Advertising & Media Planning

Advertising started long ago, ‘brands’ are generally accepted as being started by Egyptians in 2,700 BCE (Before the Common Era).

At a simple level for sure, but back then when people wanted to identify their roaming livestock, they marked them with what was essentially, a symbol or a ‘logo’, using a ‘branding’ iron.

A symbol or identification mark, to differentiate their livestock from other owners and hence the use of the name, ‘brand’ from branding iron. (Although it may have come from a German word meaning a burning piece of wood, also used to mark/brand cattle so the same thing)..

But branding was only to identify one horse or cow from the other, for ownership, in the event that they were stolen.

Indeed too, makers of pottery ceramics then, used marks or ‘seals’ to identify the origin (the maker) of the ceramics. Fish sauce, Oil and Wine too became ‘branded’ in those early days. A pot from 490 BCE was found to have the name ‘Sophilos’ and Chinese needles were discovered branded as ‘White Rabbit’.

It identified one seller’s product from another by way of a simple ‘symbol’.

Remember too, that these were pre-literate times, so a visual identifier was easier to understand and hence the symbols or ‘logos’, were visually designed, almost as stamps or marks.

So, a brand was a differentiating symbol or a logo, and branding developed on products, to show ownership and, to build trust, confidence. If you liked a particular ceramic maker or a fish sauce producer, you looked for their mark, their brand, and it gave you that confidence. At the turn of the century, that confidence too developed more around food brands – fish sauce, wine and sugar as an example.

Early brands were in the food space because people wanted confidence and trust in what they ate, above all else.

They wanted to know who made it, how and where it was made as wanted to trust it – because they were consuming it.

Here is my way to explain the start of brands…..which we will need to understand.

The need for branding is perhaps best explained as this.

Let us say the housewife in older days (and yes it was!) went to a local grocery store to buy sugar each week.

When she asked for a bag of sugar, the dirty aproned grocer would have a wooden cask barrel full of sugar underneath the long wooden counter.

Flies abounded.

The Grocer would then take out his small metallic scoop from underneath the dirty counter and scooping the sugar into a brown paper bag, he sealed it and handed it to her.

She got her sugar.

But the next week she went in, she might have got more, or less in the bag, because the grocer could not judge exactly what he was putting in every week.

It varied in size and consistency, but the price was the same.

He was just scooping it out and consequently, it was different each week.

The Grocer was of course guessing, but the housewife was never sure what she was buying.

Was the bag the same size? Was it the same type of sugar?

Or had the grocer got this week’s sugar batch from some other source and it not be as good?

Nor did she know that he had even cleaned the wooden barrel or that he had even washed the scoop.

When the grocer got to the end of the barrel too, she might have got the last of the sugar that was some weeks old! Tasted differently, for sure.

So, the buyer, the housewife then, was never sure about size, consistency, hygiene, or quality. It changed week by week.

She could not trust it; she did not know nor could be sure as to what she was getting every week.

But then one day, the grocer properly measured out the sugar on weighing scales, put it into a clean white bag, consistently beforehand, kept the hygiene high and put it on the shelves before the housewife came into the shop.

A row of bags of sugar, all the very same in size and quality.

And then the grocer put his name on the bag for re-assurance. He branded it.

He had weighed it properly, kept it from the same supplier and tried to make everything as clean as possible. Consistency and Trust. The housewife now knew what she was getting, and she had a brand to prove it.

The Grocer sold it pre-packed with consistent quality and weight. So, she could be sure that the sugar she got this week, was exactly the same as the sugar she got last week. Weight, Quality, Hygiene, Consistency.

She knew what she was getting, and she liked it. She trusted it and was happy to pay a little more for it. That is the fundamental definition of brand – something you will pay more for – but pay more, for a good reason (a value).

Sticking a label then on the front of the bag with the grocer’s name was his ‘identifier’ (branded like the Egyptian’s horses) that gave trust and confidence because when you saw the label, you just knew what to expect, knew exactly what you were getting and from where it came.

And the brand was an identifier of that product.

You had the grocer’s label (brand) to prove it and in effect, his promise that it was what he said it was. And that was, the reason for birth of consumer brands, the power of brands.

Of course, you paid more for it and were happy to, because it was much better than the old way.

Today, buy a Big Mac in Peru or Des Moines Iowa and it will be the same. McDonalds focus on consistency. Or a tube of Colgate. Or a bottle of Heineken. It will all be the same.

Brands must be consistent to give the customer trust.

The customer needs to know what they are getting every time.

The brand therefore, has to have some value that becomes a competitive advantage (a consistent hygienic bag of sugar was a competitive advantage for our grocer) because that value, was better than competitors, who were still scooping the sugar out into little dirty brown bags.

The good reason for the development of brands was that by adding value,

People Pay more for a Brand.

Everything stems from this first. It is the very definition of a brand – something people will pay more for.

So the important point is trust. People buy a brand they can trust. Whether that is a product or an Ad Agency brand.

Trust is key. A brand can only deliver what’s achievable and you can only promise what you can deliver.

Everything in Advertising starts with brands, including the development of the modern Advertising Agency and that all started in the 1800’s.

In the 1800’s it was the mass production of products in factories that created brands, as producers wanted to distinguish their new deluge of products from competitors. It was the mass explosion of new products that led to manufacturers looking for product differentiation. Exactly as the fish sauce producers had done in Egypt.

But it had to start with the mass production of those products that became, brands.

Once we had products, we had brands. Once we had brands, we had Advertising.

Once we had Advertising, we had Advertising Agencies.

For Advertising to be effective, you must be clear about whom you want to talk to.

(We do a zoom every Monday at 11am to answer any questions. Just book it on our zoom page within this platform).

To plan, you start with a clear definition as to whom you’re targeting or in other words, the social demographic groups/customers you think are most likely to buy your product or service. Are they young men/women in Dublin perhaps? or is it Farmers? Or Just ‘All Adults’?

Be clear on your main target group (what we call your Primary audience) first and there are helpful tips in our ‘Audience Selection’ on your left to do this too.

So, once you have, look at each media choice with that audience selection in mind and try and match their profile.

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The right Media to reach the right audience. And, at the right time.

Of course, where you can, because Media can be more broad. The growth in Social Media is exactly a result of that ability to offer finer targeting strategies than what’s called, ‘traditional’ media.

But it’s important to understand that Social Media (Digital) is not a standalone, but rather should be seen as part of overall advertising with its own benefits – as every media has.

TV for example is of course, generally mass audience but with new Adsmart/Skysmart options, it can be more finely tuned to reach a narrow audience. Different programmes reach different audiences too. On Radio too, programmes across the day reach entirely different demographics.

So you can tune your media.

Once you prepare an Advertising strategy, you select the best media choices to reach that audience. The Media Buying process is then the negotiation of that Plan directly with Media owners to generate the best cost, best positions/spot placement, best other potential opportunities. We are very happy to help you with this if you need it.

Media buying is not something that should ever be separate from Advertising strategy. It never should have become that, but it did, for Agency financial reasons and not, to improve communications. One should sit with the other. How often do media planners produce a media plan without ever seeing the Advertising creative work? A lot. And that’s nonsense.

All communications should be working together. Even at the earliest stages, Media thinking can make suggestions to help the creative work and vice-versa. New formats, interesting sizes, shapes, digital interactions so don’t consider them separately. The message is the same, Media just helps promote it.

Therefore, you should consider your creative approach and how that fits with your media choice. As we said, consider them together as total comms.

It’s not just what Media your audience use – but how they use it and when is the best, most opportune time to speak to them. When are they most receptive to your message?

It’s far more important than media metrics about Reach and Frequency – that’s just number crunching. It’s more about how it’s used and what customers are likely to do as a consequence. How they’ll react.

And here’s a thing, all Media is different. It suits different messages in different ways.

Twitter has a different role to Insta, which has a different role to Facebook and yet? We use the same Ad copy. We shouldn’t. Adapt the message to the platform – don’t just buy Media because ‘the numbers work’. It’s just not about that!

People reading a red top newspaper daily, should see a different Advertising version of your Ad, to those reading a broadsheet Sunday paper. Change your Advertising to suit the Media choice and it will be more effective.

Different media have different audience ‘moods’ and somehow we all think ‘One Ad fits all’. It’s lazy advertising.

We know for example, that Instagram is driven by beautiful content and users will spend more time slowly browsing through it at night. It’s almost become bedtime entertainment. Whereas Twitter is flicked through during the busy day just to keep up with what’s going on. The Saturday or Sunday Press reader is in a more relaxed, receptive mood to your Advertising. So Tune the Advertising to suit the user in the way they use their media.

Media too is about time of day. About the way we live our lives and how messages can have greater relevance at different times during that day.

It’s unlikely that you want to hear an Ad for beer on a Sunday morning after a night on the tiles (!). It’s more likely that on a Friday night, you want to hear about things to do this weekend, like drink more beer.

There’s no Advertising more effective than the right place and the right time. When you’re feeling you’re getting the flu, that’s when you want to hear about a flu treatment. However, we don’t know when you’re going to get the flu! So we can make a good informed guess when the most relevant advertising should appear for your product and when people are more likely to react. You’ll know that too, from your own peak buying patterns of the past.

We know too, people make resolutions at the New Year.

Tobacco substitute/fitness brands act on that, but we also know post-Christmas, people are generally broke.

So, they won’t be as receptive then to a high price brand but maybe, to a long-term payment plan or a Bank loan offer.

We know people go on holidays in the summer, but we know they book early in the Spring. We also know that a travel Ad in a bleak February or March might brighten their day so it might have cut through as people start to holiday dream. That’s obvious perhaps, but not often followed. We knew a Video rental chain, that placed advertising based on weather forecasts. If it was going to rain, you were more likely to stay in and watch a movie. So, media is not just numbers.

As important, is the right media at the right time of day.

Let’s stop interrupting customers days when they don’t want to hear from you. Let’s talk to them when they do.

When you come home in the early evening, are you in the mood to hear about products? Unlikely, as you get yourself sorted, the kids fed, tidy up.

But later that night, when things calm down, you might look forward to hearing about something interesting. So, it’s not about Media, it’s how you use it cleverly to communicate. And the great thing is you can try it, see how it works and change it until you find that equilibrium that works best for your product.

Media always needs tweaking. Despite numbers, brands find particular media choices work better for them, yet on the surface, they shouldn’t. It does work like that and no one really knows why.

Size and length are another issue.

A BIG Ad says something big and bold about your brand, a small Ad says something else.

Yet, we all use standardised 30 second TV and Radio Commercials, why? Or Press quarter pages. Or standard 48 Sheet Outdoor formats. You can make sizes and length work better, but it does require work. Which is why they’ve become standardised (laziness) and yet, that presents a ‘do something different’ opportunity. ‘Live’ 3D Outdoor posters can create talkability, so can new shapes.

See Media differently than the way Media Agencies tell you.

They’re driven by numbers and possibly not by truly understanding your brand and its objectives. They think target audiences and where to reach them, rather than how to. It’s not Media, it should be communications.

Targeting.

A number of targeting considerations you should make include:

Targeting by Age -This is defined by any grouping based on their age which is standardised by age profiles of 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65+. Age reflects media choices. For example, younger people might listen to more contemporary radio stations such as 98FM, Spin or FM104, whereas older people might prefer RTE Radio 1 or Lyric FM.

Targeting by Social Status – Then target by their Social strata in society (based on their income) called A, AB, C1, C2, D, F. In other words, are your customers more likely to be working class or middle class or Farmers for example. Perhaps it’s more simply just ‘All Adults’ because your message/product is broad.

Targeting by location – Then by other targeting tools like where they live. Perhaps it’s just ‘Ireland’ but you might have a particular reason to reach any city such as Dublin, or Cork, or both. Outdoor Posters are a good way to reach particular areas and sometimes, specific streets. Local Radio is strong in cities and towns. Local Press is well read in each local community and local radio is well listened to. So, there are media ways to fine tune your advertising for very niche audiences.

Targeting by habits – And also by their habits such as do they own car? Have kids? Eat out regularly? We can cross-reference people’s habits and activities with their media choices which may be useful if you’re promoting a particular product/service. Perhaps you want to sell new cars to existing car owners? Or kids’ products to families?

Targeting by budget – Your Advertising budget may include or exclude, particular media choices. For example, TV Advertising tends to be expensive. So, a good budget indication will give a better insight as to what’s affordable. The best result on your Advertising Planning will be to be clear on whom you’re targeting and then see what your budget can buy using the ‘Buy Media’ section to explore pricing.

Reach is the number of people you want to see you Advertising in the campaign time. The number of people you ‘Reach’.

Frequency is the number of times your target audience will see your Ad during the Campaign. How ‘frequent’.

CPM or CPT is a digital measure and both mean ‘Cost per Thousand’. In other words, the cost of reaching a thousand of your audience.

Impressions are the number of times your Ad is seen on digital advertising – whether clicked or not.

Once you’re clear on whom you want your advertising to reach, we have the media planning research and expertise to advise you exactly what media is best, to target your audience. Then we negotiate the best rates directly for you and publish them in our ‘Buy Media’ section. All guaranteed indicative pricing is found here in our Media Buying section. So, once you know your budget you can have a look and see what your budget can afford.

All Media research such as the JLNR (for Radio), JNOR (for Outdoor), Nielsen ratings (TV), JNRR (Press) and TGI (lifestyle) are independently published and available.

Our media planning is provided by one of the world’s biggest PLC Media Planning Agencies.

Ask us.

We wish you so very well on your journey. If ever you want to talk or help with it, please just don’t hesitate. It’s what we do.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for being with Admatic. It is really appreciated. (You might find some more interesting articles here, on Brands and Communication. We hope so).