Celebrate Like It's 1986

Of course in 1986 there was no Excel spreadsheet to help create the format in seconds Microsoft39s Office 10 didn39t debut until 1990 Many of us politely asked a friendly art director at our full service agency to please draw one Sometimes our secretaries did it with a ruler and thin marker borrowed from that friendly art director Remember secretariesSo the design of the flow chart hasn39t changed but what about the content In 1986 the new medium was cable Typically a national media flow chart included network TV and magazines with the months or weeks scheduled colored by hand inside the boxes today39s cells We showed GRPs and cost by flight andor total amp160depending on the client We added up the cost in the Totalsamp160column to the far right and showed the target audience reachfrequency Thenamp160we had a row well below that line titled quotcablequot Yup we didn39t really know what else to do with it since the ratings were so low if at all Most of us included cable because we felt we should for any number of logical and sometimes illogical reasons But it had to be separate from real TV and print thus it couldn39t be included in the reachfrequency calculations So we colored in a row during the appropriate weeks and put a dollar amount against it That budgeted amount was often determined by how much was left from the real media budget or what was spent the prior year Budgeting for cable was that strategic Then we added the cable spend to the TV and magazine budgets but not the reach and frequency of course and had a grand total spend Pretty sophisticated weren39t we circa 1986Today39s flow chart looks exactly the same if we substitute quotdigitalquot for quotcablequot That39s right today we treat digital the same way we did cable thirty years ago While today39s rationale is 180 degrees from where it was 30 years ago digital research is so much richer why would we use anything as ancient as GRPsamp160 the result is the same So why indeed has nothing really changed in 30 years when it comes to developing strategic media plans incorporating both traditional and new media types As an industry shouldn39t we be striving to develop a media strategy that integrates state of the art data analytics and thinking so that clients benefit from allamp160the tools available Are clients truly benefitting when agencies continue to plan and measure established media elements separately Are we really as innovative and brilliant as we say when we essentially haven39t changed in 30 yearsToday39s media specialists use analytics techniques similar to the planners of 1986 Very broadly just like in 1986 they examine the media consumption patterns of the target audience often using at least some form of syndicated research Today39s media specialists develop a media strategy and execute that strategy when the client will benefit most from the lowest pricing model They will buy the media using the most appropriate research measurement tool specific to that mediumInside that process media professionals learned to accept with the leap of faithamp160required at various points First since we cannot always identify the exact target audience we take a leap of faith We know our core target shampoos 3 times per week but MRI only lists 2 or 4 Our media plan utilizing syndicated data and perhaps other proprietary insights shows we will achieve a 3 reach of 85 and an average frequency of 52 of whichever imperfect target we choose When comparing that to client tracking research from prior years it is determined that the plan meets the threshold of positive ROI Since TV or radio cannot be purchased against the planning target 2 weekly shampooers we take another leap of faith and translate the plan into the purchasing currency Women 1849 GRPs So while all the research and analytics is focused on maximizing a strategy against what is almost the target the very significant budget is eventually committed with a razor sharp focus on reaching an even broader audience of Women 1849 amp160because that39s the one that can be measured As an industry we have been taking leaps of faith for a very long timeIn 1981 Walter E Reichel Senior Vice President and Executive Director of the mediaprogramming department at Ted Bates ampamp Company the sixth largest US agency at the time shocked the industry by announcing he convinced his clients to transfer 5 of their network prime time budgets to WTBS now TBS the nation39s first superstation At its foundation the agency took that leap of faith because Reichel and his research team examined the Nielsen data and determined that the broadcast networks were underdelivering in cable homes In 1981 that was 34 of all US TV households by the way Reichel didn39t have actual ratings in cable homes and in fact it was the drop in viewership in pay cable homes that precipitated this blockbuster announcement But he did it The sixth largest agency in the US with blue chip clients like Avis Colgate RJR Nabisco Prudential General Foods and Xeroxamp160took a leap of faith They made a recommendation they felt was in the best interest of their clients based upon the best data available and their experience and insights WowSo then why is it that today39s agency analyticsresearch teams are unwilling to take a similar but much less risky leap of faith when it comes to analyzingbuying traditional and digital media with the same currency Why are we relegated to the flow chart of 1986 The answer I hear from agencies is that digital data is so much more granular that targets can be dissected and metrics can be created so even the smallest detail can be filtered That39s good news Actually it39s great news But digital data is not without flaws From viewability to nonhuman impressions to completion rates how are they measured Should it change from client to client or be one standard Should it be video specificI know the industry is working on developing answers to those questions and more Butamp160while think tanks are gazing into the future can we take a leap of faith back to 1986 and plan traditional and digital media together Isn39t it time for the agency researchanalytic teams that regularly amaze clients with their ability to create identify and manipulate data toamp160please work with the media teams and use those skills to find a way for media strategists to develop truly integrated media plansThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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Celebrate Like It's 1986

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Allan Linderman

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 6) - By Carl Mayer

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