Auctions
In an auction the price is set in real time, impression by impression or click by click. Search, social, display, apps and most retail media sell this way. How we run them is on Digital advertising.
Media planning
A plan built to be measured.
We plan across the full mix, from search, social and streaming to audio, retail media, out of home, print, cinema and mail.
On the first day of a plan we write down one question, the one someone will ask once the money is spent. What did it change? Then we choose the evidence that can answer it, and only then decide where the budget goes.
Every channel that makes the plan arrives with a role, a buying model, a pacing rule and a way to know it worked.
The steps, in this order
Each step is written into the plan before the next one starts, so the reasons can be read later.
Business goal and constraints
Growth, margin, new customers or a launch, with the area, the season and the stock the plan has to work within.
Budget and the method behind it
A total set by a stated method, from the task the plan has to do to response curves where they exist, with a reserve held for tests.
A role for every channel
Build demand, capture it or keep customers. The role decides how the channel will be judged.
A buying model per channel
Auctions, private deals, guaranteed buys, direct orders or pay on results, each channel bought the way it is sold.
Flighting, reach and frequency
When the money runs, continuously or in bursts, with reach and frequency planned across channels and caps on how often one person sees the message.
Measurement and reallocation rules
Test cells, control groups, attribution windows and the rules for moving budget, agreed before the plan goes live.
Bought the way each channel is sold
Every channel has its own way of being sold. The plan follows it, line by line.
Reserved reach
Reserved reach books reach and frequency in advance at a fixed cost, on the platforms that offer it next to the auction.
Private deals
Private deals open chosen publishers through invitation-only auctions or fixed prices, without guaranteed volume.
Guaranteed buys
With programmatic guaranteed, price and volume are agreed in advance and delivered through automated buying. Streaming and premium video often sell this way.
Upfront and scatter
Direct orders
A direct order is placed with the publisher, station or media owner. Print, radio, out of home and cinema are mostly bought this way, and a guaranteed order that falls short earns a make-good.
Sponsorships
A sponsorship is a flat fee for association with a program, a team, an event or a venue.
Pay on results
Affiliates, comparison sites, lead networks and pay per call are paid on results, per sale, lead, action or qualified call.
Reach and frequency across the mix, not channel by channel
Every platform counts reach inside its own walls. Add the counts up and the same household appears several times, while heavy viewers see the message far more often than anyone planned. We plan reach, frequency and incremental reach across the whole plan, set caps across channels where the sellers allow it, and say how reach was deduplicated, by person, household or device.
How to read a media plan
A plan you can act on is a table where every line answers the same questions. This is what each line of ours carries, and what to look for in any plan you're handed.
- Channel
- The channel by category, so the line can be compared across sellers.
- Role
- Build demand, capture it or keep customers. A line without a role can't be judged.
- Audience and area
- Who the line is for and where, against a stated universe.
- Format
- Vertical or horizontal video, audio, static or dynamic, made for the placement.
- Buying model
- Auction, private deal, guaranteed, direct order or pay on results, with the metric it is bought on. An auction line also carries the event it optimizes toward and its bid strategy.
- Flight
- When the line runs, and whether it runs continuously or in bursts.
- Budget
- Gross and net, for the line and for its flight.
- Expected delivery
- Impressions, reach, frequency or rating points, written as a range.
- Measure
- The method, the window and the KPI that fit the role.
- Reallocation rule
- What would move money in or out of the line, and on what evidence.
- Owner
- The person who approves changes to the line.
Questions to ask about any plan
Under the lines, a plan needs a summary with totals by channel and by month, the reserve held for tests, the assumptions it rests on and the risks it carries. Then ask these questions of any plan, ours included.
What will we be able to say at the end?
The decision the plan informs, and the evidence that will be there once the money is spent.
Which numbers are estimates?
Modeled store visits, out-of-home audiences and expected delivery are estimates, and the plan should mark them that way.
What would move the budget?
The evidence, the threshold and the person who approves the move, written down before launch.
What is left out of the measurement?
Every plan leaves something out. A good one says what, and how the gap is handled.
Budget moves on marginal return
Once results come in, money moves on what the next dollar is likely to return, read from the response curve. A channel's average return says how it did. Its marginal return says where the next dollar should go. Day-to-day moves follow attribution, and moves between channels follow the mix model and experiments.
Every move is written down with the reason, the evidence and the person who approved it. Our agents prepare the forecasts and flag pacing, and anything beyond the agreed band waits for a person, as described on AI.
Questions we get
Do you plan traditional media too?
Yes. Television, radio, print, out of home, cinema and mail sit in the same plan as search and social, each with its own buying model and its own way of being measured.
How do you decide the budget split?
From the goal, the role of each channel and, where there is enough history, the response curves of the mix model. A share is held back for tests, and the split moves on marginal return once results arrive.
Bring us the goal. We'll bring the plan.
Tell us the goal and the constraints. The channels, the buys and the measure start from there.