is targeted not at the very young but at the busy woman, be age a professional or mother of young children, whose whole life “revolves around children” or the “lazy” one, not getting any time to bother abut her looks. Such a woman is modern but not a feminist. Dove, which claims to have ¼ moisturizer, is an answer to her lifestyle. If she uses Dove, the need for cream or moisturizer is taken care of. Such a woman is up-market, mobile, moving in social circles, is successful and above all, wants to look good and feel good. And most importantly, money is no consideration for her in such purchases. The choice of the media hence, would keep in view their psychographic profile. Magazines, like Femina, Savvy and Stardust against Sarita Mukta or Women;s Era would be preferred. Television, of course, will have the multiplier effect. WHEN DO YOU WANT TO REACH THEM? Do people buy your product year-round, or [primarily in the summer, or on weekends or just when it rains? Some products are keyed to holidays-crackers for Diwali, colours around Holi, etc. On the basis of this we may decide whether you want the money to be spread evenly or thinly over the year. We may concentrate it in some periods, while it may not be advisable to advertise at other times. For example, if the advertising is aimed at school children, drawing their attention on fun products around examination time is of no use. Similarly, if the product is targeted at the Indian rural folks, the harvest season, which comes twice a year, will not be the right time as their attention would be towards their crop Also, the higher the price tag, the longer the longer the lead-time. Travel to Europe peaks in the summer, for example, but the decision is made in the spring.
Hence, allocate the media to periods when people decide to buy, not necessarily when they make the purchase. WHERE DO YOU WANT TO REACH? The next decision is with respect to the geographical distribution of media. Whether to advertise nationally or locally-maybe the hardest decision for national marketers. The problem arises mainly in case of television or radio, where the amount of money to be spent is very huge and hence the amount of money to be allocated to each region has to be decided. The same applies to other media also, especially outdoor and cinema, whose regional distribution is closely controlled. All business is local-and varies all across the country. Hence it is essential to be specific in describing the key markets and what percent of business they represent. The brand development index (BDI) identifies your best markets in terms of sales per thousand populations. You may sell more in Mumbai than Chennai, but Chennai people may be better customers. Beyond markets, you’ll want to identify where your prospects live in terms of country size, city size, suburbs, etc. HOW OFTEN DO YOU WANT TO REACH THEM? The issue of advertising intensity is a complex question. It involves concepts of audience reach and frequency and impact. The media objectives, however, should include goals for the minimum number of messages necessary to make a sale, and how those messages should be timed. IN WHAT WAY DO YOU WANT TO REACH THEM? The best environment for the copy, for example. Does it require color or action? Would it be more effective in a news medium or one that offers service information to women? Should it have an impact on the trade (to get displays) or on employees (to improve morale)? Special considerations like these must be considered as objectives. BOROSOFT MEDIA STRATEGY Overview Pre-launch market research indicated that BoroPlus & Boroline found usage primarily as skin creams for the problem of dry skin in winters, rather than for their antiseptic properties. .
• Targeting women, the brand focused its usage as a face cream thereby creating perceptions of a ‘cosmetic’ antiseptic cream, unlike other antiseptic creams that were seen as multi-purpose, family products. • In the very first season the brand achieved a 9% share of the Antiseptic Cream market for dry & chapped skin. • Over the next three years, the brand strategy was to reinforce the non-sticky positioning, provide rational support for the use of a nonstick cream & create cosmetic associations with the brand, thereby enhancing brand imagery. Key Issue • The brand mapping exercise indicated that while BoroSoft was clearly being perceived to be high grooming, its associations with the attribute of ‘protection’ was lacking. • And in a category that is largely functional, it is important for a brand to be perceived as providing the key category benefit –protection from winter dryness’. Communication Task • To strengthen the ‘protection’ association of BoroSoft Antiseptic Cream for the problem of skin dryness, while continuing to maintain the cosmetic associations of the brand. Target Audience • Females, 18-35 yrs., SEC A, B, C. • Core Target Audience: Current users of BoroPlus & Boroline. The brand packaging was given a new look in the year 2000 as the brand communication focussed on positioning it as a face cream. Media Strategy • Being a seasonal product (for dry skin), the majority of the brand’s sales occur in the winter period from November to February. • Therefore, high decibel TV advertising in these winter months has been the media strategy, in order to achieve high top-of mind awareness in a short period. • The TA being women, the programme selection primarily consists of popular family soaps.
3. MEDIA EVALUATION After the objectives are defined there is a need to evaluate each media in order to reach a conclusion about the type of media that will be most effective for the accomplishment of the objectives. The objects of the evaluation are: 1. 2. 3. 4. To see which media are feasible. To pick the main medium. To prepare for the decision on how it should be used. To see whether there are suitable supporting media if required.
Creative suitability: There may be obvious reasons why a particular medium is especially suitable for the campaign or another is unsuitable, a coupon is to be included or the absence of colour is critical. Often the preference of the creative group is not backed up by concrete evidence but they have strong views nevertheless about the media to use and those not to use. The agency is not in the business of reaching consumers with exposures of advertisements (which tend to be the media department’s natural criterion), but in the business of selling the product. So if the creative choice looks at all reasonable in media terms, it is usually sensible for the planning to accept it. Sometimes the creative choice is unreasonable and may have been reached without full consideration of the alternatives. An idea: Sometimes a media idea, or better an idea which involves media and creative content, is ‘obviously’ right or simply a novelty, which is expected to attract attention and so work. A press advertisement in the shape of the product, using publications that have never before carried this type of advertising, a radio commercial announcing ‘officially’ there is now no shortage of the product, a TV commercial that starts with silence and black screen, a poster that looks like a shop window and so on. Sometimes a change is as good as an increased budget. Proven effectiveness:
When there is evidence that a particular medium is the most efficient, the choice is obvious. The evidence may come from the tests on our own product or from a study of competitor’s activities. The advertiser often insists on using the same medium as before, even without testing its effectiveness. The best predictor of an advertising schedule is the schedule for the previous year. This is not always laziness. It is partly because the media scene is not very different from year to year: media change is dictated by a major shift in the market place, a new medium, a new definition of the target, or a new advertising idea. Advertisers resist change because it involves more risk than to continue with a proven, viable strategy. Availability and timing: The type of product or copy claim may prevent the use of a medium- this is most likely to rule out TV, on which, for example cigarettes are not advertised. The flexibility required by the advertiser, for example being able to cancel or change advertising at a few days’ notice, may also rule out a medium-for example it may make colour press impossible. Competition: “We can’t come off the box, that’s where our competitors are.” ‘Look, there’s no advertising for this product in women’s magazines: let’s dominate there.’ Of the two policies- match the competition or avoid it- the first is more common in media choice. This may be because the main purpose of the advertising is defensive- to reassure existing buyers and reassure existing buyers and diffuse competitors’ attacks. It may also be a fear of leaving him to dominate a medium. Or the medium normally chosen is simply the most suitable for that product group. Or the consumer and the trade have come to expect the advertising to be in that medium and look for it there, so it works best there.; on the same principle, shops often do better together in the High Street than scattered over the town. These arguments apply to large advertisers: McDougalls will not leave spillers to be the only large flour manufacturer on TV, nor Cadburys leave TV to Mars. But for the small budgets it could be inefficient to hit competition at knee-level. A small advertiser might do better to dominate a less used medium. 4. CHOOSING AMONG MAJOR MEDIA TYPES: The media planner has to know the capacity of the major media types to deliver reach, frequency, and impact. The major advertising media along with their costs, advantages, and limitations are to be well understood. Every media plan requires that specific media types be selected – Doordarshan, Direct mail, satellite TV, newspapers, magazines, etc. Media planners must consider several variables before choosing among major types:
? Target –audience media habits: This is the most important factor. Housewives watch more of television, whereas, working women go for magazines. Again television programmes have different viewers. For instance, “world this week” is viewed by teenagers and young adults. Therefore, it would be advisable to advertise during “World this week” such products which are of interest to teenagers and young adults. Radio and television are the most effective media for reaching teenagers. ? Products: Products that require demonstration can suit for television. For example, the demonstration of the use of a vacuum cleaner by Eureka Forbes. Financial advertising such as new issue of shares is good in newspapers. Women's dresses are best shown in color magazines, and Polaroid cameras a best demonstrated on television. Media types have different potentials for demonstration, visualization, explanation, believability, and color. Again there are media restrictions on certain products. For instance, alcoholic drinks and cigarettes cannot be advertised in press as well as on DD and AIR, hence these two options are totally ruled out. ? Message: The type of message dictates the type of media. For example, an ad that features technical information is best suited for specific magazines. Again, an ad from retailer announcing major sale on discount requires more of local newspapers. ? Cost Factor: Television is very expensive, where as, radio is very economical. However, cost is not the only factor, even if it is calculated on the basis of cost per- person reached. The impact of the media is to be taken into account.
5. SELECTING SPECIFIC MEDIA VEHICLES:Once a decision is made on media types, specific media vehicles within each medium must be chosen. For instance, the media planner may take a decision to select only magazines. The question now appears in which magazines. There are several classes of magazines- General interest like Reader’s digest, Women Interest magazines like Femina, Savvy, Elle, Business interest magazines like Business India, Business Today. If the decision is to select Business Interest Magazines- then the media planner may consider the following:
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Business India Business World Fortune India Dalal Street Journal Business Today Advertising & Marketing
Checklist for media selection Factor Ad budget Low budget High Budget Competition Heavy Large budget of a competitor Marketing objectives of a competitor New products for mass markets Improving market share – new uses Pull Effect Awareness, recognition of corporate status Copy Technical and complex Rational, high frequency to begin with them Emotional Creative, newsworthy Dogmatic, surge to begin with, then Consumption pattern Seasonal purchases, expect peak periods with Reach Objectives Frequency Continuit y Pulsing
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Irregular purchases Inducing favorable attitudes to impulse buying Elaborate decision making to buy the product, alternate Consumer loyalty Brand choice – regular products Lengthening of purchase cycle
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6. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS: The planner should then decide on the amount of funds that would be allotted to each media type and vehicle. Here the planner will decide on the number of units of each media vehicle. The media selection is a trade off. With a given budget, what is the most cost-effective combination of reach, frequency, and impact? Reach is most important when launching new products, flanker brands, extensions of well- known brands, or infrequently purchased brands, or when going after an undefined target market. Frequency is most important where there are strong competitors, a complex story to tell, high consumer resistance, or a frequent-purchase cycle. For instance, if the media planner selects television, then he should decide on the programmes and the number of ads of specific duration (10-20-30 seconds) in each program. Suppose the planner selects TV and within it the serial Son Pari and the Hindi Feature film. Then how many ads and what duration should be inserted at the time of Son Pari and that of Hindi Feature film must be decided. Accordingly, money must be allotted. Again if the advertiser selects television and magazines, then amount must be allotted to each media type and the specific programmes and magazines. As far as magazines are concerned, the planner should decide on: ? Whether to use color ads black and white ads. ? Whether to use full page or double – spread page. ? How many publication issues to be used. Accordingly funds are to be allotted among various magazines- page size wise, color wise and repetition wise.
Media cost and media ability To get the most out of the advertising rupees spent, the primary concern of the advertiser is media selection. The cost of buying space or time is weighed against the number of audience secured by such advertising. In fact, buying advertising space or time is nothing different from buying commodities. Usually, the question is asked: “How wide an audience do I get for every rupee I spend?” The media cost should be commensurate with the measure of the media’s ability to carry the message to the target audience. Media ability covers such qualitative values as audience characteristics, editorial personality, and contribution advertising effectiveness; above all it refers to a “media image” capable of enhancing the perception and communication value of a given message. For example, Channel A and Channel B deliver the same message and the same extension of advertising exposure to the same audience; but if, say, Channel A has a better reputation for honesty and good editorials, the advertisement in this may receive a higher perception and communication among its audience than if it is inserted in Channel B. The selectivity offered by some media is useful for advertisers, for it enables them to reach a distinct target market with minimum waste. In fact, a great deal of information on the media about their demographic characteristics is provided by the media themselves. The objective of any media planner is to achieve the best possible matching of media and the market. The media ability is measured under the following heads: 1. Distribution Measurement: Expressed in the number of copies circulated. 2. Audience Measurement: Expressed in terms of audience size, audience composition and the amount of audience exposure. 3. Exposure Measurement: The advertiser looks for the ability of the media to create advertising exposure. Once the media have produced the desired exposure, the quality of the message will determine the subsequent impact in terms of perception, communication and behavioral response. Magazines have different images in the eyes of readers, such as thorough coverage of subject matter; impartial and accurate reporting; stimulating reading; modern and up-todate; good style of writing; personalized, etc.
However, the availability of media during specific hours of the day or night has an important bearing on media selection. In various television or radio programmes, time may not be available even if the advertiser is prepared to pay premium rate. This is true of newspapers, too. Sometimes, a specific space in the total layout is not available. Some advertisers ask for space on the front page, which may not be available because it has already been booked, and is no longer unreserved. Summarizing media selection factors, we may say that they are: 1. Media characteristics, such as editorial environment, flexibility, frequency and durability; 2. Nature of the target market; 3. The nature and type of the product; 4. The nature of the distribution network; and 5. Overall cost of the medium 7.MEDIA BUDGET Show me the money There are two primary methods of determining your advertising budget more specifically. First is the cost method, which theorizes that an advertiser can’t afford to spend more than he has. This seems to be the most popular method used in associations. The second method, the task method, is used when associations base their advertising budgets on the amount of money needed to attract the customer or sell the product. An association using the task method typically determines how much money is needed based on past expenses to produce results. Start small Unless you are launching a national campaign, build your advertising budget based on local and regional pricing and opportunities. Consider advertising opportunities with other professional organizations. A local charity sponsors a chamber of commerce event. Chambers have business people who are more than willing to share their time, talents, and checkbooks. Sometimes the results can be two-fold: a donation and a new volunteer for your cause. Word-of-mouth advertising could be the best dollar you ever spent. What will this cost? Your budget will determine when and where you can advertise. There are four basic ways to determine what your budget should be. And don’t forget, your budget doesn’t just include media costs, but production costs as well.
Task Objective Method - This is just a way of saying, how much you have to spend to reach your objective. For example, you want to reach 50 percent of your audience. How many people do you have to reach? How many times do you have to run an ad? How much does each ad cost? It identifies how much and what kind of media can be purchased at various budget levels. It selects a level that buys what is desired for the brand. Tracking past results and replicating past successes represents another way of pricing the brand's ad budget. Historical Method - This method uses a base budget and then increases the budget each year by a certain percentage. For example you have $10,000 to spend this year, then next year you increase it 5% to be $10,500. Percent-of-Sales Method - For this, you can take a percentage of your sales as your advertising budget. The tricky thing is that you have to forecast your sales. Here is the formula to help you along: Step 1: Past Advertising Rupees = % of Sales Past Sales Step 2: % of Sales X Next Year’s Sales Forecast = New Advertising Budget (Average advertising budget will run about 20% of your sales.) Combination Method - You are never stuck with one method. Many companies chose multiple methods and pick a plan that is right for them. You need to evaluate your situation. How much can you afford and what will it take to reach your objectives? Affordable Method •Funds remaining after budgeting for everything else are dedicated to communications Problems: •No strategic orientation •Can lead to under- or over-investment in advertising When most of us try to determine how much to invest in the future we go through the same drill. Based on how much we make, we deduct our monthly and special expenses, put a little emergency money aside and the rest gets invested (if anything is left over). We invest sometimes for a quick return, but for the most part we are looking assure our future with equity. Marketers do much the same thing to arrive at advertising budgets, since they represent an investment in both the short and long-term future of their brand.
Among the many methods employed is the Share of voice method to determine the budget allocation, wherein the budget is set by spending to a share of media money spent in the marketplace among all competitors in the brand's category. And there is the good old A/S ratio where the marketer examines the amount other competitors in the category spend in relation to sales and then approximates that level for his own brand. Sometimes, in a fit of even-handedness, all of these methods are used and a compromise is struck.
8. MEDIA SCHEDULING: The media planner should then prepare a media schedule. Media scheduling refers to the programming of media insertions. This seeks to establish when the messages are transmitted in order that the media objectives are achieved at the lowest possible costs. The scheduling depends on a number of factors: ? Advertising objectives: if objectives are short term, then the placements should be concentrated over a short period of time. Conversely if awareness has to be created or a new brand is to be built, then the frequency of placements need not be so intensive and can be spread over a longer period so that learning can occur incrementally. ? Nature of product- consumer usables, durables or industrial ? Nature of sales-whether seasonal or regular sales. ? Product lifecycle- whether introduction, growth, maturity or decline. ? Pattern of competitor’s programmes. ? Entry of new competitors. ? Availability of funds for advertising. This involves the scheduling and timing of advertisement. The schedule shows the number of advertisements that are to appear in each medium, the size of the advertisements, and the date on which they are to appear. There are many ways of scheduling any advertising programme. No single way can be said to be best for all advertisers. Each advertiser must prepare a specific schedule most suitable for its market and its advertising objectives. What may be good for one advertiser and his product may be bad for another. Even for the same advertiser, the best at one stage of the product life cycle may not be suitable at another stage.
An advertiser, for example, may schedule to buy six pages space in a monthly consumer magazine. Alternatively, he may buy one-page space every month for the first three months; then he may not buy space for the next three months; and then again take onepage space every month for the next three months .There may be a variety of schedules of advertisements.
TYPES OF SCHEDULING STRATEGIES Burst Campaigns: often associated with the awareness objective, the burst campaign compacts media activities into a series of relatively short time frames, with relatively long periods of absence from media activity in between. This pattern may be used when a new product is being introduced. Flighting: Wave method or the flighting method is another kind of scheduling. In flighting, advertisements are bunched with the intention of providing a concentrated impact. is another method of creating an advertising schedule. The phrase advertising flight describes the time when commercials are aired. When flighting is used in relation to a scheduling technique, it refers to a method that has advertising going on and off the air. The advantage of the flighting technique is that it allows a campaign that does not have funds for running spots continuously to conserve money and maximize the impact of the commercials by airing them at key strategic times during the campaign. Frequently when flighting is employed, radio or cable TV will be used to supplement the advertising campaign during the times when television commercials are off the air. This method of media planning allows the messages and themes of the campaign to reach the voter through radio or cable TV, less costly alternatives to broadcast TV. Overview Henko Stain Champion Powder (HSCP) was launched in July 1994 in South India. It was clearly positioned as a brand in the premium segment of detergents among HLL’s Surf Wash Booster (today’s Surf Multi-Action). Battling consumer inertia to try out this new brand was its toughest challenge and carving out pride of association was the other issue. Continuous Campaign: Another approach mostly associated with reminder campaigns, is to extend the time frame of the advertising message over a long period. The campaign provides continuity of the message, although at the cost of the impact. These continuous patterns are often used for mature products, where reminder advertising is appropriate.
Over a long term .this strategy is more appropriate for products and services where the demand is constant or there is a long purchase cycle. There can be perfect continuous advertising, rising continuity or falling continuity. 1. Rising continuity: this pattern is used when the advertising circles around a particular event. E.g. the advertisement for Paints generally increases during the festive seasons like divali. 2. Falling continuity: this pattern may follow an initial burst to launch a new product or to inform a product modification. Pulsing Campaign: A compromise between the burst and the continuous strategy is the development of the pulsing campaign. Here a comparatively low level of media activity is maintained over long period of time, with periodic increases in the expenditure patterns. It is often associated with seasonal or other influences on buyer activities. Normally, scheduling is done for a 4-week period. The six types of schedules available are: 1. Steady pulse: it is the easiest. For instance, one ad/week for 52 weeks or one ad/month for 12 months. 2. Seasonal pulse: ads are scheduled to meet seasonal peaks by appearing in concentrated doses ahead of buying season. Products like Vicks Balm, Glycodin Terp-Vasaka Syrup, and Ponds cold cream follow this approach. 3. Period pulse: Scheduling follows a regular pattern, e.g., media scheduling of consumer durables, non-durables, etc. 4. Erratic pulse: The ads are spaced irregularly. Perhaps, we want to change the typical purchase cycles. 5. Start-up pulse: It is concentrated media scheduling. It launches a new product or a new campaign. 6. Promotional pulse: A one-shot affair it suits only particular promotional theme. Heavy concentration during a period is the characteristic of this scheduling. For instance, financial advertising of company’s issue.
Blitz schedule: The insertion of double-page advertisements in three consecutive issues of a magazine is an example of the blitz schedule. There are many more methods of bunching advertisements. However, the purpose of bunching is to provide concentrated impact with a single issue of the publication. Marathon filler ad: Heard of repeat advertising, but this is incredible. On 8 April, an ad for an obscure oil brand appeared 22 times consecutively back to back on a channel creating some sort of a freak history (TAM ADex has reported). A 30-second commercial for Himgagan Tel ran consecutively 22 times virtually like an 11-minute filler on Reminiscent Television's Punjabi regional language channel Lashkara between 9:26 am and 9:37 am. The "marathon filler ad" aired on "Nachda Punjab Gaunda Punjab" on Tuesday, 8 April. The ADex team reported that at first they couldn't believe their eyes... so they checked the recording again and again but every time the same result came. The impact the extended ad run had on Himgagan Tel sales was disastrous. A drop in purchases of the product among those who saw the ad was observed.
CASE: SBI MEDIA STRATEGY The entire process can be better understood by the use of the media strategy formulated by SBI in order to ensure that the key target markets are reached with the core messages with respect to their various product categories. Their broad categories were classified as: ? Personal Banking Products ? Development Banking Products ? Corporate Communication ? Gold Banking ? Debit Cards ? Internet Banking With respect to the broad categories they had their product segments classified: ? Debit Cards Home Loans…………… Seg A ? Rural Banking ……………Seg B ? Gold Banking………………Seg C ? Car Loan Festive Loan Personal Loan Internet Banking…………….Seg D For the purpose of understanding we would concentrate on the segment A which includes the debit cards.
DEBIT CARDS The brief Their media brief was to basically cover these 3 points – • • • • To develop a composite media plan using all available forms of media so as to ensure that the key target markets are reached with the core messages. To create better awareness of the use of Debit Cards. To build the SBI Debit Card “brand”. To encourage more users to use the Debit Card services provided.
Methodology Their method was basically broken down into 4 main steps – • Defining and quantifying target markets • Identifying media vehicles that are best suited to reach these target markets • Identifying proper time frames for each depending upon the seasonality. • Quantifying the impact of the media plans in terms of reach and effectiveness
The Audience profile in this segment was Males/Females ? Above 25 years of age ? Living in urban and semi urban India ? Gainfully employed or retired (ie in service, business, traders, etc) ? With a MHI in excess of 4000/- p.m. ? Educated to a minimum of 10th std Using NRS V: They decided to advertise on a national scale and based on this using NRS V, estimate this population at 162 million individuals can
Recommended Media
Based on the size of the sample population and keeping the target audience in mind, SBI decided to use the following forms of media to create awareness for their Debit Cards – • Print – Mainline English and regional publications and top end magazines • Television – Mainline news and regional channels • Radio – AIR FM and private FM channels as primary focus • POS at branches o PRINT ? NEWSPAPERS • English Newspapers o Indian Express o Financial Express o Hindu o Telegraph o Deccan Chronicle o Business Standard o Indian Express (South) o Times of India o Hindustan Times • Language Newspapers o Loksatta o Jansatta o Malayala Manorama o Ananda Bazar Patrika o Andhra Bhoomi o Daily Siasat o Hindi Milap o Dinamani o Kannada Prabha o Andhra Prabha o Gujarat Samachar o Dainik Bhaskar o Dainik Jagran ? MAGAZINES ?India Today (English) ?India Today (Hindi) ?Business India
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TELEVISION ? News Channels –
? Star News, ? Aaj Tak ? Zee news would be used ? Sun News for the Tamil Audiences. This was based on the fact that the South was a vast market as there was a high literacy rate in the South and Sun News was the most popular South news channel. Other than this there would also be o Run of Day spots covering the day band o 30 sec TVC’s It was decided that it would be a 3 month campaign and then they would review the campaign to check on the effectiveness of the campaign and if necessary, make the relevant changes. Costs They also decided to have the following number of television spots per channel as well as the cost was calculated. Channel Star News Aaj Tak Sun TV TOTALS RADIO Cost per spot Rs 18,000/Rs 13,500/Rs 48,600 No of Spots 180 240 60 570 Amount Rs 32.40 lacs Rs 32.40 lacs Rs 29.16 lacs Rs 93.96 lacs
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On radio it was decided that FM would be the primary channel to use. This was based on the fact that their research showed that FM was the most common and listened to channel all across the country. They also decided to focus on certain specific cities to use radio as a medium. These cities were – ? Mumbai, ? Delhi, ? Kolkata, ? Chennai, ? Bangalore, ? Lucknow, ? Ahmedabad,
? Indore, ? Pune Like the television campaign it was decided that radio would also be a 3 month COSTS Station Mirchi City Win AIR FM TOTAL Cities Cost per covered Mum, Ahd, Mum. Luck, B’lore Mum, Ahd, Ind Pune Delhi, Kol, Chennia No of spot 4200 2300 4200 2000 720 spots 180 Ind, Pune 180 180 180 22.86 lac 7.56 lac 4.14 lac 7.56 lac 3.60 lac Amount
Rationale Rationale’ or the Logic behind the campaign was that ? A 3 month TV and Radio Campaign would serve as a short burst to build the brand. ? Along with this BLT would also serve as a reminder ? The Print Media would also initiate action amongst the target group.
AT A GLANCE The total expenditure or their budget can be calculated in the following way ? Total TV Spots ? Total Print Advts ? Total Radio spots ? Total Value : Reach of the Campaign - 570 - 33 - 720 Rs 2.47 crores
Within the Target Group of 162 million people it was calculated that the reach of the campaign within the Target group was 156 million. This works out to a reach of 96.29% which is an excellent statistic and goes a long way to show the effectiveness and success of the campaign. ?Reach at gross OTS of 3 plus ? 21.3 million Source : NRS 02, and InTam, excl BLT, Outdoor and POS SPEND BY MEDIA VEHICLE
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Pr int 47 %
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products of SBI that is considered for the above case. SBI has made similar plans for its other products that include ? ? ? ? ? ? Personal Banking Products Development Banking Products Corporate Communication Gold Banking Debit Cards Internet Banking
MEDIA BUYING Planning and buying are two parts of a single operation: spending effectively the advertiser’s money. The two cannot in practiced be separate. The former is the strategy formulation while the later talks about the implementation of the plan. The two jobs are often done by different people, though planner-buyer is also found. MEDIA BUYER: The media person negotiates for advertising time or space, trying to get the most favorable buys in terms of programming or environment and price. He or she is responsible for checking that the advertising runs as planned and bought. A skilled media buyer can save enormous sums by playing one media owner over the other. MEDIA BUYING: Media buying refers to buying time and space in the various selected media. STEPS IN MEDIA BUYING: ? Selection of publication or programmes on Doordarshan, radio or satellite TV. ? Getting approval from the client regarding the selection of publication / programmes. ? Inviting press-media representatives or other media representatives from the selected list of media. ? Finalising package deals far as group publications are concerned. i.e. to obtain concessions in the media charges , if the ad is to run simultaneously in two or three publications of the same group such as Indian Express Group of Publications.
? Negotiating charges for bleed ads. Normally, publications charge 10% more. Negotiations are in respect of waiving the extra charges. ? Negotiations may also take place to obtain premium positioning of the ads such as back cover, spread, etc. ? Non-accredited publications (those which are not recognized by INS) do provide more than 15% commission. Negotiations take place to get more commission from such publications. The benefits of extra commission is passed on by the agency to client (advertiser) ? Media planning department also hold meetings with the producers of serials on DD, Satellite TV, etc. This enables the agency to get serial /programme sponsored by its client. ? The media planning department may obtain a final approval from the client. ? Based on the final approved plan from the media planner, the media operators department books time and space in the media. ? The media operations department makes all necessary arrangement to supply advertising material such as U-matic tapes, audio cassettes, art work and copy, etc.to various madis well before the deadline. ? The billing and checking department checks on monitors the publications/ broadcasting / telecasting of the ad. MEDIA BUYING OUTFITS Media buying agencies also referred to as the Agencies of Record (AORs) have emerged in the recent past. They can be defined as the middlemen or space buyers. Their function, as seen by industry observers is to provide service to, and not replace, the media departments within the advertising agencies. Such media buying agencies, according to Cohen, “offer a specialized service in time buying, particularly in the area of spot broadcasting, with its innumerable combinations of offerings,and its requirement of extensive data on demographics”. Such outfits buy space and time in bulk most of the time putting together many clients, which enable them to avail of discounts and negotiate rates wherever possible. The AORs for their services charge an additional 2.5 percent to the advertising agencies, who retain the remaining 12.5 percent. When the AORs are asked to provide media strategy, they charge an additional 2.5 percent dorm the ad agencies, on whose behalf they work. As it is a new phenomenon in the Indian context, the system lacks transparency and to many it is still shrouded in mystery.
Over the past few years, there has been an increasing use of computers in media planning. Some of the marketing and media research outfits like IMRB have developed software which are sold to the agencies to retrieve media source information with out going through the rigmarole of consulting voluminous media reference books. The data are updated on computers regularly. With a number of databases available, none of them comparable to each other, decision-making, according to Narayanmoorthy becomes subjective for clients, agencies and the media. “It is anybody’s guess on what is actually the correct interpretation of the available data”, laments he. Whatever the media planners’ blues, it sis believed that media planning will gain more importance once the Indian viewers have the benefit of the Direct to Home (DTH) broadcast receiving facility against the present system of receiving channels through the cable operators. From the present estimated 750 hours of cumulative programme choice available to an average India home with access about 40 channels, media planners will have sleepless nights thinking about innovations to lure the “promiscuous” viewer against channel surfing in times to come.
SUGGESTIONS TO BETTER MEDIA PLANS Here are nine suggestions: 1. First, establish marketing objectives. How should the media plan fit with other parts of the business, including the creative direction? Have you given the planner all the latest marketing data? 2. Agree-in advance-on media objectives and strategies. Make sure you understand the implications of the need for impact or continuity, minimum reach or frequency goals, the values assigned to magazines or outdoor. Are the objectives reasonable, or is the budget spread too thin? Air your prejudices early. What have you learned from past experiences? What special needs should be accommodated in the plan? 3. Encourage meetings between media and copy groups. There should be an active understanding of how both work together. The media planner should be at all meetings where media is discussed. 4. Make the timetable reasonable. Schedule work far enough in advance to allow the planner to be thorough and innovative. If there’s not enough time, you’ll get a plan-but maybe not the best one. 5. Look beyond the obvious. Why not direct mail instead of newspapers, or radio instead of TV? Can you deliver your message in half-pages instead of full pages, or even 10-second commercials instead of 30? But don’t look for difference for the sake of difference. Look for what is right?
6. Look beyond the cost per thousand. Efficiency is a starting point, but CPM is the weakest evaluation tool. It measures cost, not effectiveness. 7. Recognize that all media plans are a compromise. Media plans are a balance between options-reach, frequency, weeks of advertising, geography…. and budget. Don’t expect simple answers. Media is simpler in other countries. Geographical differences alone are much greater in India. There are far more media choices here, and media outlets. The cultural differences within India make it difficult to use a single media mix all throughout. 8. Don’t lose perspective. There’s a temptation to forget the total media environment, particularly noise level. A plan that is the biggest in a category may not dominate a medium. Don’t over read small differences in large numbers when selecting between alternatives. Stand back and react to the total plan. 9. Take a media planner to lunch. It pays to see the media group when there is no problem and no urgent need for a plan. That’s the time for updating-and thinking.
SOURCES OF MEDIA INFORMATION
One of the very important requisites of a media planner is familiarity with media choices and various sources of media information. Media information is available from sources within the media itself as well as external sources. Some of the media source books in the Indian context and other database publications often used by media planners include the following. POPULATION CENSUS Census is conducted every ten years. It is the broadest based database offering a profile of the people living in a particular region. The census data provide information about the population size, population strata, age, sex ratio, literacy level, family size and forms, Area, Administrative Divisions, Annual Exponential Growth Rate, Variation in Population, Institutional & Houseless Population, Population Density, Rural Urban Distribution, Broad Age Groups, Number of Literates & Literacy Rates, Work Participation Rates, Religions, Languages Spoken, Number of Households & Household Types, Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes Population etc. It is established practice to conduct a population census once every ten years to obtain information on the size, composition and characteristics of population. The population census is a very important source of statistics for small geographical areas and population
sub-groups. It also provides the base population for compiling population estimates and projections. Population censuses were conducted in 1961, 1971, 1981 and 1991and 2001. In order that more up-to-date information on the population could be made available, a population by-census is also conducted in between two censuses. Thus, in 1966, 1976, 1986 and 1996, there were population by-censuses conducted. The information collected is vital to Government planning and policy formulation, particularly in such fields as education, housing, transport, medical and social services. The data are also important to the private sector for formulating business strategies and to researchers for conducting social and economic studies. TAM -Television Audience Measurement Television, in nearly every country around the world, has become the dominant medium for information, commercial communication and entertainment. This has lead to the everincreasing desire by broadcasters, advertisers and advertising agencies, to have accurate, consistent and detailed information about TV audiences. TAM (Television Audience Measurement) is the specialized branch of media research, dedicated to the quantifying (size) and qualifying (characteristics) of this detailed TV audience information. With the billions of dollars spent annually on TV programmes and commercials, reliable TV audience information is required to evaluate and maximize the effectiveness of this investment. Measuring TV audiences requires state-of-the-art technology to ensure precise and accurate data is collected from the TAM panel homes, easily and effectively Television Audience Measurement Media Research, a 50:50 joint venture between Nielsen Media Research(NMR) / AC Nielsen and Kantar Media Research(KMR) / IMRB, is the only TV measurement system in India. Ratings is the percentage of a given population group consuming a medium at a particular moment. Generally when used for broadcast medium, one rating point equals one percent of the given population group. These ratings are qualitative in nature, similar to a voting system, where the higher the number of viewers the 'better' the programme or commercial. These ratings, if reliable and valid, become the 'common currency' for the market's commercial airtime. Media planners and buyers evaluate the alternative programmes offered to best achieve their advertising goals, broadcasters evaluate the programme or stations popularity and how much to charge an advertisers for commercials during a
programme or on a given channel. In those cases where the channels are funded wholly or partly by public license they provide accountability. INDIAN NATIONAL TELEVISION AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT (INTAM) INTAM, the people-meter-based television audience measurement service of ORGMARG provides minute-by-minute television viewership data. INTAM uses state-of-theart Picture Matching Technology, globally recognised as the most advanced audience measurement method which is currently used in nine countries. INTAM currently reports viewing data for 49 cities and the coverage is gradually increasing. INTAM has a dedicated team of over 90 executives to meets its client's demands. In all, 47 channels (national, regional and international) are reported along with programme and commercial logs. The demographic variables available for analysis are gender, age group, monthly household income, socio-economic classification (SEC) and cable and satellite (C and S) access. INTAM uses both Frequency Monitoring and Picture Matching methods. Picture matching meters are used in C and S homes because cable operators frequently change the transmission frequency. On an average, the changes occur three or four times a day. A TV set is monitored by sampling the relative brightness of a number of pre-determined pairs of areas of the picture. These samples, together with the time at which they were taken, are stored in the meter. Simultaneously, at the central site, samples are taken round the clock for every TV channel and stored. The samples collected from the homes are compared with samples taken from each channel. The channel with which the sample from the home matches is identified as the channel that was watched. The greatest advantage of this technology is that it is independent of the frequency and method of transmission and can handle digital transmission. INTAM offers its subscribers TV Pointer, a Windows-based analysis software developed in-house, the functionality and features of which are divided into four modules. Ratings Analyser This allows the users to evaluate programmes and day-parts in multiples of quarter hours, which facilitates
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Understanding of the audience's preferred channels, programmes and time slots. Planning of broadcast schedules and purchasing and selling programmes, serials and films.
Audience
Evaluator
Complex analyses of viewing behaviour can be done by the minute by
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Reach-Frequency distribution matrix Diagnostic analysis of programme performance
Competitor This allows users to
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Analyse advertising activity, both in terms of the commercial breaks and the spot at various levels, e.g., product category, advertiser, brand, etc. Analyse strengths and weaknesses of commercial channels in terms of channel exploitation by advertisers.
Optimiser Generates an optimal schedule based on characteristics of an existing programme schedule. The campaign objectives could be:
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Maximise reach Minimise cost per thousand (CPT)
Filters can be set up for specific channels, days, day parts and/or programmes. In a nutshell, its intuitive design and special features make TV Pointer the best tool for analysing viewing behaviour in the complex world of Indian television viewing Besides increasing its viewership base, Intam now expects to offer data and information for a larger number of population strata levels than before, as more small towns have come within its fold. The towns included by Intam in the current round of expansion are those with 10-30 lakh populations in Gujarat, 5-10 lakh towns in Punjab and Karnataka and 1-5 lakh towns in UP, Tamil Nadu and AP. In Intam’s portfolio, small towns (1-5 lakh) account for 78 per cent of the households, while the larger towns (5 lakh and above) make up the balance 22 per cent of the households PEOPLE METER The PeopleMeter is the measurement device at the heart of the audience measurement system. There are two primary functions that the meter system has to fulfil:
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Identify what is being watched. Identify who is viewing - which panel members and guests in the home are viewing.
The meter also performs other necessary functions such as:
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Timekeeping - the channel tuning and people registration events need to be logged accurately. Data storage - a secure system is needed to hold data within the meter prior to transferring the viewing data to the central computer for processing. Data communication - within homes where there is more than one meter, data need to be transferred safely to the main meter. Data transfer - from the main meter to the central computer.
Each element of the PeopleMeter is crucial to the accuracy of the overall system. Perhaps the biggest benefit of the People Meter for advertisers is that media buyers will be able to precisely compare the audience reached by a TV schedule with the audience they intend to reach. This is a service, which measures the ratings depending on the way it is compiled and the audience who are asked to measure the ratings. People meters were initiated in 1995 after a decade of debate, testing and critical appraisal. Initially available through the IMRB and MARG in Mumbai, MARG has now extended it to Delhi. Previously or in markets where there are only a limited number of broadcasters, with basic programming and limited activity, it is sufficient to gather viewership data by means of interviews or viewing diaries. Increasing numbers of channels, multiple broadcasting platforms, increased number of TV sets and remote controls per family have lead to a more complex TV environment. Furthermore, the viewer is now faced with the possibility of utilizing the TV screen as a medium for VCR's, including the option of time shifted viewing or video games, Within this dynamic environment, people meters have proved themselves capable of measuring audiences with a degree of accuracy and detail, which surpasses previous alternative measurement systems. People meter are required to measure minute-by-minute TV viewing by the respondents. The process is cumbersome. The interest of the respondent in operating the hardware, the accuracy levels, and achieving representative sample along with the following issues that need addressing:
1. The satellite channels by and large are operated by cable operators, who keep changing the channels at will and with a single dish, they keep rotating. 2. There is room for extra domestic reception among Indians. People watch TV not only at home, but in other people’s homes, bars, hotels and elsewhere. People meters have to account for such viewing also. 3. The definition of viewing also varies. Mechanical viewing to empathetic viewing need to be understood. The other parameter is “in room” vs. “in room and able to watch” to “in room and watching”. Everyone develops ones own way of watching television. 4. Accuracy of performance is another critical matter. Surveys in some countries have shown that a few people who had to leave the room to pick up a phone call or answer the door bell pressed their buttons before leaving the room. There is also a likelihood of a delay of one or two minutes between the sets being tuned in and the first individual button being pressed. 5. People meters are expensive, hence they limit sample size. When the sample size is small, it obviously cannot be representative of a highly complex and heterogeneous population especially of a metro, and when the small panel is changed the general levels of viewing recorded for a station might change substantially. People meters are still of better use for programmers, as they need programme ratings within which the exact switching times are of interest, for advertisers need stringent data, which include station reach, station total viewing and share, minute by minute ratings, programme ratings, commercial ratings, continuous analysis over weeks giving reach, frequency and GRP’s for advertising schedules and special analysis for programmes. People meter: Based on actual viewing Min Q to be a viewer : 15 secs Push button technology High degree of Accuracy Minute by minute viewing Immediate Results Guest Viewing Facility Ability to monitor new stations quickly Accurate Reach & frequency data
Diary method: Based on recalled viewing Min Q to be a viewer : 5 mins every quarter hour Manual self completion 1/4 hour viewing 2/3 week delay in reporting Panel viewing only Delay in reporting new stations
NATIONAL READERSHIP SURVEY [NRS] NRS is a survey on all media, especially the print media conducted by the National Readership Survey Council. This body consists of members from the INS [Indian Newspaper Society], AAAI [Advertising Association of India] and ABC [Audit Bureau of Circulation]. The objectives of the NRS is 1. To provide information that can be used for buying and selling of advertising space in the print media. 2. To provide media users with data on comparative levels vis-à-vis TV/radio, cinema and video. NEED FOR IRS • Audit Bureau of Circulation conducts a six monthly audit of publication sales. But each copy of a publication may be read by more than one person, depending on the frequency and popularity of the publication. This is what is captured in readership surveys like NRS. The survey is done on all-India basis, urban as well as rural, amongst individuals who are 12 years and older. All town classes are covered in the urban area.
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However, only towns with a population higher than two lakh are reported on an individual basis, smaller towns are reported on the basis of socio-cultural regions defined by language homogeneity, financial and economic administration, regionalization of culture and lifestyle, caste and class homogeneity.
What Information does NRS provide? NRS gives information on the macro-parameters like reach of each medium among various audiences defined demographically. • It also gives information on the duplication between media, as well as between vehicles within the same medium • For publications, it gives the number of readers, type of readers in demographic terms, spread of these readers, and lifestyle parameters such as product ownership and consumption patterns Since advertisers who relied on plain circulation data for allocation of their media budgets did not have access to data on the quality of readership each publication has, they did not know whether the money was being used effectively or wasted. The Studies like NRS gives details not only about the number of readers, but also quality of readers, and the duplication of readers with other competitive publications. Over the years, the survey has provided a comprehensive picture of the country's media landscape. It also highlights the vast uncharted territories and the potential of the media, which remains untapped owing to socio-economic factors such as poverty, inequality and poor access to education •
NRS IN INDIA • The NRS in India is one of the largest in the world, with a reporting sample size of over 2,13,000 individuals to track media exposure and changing consumer trends in both urban and rural India. The study covers 514 publications (25 dailies and 289 magazines) and is a useful guide for media analysts and marketing strategists. The field work is conducted by three research agencies IMRB International, AC Neilson-ORG MARG & TNS Mode. Each of these have international affiliates and experience and all-India network. The findings of the National Readership Survey (NRS) 2002 show that India's print media readership base has expanded by 10 per cent over the last two years. Since the last NRS survey in 1999, the print media have acquired 17 million more readers. The data may indicate that different media need not necessarily substitute one another.
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According to the NRS estimates, India's vast media industry reaches 180 million readers, 383.6 million television viewers, 189 million radio listeners and six million Internet users
How does NRS help a media planner? The NRS establishes a product-consumer profile linkage; consumption and ownership pattern among various target segments and their preferences, number of hours devoted in media. NRS provides segment wise readership surveys and overall size of each segment. INDIAN READERSHIP SURVEY [IRS] IRS is a study conducted to assess reach and penetration of all media. The IRS gives information on readership/ viewership/ listnership and net access for Press, Television, Cinema, Radio and the Internet. In addition the IRS captures product user ship information at both the household and the individual level. • The findings of this research are very critical for scientific and accurate media planners, especially for brands where huge budgets are earmarked for marketing/ advertising spends. Using the IRS, you can generate a complete multi-media evaluation of Press, TV, Radio, Cinema and Internet in India. IRS is the largest media survey ever conducted providing a single-source database for demographics, media habits and product / brand usage across 741 towns and more than 2200 villages. The IRS team of ORG-MARG covered the entire country, working exclusively on the IRS every day of the year. The team interviewed more than 200,000 households and 300,000 individuals This all-India survey was conducted jointly with the Media Research Users' Council (MRUC). It provides product / brand penetration information for over 50 different products allowing one to link media habits and product usage data for adults and children from the age of 12.
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PRODUCT OF IRS • IRS Media IRS Media data is collected to capture individual media habits. Readership of over 300 publications both English and languages, viewership of TV, channels and select programmes, additionally information on C& S penetration ,channels received and tuned, listener-ship of radio, visit to cinema and Internet access. Indian Demographics/ Consumer This report gives demographic information of urban and rural India such as age, sex, monthly household income, SEC, education, occupation, family composition, type of accommodation, etc.
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Indian Market Gives penetration at generic level of 79 products, FMCG's, durables covered in the survey. Rural Markets A special market report for rural India on assets like Land holding by type of land, Irrigation source, Electricity, Generator, Tractor, In house toilet, In house bathing facility, Steel cupboard and Time clock 49 Product Profiles Gives details of brand, frequency of purchase, number owned, type, pack-size purchased, years since acquired, etc, depending on whether it is an FMCG or durable product.
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