Dienstag, 11. November 2014

CCMC Task 7: Why use Media Agencies?



CCMC: Task 7

“Why use Media Agencies?”

Find answers to:

LO1: What are the tasks of media agencies?

LO2: When is it useful to use media agencies, and when isn’t it?

LO3: Media habits of consumers.

-          How do these habits differ between countries/cultures?

-          How adjust to these habits?

Keywords: Earned, owned and paid media. Big data. Media decision criteria.


 


0. “What is a media agency?

A media agency makes sure a marketing message appeals to consumers, appears in the right place, at the right time and that the advertiser pays the best possible price.” (MediaCom)



1. “What are the tasks of media agencies?”

First media agencies were used to buy cheaper advertising space (previously advertising agencies had been responsible for that = media buying). Later their tasks were expanded, there was added the planning component and the understanding of the customer behaviour.

Today it is the centre of effective communication, with its insight media agencies can well-directed influence the customers to change their buying behaviours and help their clients to maximise the impact of their marketing messages (MediaCom).


The task of media agencies is called media planning. They have more opportunities to acquire cheap advertising space – as they require a huge amount – so they can offer better conditions to customers. Media agencies have more know-how, therefore they can see better if a campaign could work or not. Additional they know about the different media, how to best use them and which one to choose or combine to make a successful campaign.

Research is also a main task of media agencies. They have to know, how much people (of the target group) can be reached through using which media.

Funny:



Other questions to consider are for example: 

-          How often, with what frequency should be advertised?
-          How much budget do we have?
-          How much costs which kind of media?
-          Where the budget is spent best? (Which media has the best price-performance-ratio for reaching the certain goal)

In detail, the tasks for planning and executing programmes and campaigns are:

1.       Strategic intent: should correspond to strategic goals, and corporate communication strategy
2.       Define communication objectives: different programmes for the different stakeholders, objectives should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable/actionable, realistic and timely)
3.       Identify and prioritize target audiences: segment on which will be focused
4.       Identify themed message(s): core message
5.       Develop message styles: a unit style, how to communicate to stakeholder
6.       Develop a media strategy:
-          Reach and over target audience
-          Match of media and message
-          Used media of competitors
-          Ability of media to enable dialogue and interaction
7.       Prepare the budget: for the media itself, specialists, consultants, evaluation


EXAMPLE:
Orange – campaign for supporting the launch
Mobilephone provider
Startet from nothing in 1994 to 39.7 billion € in 2000
Hat two big competitors (Vodafone and Cellnet) with 10 years experience and market dominance

Launch campaign, positioning formulated by the communication team:
‘There will come a time when all people will have their own personal number that goes with them wherever they are so that there are no barriers to communication; a wire-free future in which you call people, not places, and where everyone will benefit from the advances of technology. The Future is Brifht. The Future is Orange.’

The campaign was extremely successful and even received media awards and helped the company to get market shares and capital, with witch it was possible to enter into the international market.

Two years after the launch, Orange PLC could go public.


Why do campaigns fail:
-          overpromising things
-          not enough targeted messages
à misinterpretation or ignorance (Cornelissen 2011, pages 106-114).


 
(Campaign, URL)


According to www.admedia.org, “Media planning is a four-step process which consists of
1) setting media objectives in light of marketing and advertising objectives,
2) developing a media strategy for implementing media objectives,
3) designing media tactics for realizing media strategy, and
4) proposing procedures for evaluating the effectiveness of the media plan. 



2. “When is it useful to use media agencies, and when isn’t it?”


+ PRO +
- CON -


No experience in advertising
Own experienced advertising department
No free capacity of advertising employees
Free capacity of employees is given
Budget available
No budget
Share of risk
Can take responsibility of mistakes on their own
Accountability

Focus

Analysis

Technology

Team


Expertise
An agency will be able to demonstrate current and historical social media campaigns they have worked on as well as sharing case studies and testimonials of previous work. In certain cases an agency will have created a white paper or commissioned research into a specific sector of social media to demonstrate their level of understanding.

Accountability
Any good agency will be accountable for what they do and keep you aware of progress, potential pitfalls and more importantly, uplifts in your campaign.

Focus
Dedicated to your needs. A good agency will be working toward achieving your goals that will have been clarified prior to the campaign. The agency will have also managed your expectations so you know what to realistically expect.

Analysis
OK, so were tracking but how do you make sense of the data? Your agency should be able to create the information you need in the format you need it and in a time cycle you want it. There’s nothing worse if you’re a marketer and in amongst everything else you have to pull off a ton of data and make sense of it. Get an agency!

Technology
Your agency should be au fait with the latest tracking and analytics technology. From Google Analytics to high end, in-depth tools, the information gleaned from this analysis can sometimes be worth a campaign on its own – knowledge is power.

Team
When you buy into an agency, you buy into a collective power house of individuals and experience that world cost a small fortune to have at your beck and call internally. The team also includes you (Digital Clarity)

What companies are searching when they hire Media Agencies, is:

    Experience
    Client List – current partners
    Case Studies – from former clients/research
    Testimonials
    References
    Studies or White Papers
    Who are principles of the company – Are they respected individuals?



 
(Blog.forrester.com)



3.   “What media habits do consumers have?”
 
I.                    How do these habits differ between countries/cultures?

II.                  How adjust to these habits?

I. "How do these habits differ between countries/cultures?"


First of all, there is a huge difference, between countries. In western/modern countries, it is very common, that even younger people already have mobile devices like mobile phones, tablets, laptops etc. Therefore it makes a huge difference, how to communicate with people and target groups from different countries.

If countries are more modern, it is easier to reach them via modern media like internet, apps, social media etc. People tend to read more online newspapers instead of the printed format. Therefore advertising in printed media could be useless. In the modern world and especially within a few years, even older people will use the internet. (For example, today it is something special, if my grandmother knows how to write a short message, an e-mail or how to skype – and I’m really proud to can say that J. In let’s say 10 to 20 years, it will be totally normal, as most of the “today business people” do already use their mobile devices for daily business.

Also the level of education has a lot to do with it. When speaking of today’s business men, we should also think of the today’s craftsmen or housewives. I don’t want to make disparaging comments or make prejudices, but if you don’t use internet in your daily work, the chances are higher, that you don’t use them in your spare time.

So generally speaking, we can say, that in ‘modern’ countries it is more likely to reach people via modern technology, modern media whereas in ‘poorer’ countries, companies will have to stick to the ‘classical’ media to reach them. 

Also the communication to different target group varies due to demographic etc. differences:
Younger people à social media, internet
Older people à internet, newspaper, classical media
Lower income à classical media
Higher income à internet, newspaper, also classical
Etc.


Teens and young adults:

 
(Think with google)





 




II. "How to adjust to these habits?"

Research, research, research!
Try to be one step ahead and observe the market, the competitors and possible changes in consumer behaviour. Follow the trends.






SOURCES:

Admedia, URL: http://www.admedia.org/, last accessed 10 November 2014


Pew Research, Internet Project, URL: http://www.pewinternet.org/2010/08/27/older-adults-and-social-media/, last accessed 11 November 2014



PICTURES/GRAPHS:
Radar – research and consultancy for the travel industry, URL: http://www.dipsticksresearch.com/ radar/clients.htm, last accessed 10 November 2014

Campaign, URL: http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/988050/, last accessed 10 November 2014


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