ADVERTISING MEDIA PLANNING

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BABALOLA PHILIP TOLULOPE
ADVERTISING MEDIA PLANNING
ADVERTISING
Advertising is a form of communicative process which may be informative and persuasive in
nature. It utilises the mass or new media in persuading the consumers to purchase goods and
services. Advertising may be targeted at promoting a new product or designed to promote
existing ones. Terkan (2014), citing the British Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA);
describes advertising as a means of presenting the most persuasive message to the right prospects
for the product or service at the lowest possible cost. Also citing Dominic, Terkan (2014) opines
further that “It is ‘any form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and
services usually paid for by an identified sponsor”.
However, Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria APCON,(2012) define advertising as a
communication in the media, paid for by an identified sponsor and directed at a targeted
audience, with the aim of imparting correct information about a product, service or opinion.
Terkan (2014), citing APCON, elaborates more that advertising is an information which is
persuasive and informative about goods and services that are paid for or sum of ideas which are
defined by advertisers using the media.
As long as there are needs and wants to be satisfied, there will always be advertising.
Advertising is believed to be as old as the history of mankind, however, the modern form of
advertising is only a few hundred years old (Olatunji and Enahoro). It is as well noteworthy to
know that advertising has been in existence even before the advent of the printing press. The
earliest form of advertising was in the oral form. It later went through many evolutionary phases
in different societies in the world. The Phoenicians had been painting their advertising messages
on stones or near the paths where people often walked to announce their wares as far back as the
1200 BC, this is referred to as the “silent trade.” Later, as the Phoenicians engaged in long
distance trade they gravitated to the use of town criers often bearing signboards to announce their
arrival at places when their ships berthed in foreign ports. (Olatunji and Enahoro).
Citing Bhatia, Olatunji and Enahoro observe that :
In ancient times the most common form of advertising was by the
words of mouth; however, commercial messages and political

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campaign displays have been found in the ruins of Pompmeii.
Egyptians used papyrus to create sales messages and wall posters ,
while lost-and-found advertising on papyrus was common in
Greece and Rome. Wall or rock painting for commercial
advertising is another manifestation of an ancient media
advertising form, which is present to this day in many parts of
Asia, Africa and South America. The tradition of wall paintings
can be traced back to Indian rock-art painting that go back to 4.000
BC.
The evolution of advertising in Advertising in Nigeria followed roughly the same pattern.
Wilson (1987) highlights some of the forms and media of traditional communication as
membranophones, ideophones, aerophones, symbolography, colour scheme, signals, signs,
objectifics, music, extra mundane and symbolic displays. Going further, Wilson (1987) states the
nature and contents of traditional communication systems as news, advertising, giving directives,
public relations and education. Advertising in the olden African setting was done by the use of
peripatetic hawkers, who went from place to place with their wares on their heads in the bid to
hawk them. It was also done by displaying the goods on tree stumps, tables of flag poles. The use
of aroma/ fragrance/odours to announce the products through the prospective customer’s use of
his olfactory sense, as is the case of food selling. Advertising in the traditional African setting
can be done by singing and drumming of the name of the product to be sold (Wilson,1987).
IMPORTANCE OF ADVERTISING TO BUSINESSES
Goods and services are produced according to consumers growing and changing desires.
It is a competitive tool for companies among their rivals. Companies involved in the commercial
production of goods and services need advertising for several important reasons. The first reason
is that advertising helps to publicise and promote their products to the public, thereby helping to
improve sales. Depending on the nature of the product, advertising uses the right media to get the
message across to consumers. For example, in the case of consumer products such as food, soap
and soft drink; the broadcast media is often chosen. Moreover, advertising helps to reduce
distribution costs. The fact that advertising messages are targeted at and reaches mass audiences,
the cost of personal selling and distribution is greatly reduced (Dominick, 2013).
Advertising messages can go beyond regional and national boundaries through the
various media. Advertisements are exposed to a global market via the internet and social
networks. Advertising serves as a tool for competition. In order to compete with others,
companies use creative and appealing advertisements to lure consumers to patronise their brands.

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Some companies will go as far as inundating the media with their advertisements in order to
ensure that consumers’ attention is captured. However, Phillip and Raspberry(2008) argue that
what counts is not what the company says about itself but rather what people say about it as
experience shows that companies who trumpet their virtues are barely average.
Advertising for manufacturers has several advantages out of which we have promotion of
the product(s) because people become aware of the existence products and services, this then
leads them to making a purchase, so sales are increasing; increase sales portrays higher demand

which terminates to more production at the end of the day. Companies communicate the
existence of new products to consumers in an effective and cost effective way through
advertising. Advertising simplifies the task of the salesperson and helps consumers reach out to
new products (Chowdhury, 2011).
In addition, through advertising a company can compete with others by showcasing
competitive prices or the benefits of its products and services. Manufacturers can also remove
misunderstanding about their products through appropriate advertising (Akrani, 2010).
Advertising for consumers has several advantages. Advertising helps to save consumers
time by pointing them to specific products while shopping. Advertising also helps consumers to
be more specific during shopping; consumers can make their choice before going shopping, they
become aware of new businesses and new products and brands through competition which is
enhanced by advertising. Some companies often lower the prices of their products in order to
make more sales and compete with other brands.
In addition to advantages of manufacturers and consumers, there are many advantages for
society like the advertising industry generates thousands of jobs for people connected with
advertising or marketing communication. Advertising also generates more jobs in companies due
to expanding production and sales; because of the highly competitive marketing environment,
companies are constantly trying to come up with new products with creative designs and
improved benefits or functions. The emergence and use of these new products often lead to
higher quality of living; many media houses especially private ones, depend entirely or almost
entirely on revenue generated from advertisements. Through revenue from advertisements many
print houses are able to offset the cost of production which in turn lowers the prices of
newspapers and magazines; advertising stimulates research both academically and in marketing.

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Scholars and marketers are increasingly interested in studying the ways advertising affects
consumers and how consumers react to advertising.


ADVERTISING PLAN
Advertising plan has to do with the process of communicating the plans that a company has set
for itself to its publics. An advertising plan matches the right audience to the right message and
presents it in the right medium to reach the target audience. Advertising plans are basically
executed making use of the media thereby making it necessary to have an advertising media
planning.
Some elements must be considered when making an advertising plan, they are:
1.

Target audience, that is, those whom the advert messages are directed to.
2.

Message strategy, that is, the message itself, what is said to the target audience.
3.

Media strategy, this has to do with what time and on what platform to reach the target
audience.
4.

Goal, this is, what the company seeks to achieve or attain through the advertising
campaign.
ADVERTISING MEDIA PLANNING
Media planning is the series of decisions involved in delivering the promotional messages
to prospective purchasers. It involves getting the best media to be used for the advertising
campaign and at the best price. Advertising media planning seeks to match the right message
with the right audience and presenting the message in the right medium/media as the case may
be, to reach its target audience. Advertising media plan focuses on the communication goals a
company has with which it aims to reach its publics.
Planning in advertising has to do with the with the arrangements, scheming, designing,
drawing, sketching or plotting which take place before laying a formidable foundation. Nwosu
and Nkamnebe (2006: 115) let on that planning, irrespective of wherever it is applied, is a “guide
and guardian”. It includes the versatility of critical decisions which must be taken and effectively

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implemented, if all the resources expended in the advertising programme will not go down the
drain. A vital requirement of many undertakings and human endeavours, especially if they
involve management, planning is central and pivotal to effective advertising. Anyacho
(2007:128), says planning “proposes strategies for targeting the audience, presenting the
advertising message and implementing media.” Planning, therefore, provides the needed focus,
bearing and direction crucial for developing the right communication messages, selecting the
suitable media and professionally disseminating the advertising messages to the
targeted market. It provides the platform for these aforementioned decisions and arrangements
that will enable systematic approach to the advertising programme, in addition to informed,
rational and responsible manner of handling every stage of the process involved, from the
beginning to evaluation.
Willshire (2013) offers a somewhat broad definition of media planning when he states that
“media planning is about connecting people and companies.’’ He explains that there are two
principles for media planning whether for old or new media. These are
activity
(what media
planners do) and
phasing
(why they carry out their activities).
Furthermore, it can be seen as a series of decisions involving the delivery of purposely
developed messages to a target audience, therefore, it can also be defined as a series of dec
isions
involving the delivery of purposely developed messages to a target audience with the aim of
creating awareness or informing, influencing purchase decisions and/or reinforcing adopted
standpoint.
Arens, Weigold and Arens (2008:271) explains that “the purpose of
media planning
is to
conceive, analyze, and creatively select channels of communication that will direct advertising
messages to the right people in the right place at the right time.” There are some germane
questions pertaining to media planning that media planners, whether consulted by the company
from and agency or those who are working at the company in-house as highlighted by Arens,
Weigold and Arens (2008:271), they are: Where should we advertise? . That is in what countries,
states, regions or parts of town?)Which media vehicle should we use? When during the year
should we concentrate our advertising? How often should we run the advertising? What
opportunities are there to integrate our media advertising with other communication tools?
However, Sissors and Baron (2010) propose a variation of their own, stating that a typical media
planner attempts to answer the following specific questions;

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In which media should I place ads?
How many times a month should prospects see such adverts?
During which months should the adverts appear?
Where should the adverts appear? That is, in which markets and regions?
How much money should be spent on each medium?
Advertising Media Planning encompasses the media objectives, which are the goals the
advertiser aims to achieve by deploying the media strategy developed. Clow and Baack (2007)
state that media planning begins with careful analysis of the target market. They further explain
that while developing the media plan, it is important to focus on consumer behaviour create plans
that affect the consumers’ purchasing process create plans that influence consumers in the
market place. Clow and Baack further explain that one method of addressing media planning is
to study the media choices that members of a specific, defined target market might make during
the course of a day.

MEDIA STRATEGY
These are the decisions advertiser/company has made on how the media objectives can be
attained.
THE MEDIA OF ADVERTISING

The media play a crucial role in the advertising process by facilitating the dissemination of
messages from advertisers to the target market. As far as advertising is concerned, media are the
vehicles or channels that are capable of carrying or transmitting marketing communication
messages to the potential target markets.
The advertiser has a wide range of media to select or choose from; these range from the
traditional or mainstream advertising media of newspapers, magazines, radio, television, transit
media, billboard, direct mail, and internet to alternative media such as leaflets, posters,
brochures, among others. As a result of the multiplicity of advertising media available to the
advertiser, media planning and selection have become inevitable in the advertising process.
According to Onyenyili-Onuora (2010) the task of media planning and buying includes
identifying the media exposure/usage characteristics of media-satellite/cable radio and television,

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the Internet, movie screen advertising, videogame advertising, mobile phone, ambience media
among others.
Media planners work with the press, television, radio and new media, in particular the
Internet, as well as more unusual platforms, for example, promotion on the sides of buses and
taxis. Some agencies may combine the role of media planner with that of media buyer. Media
planners are also known as communications planners, brand planners or strategists. According to
Arens (2010) the purpose of media planning is to conceive, analyse and creatively select
channels of communication that will direct advertising messages to the right people in the right
place at the right time. According to him, each of the major mass media that advertisers select for
their campaigns have unique capabilities and audience characteristics.
Clow and Baack (2007) aver that the media planner formulates a media programme
stating where and when to place advertisements. They also explain that media planners work
closely with creative, account executives and media buyers adding that it is important for the
creative personnel to know which media will be used. The choices have a major impact on how
advertisements are designed.
Television advertisements for instance, are constructed in a different way from radio and
newspaper advertisements. The media selection task therefore is one of achieving reach,
frequency and impact within cost constraints. Pickton and Broderick (2010) further explain that
the media selection decision can be broken down into four areas-inter- media, intra-media,
primary medium and secondary support media. The inter-media decision is one of choosing
which main media (media classes) will be used in media plan; the specific media vehicles to be
used to carry the advertising messages; the specific media vehicles that will serve as primary
media and those that will play a secondary or supportive role.
Various kinds of media of advertising have media vehicles. Media vehicle is the message
carrier selected for disseminating the purposely developed messages. A media vehicle could be a
particular programme on radio or television, for broadcast media, and for print media it could be
a particular magazine or newspaper. A media vehicle is considered and selected by the following
criteria:


Coverage which is the potential audience that might receive the message through the
vehicle. For example, for broadcast media this would be the geographical penetration of
the station’s broadcast, while for print media it would be the number of places where the

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magazine or newspaper is available for sale that is, the circulation of the newspaper or
magazine.


Reach: This is the actual number of individual audience members reached at least once
by the vehicle, that is, the number of people who watched the programme or how many
people read the magazine or newspaper?


Frequency :This is the number of times the receiver is exposed to the vehicle in a specific
time period.


Audience Composition: This is the statistical breakdown of a media vehicle’s total
audience . Typically it incorporates age, income, whether they are male or female, their
education level etc. In essence, what is the make-up of the audience, and what are their
demographic and psychographic characteristics.


Cost Per Thousand (CPM) :This allows for the cost comparisons across alternative media
vehicles in terms of rate, conventionally abbreviated as CPM, where the M designates the
Latin word Mille, that is, one thousand. This simply shows the cost incurred in the
process of exposing 1,000 target audience to the advertising message.


Cost per rating point : A related cost efficiency measure is cost per rating point (CPRP),
which is the ratio of the insertion cost to the rating in percentages

An efficient Advertising Media Plan will find a balance between the media vehicle’s reach and
frequency. For example, for a programme that will run once and has a reach of 10,000 viewers
the question would be is that all that the advertiser needs? What about a programme that runs
thrice with a reach of 5,000? It is a less number compared to the programme that runs once but
the audience has more number of exposure to the message. (Danaher,2009)

Other factors a media planner should consider in selecting a media vehicle are:
Time Independence and Durability: In terms of time independence, for radio and television
adverts the audience has to be there at the specific time to get the message; but for print
media, the audience could always read later. While for durability, a message on radio and/or
television is fleeting, but a message in print is durable.
Good picture quality: That is, if the picture quality is high, it should be noted that quality of
magazines pictures are better than newspapers in term of the print media but in terms of
television broadcast medium, the advantage of audio/video appeals to the audience is
unparalleled.

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The individual benefits the prospective consumers stand to gain Scan codes and coupons are
advantages of print and new media. Scan code and coupons are meant to be used once and by
only one person. Both of these could encourage purchase and they allow the advertiser to
track the success of the ad by how many are redeemed. Most importantly, it is good for the
media planner to ascertain if the advertiser can afford what has been planned in terms of
media for the campaign.

Media needs mass to remain viable – the more people that are involved with a specific
media the more effective and efficient is that media. Therefore, when all these are considered, we
realize that an
effective advertising media planning
involves the task of selecting and
scheduling media that will reach as
many
of the target audience as
frequently
as possible for the
least amount of cost
.

A number of factors go into developing effective media strategy. These are the
five (5)
Ms:



Market:
this could refer to global, national or regional audiences; ethnic and
socioeconomic groups, individual [children; male, female or both?] or Business-to-Business.


Money:
how much is available for the campaign and where to allocate it? [this is
informed prioritizing of expenses to be made]


Media:
these are all communication vehicles available to the advertiser. They
include radio, television, newspaper, magazines, outdoor, the internet, and direct mail, plus sales
promotion, direct marketing, public relations activities and publicity, special events, brochures,
and so on. [this is IMC]


Mechanics:
are the standards and requirements for using each medium. For
example, advert placement in magazines and newspapers comes in different sizes. Radio and TV
commercials also come in a variety of time units.


Methodology:
this refers to the overall
science
of selecting and scheduling media
vehicles to achieve the desired message weight, reach, frequency, and continuity objectives.

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Scheduling in Advertising Media Planning
Víglundsson and Halldórsson (2012)
,
citing Belch and Belch, explain that there are three
scheduling methods used for media planning, they are continuity, flighting, and pulsing.
Continuity

refers to a continuous pattern of advertising without gaps or non-advertising periods.
It is most often used for products consumed on an ongoing basis without regards for seasonality,
such as laundry detergents. Flighting

involves irregular periods of advertising and non-
advertising, for example the advertising of skis is heavy during high-season, and sometimes also
before and after the season, but nothing during low season. Pulsing

is a combination of both
preceding methods where continuity is maintained, but advertising is increased in certain periods
such as around holidays .


STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF VARIOUS ADVERTISING MEDIA
Advertising media are many but as far as mainstream media are concerned, they include
newspapers,magazines, television, cable television, radio, outdoor, transit, direct mail and the
Internet. All these media possess some strengths and weaknesses which are suitable for some
advertising campaigns and unsuitable for others. Newspapers used to be primary media for
several advertisers. However, Sissors and Baron (2010) explain that in recent times the business
model of large urban newspapers has been challenged by the Internet that has cost newspapers
the very profitable classified advertising. Newspaper circulation has also gone down especially
in advanced countries as young now adults turn to the Internet and mobile phone displays to get
the latest news. These notwithstanding, advertisers and advertising agencies including media
independents still use newspapers for advertising campaigns despite their limitations.( Nkwocha,
2005 ;Sissors and Baron, 2010)
Magazines offer better colour production, in depth researched articles, sophisticated
audience readership, durability of advertising messages among others, On the other hand,
limitations of magazines include lack of fresh news, expensive to purchase and restricted
readership as a result of cost. Strengths of radio include its portability, grassroots appeal, high
entertainment value, wide range of programmes, and immediacy in information dissemination
among others. Its weaknesses, however, include lack of visual impact
,
short life-span of
messages and the fact that it depends on electrical energy

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Strengths of television include immediacy in information dissemination, visual impact,
wide reach especially for those in urban areas, high entertainment value, prestige among others.
Its weaknesses include the fact that it relies on electrical energy, expensive to purchase and sho
rt
life-span of its messages. The strengths of billboard advertising include accessibility, reach,
geographic and demographic flexibility. Its weaknesses include the fact that it is limited to
simple messages, no guarantee of high recall and limited availability in upscale neighbourhoods.
Strengths of transit media include mass coverage of a metropolitan area, high frequency,
relative efficiency among others. Its weaknesses include limited messages space, high
competition from other media and personal activities and frequency inspection. The strengths of
Internet display include low cost corporate legitimacy, creative flexibility, easy documentation of
effectiveness among others. Its limitations include the fact that it is a constantly changing
medium, high cost to achieve adequate reach among others.
CRITERIA FOR ADVERTISING MEDIA SELECTION.
In view of the multiplicity of advertising media available to the advertising agency or
media independent (MI), certain criteria are usually utilised to select appropriate media for
advertising campaigns. This is important because advertising media is quite expensive. Besides,
there is also the need to eliminate waste in the advertising process. As identified by Nti- Yeboah
(2011) the criteria for selecting media for any advertising campaign include the nature of the
product, market, advertising objectives, media circulation, financial consideration, type of
audience, life of advertisement and media used by competitors. Others include target audience
media habits, nature of the product, type of advertising message, cost factor, media reach,
available budget, prestige and image of the media as well as media rating and share. The media
play a crucial role in the advertising process by facilitating the dissemination of messages from
advertisers to the target market. As far as advertising is concerned, media are the vehicles or
channels that are capable of carrying or transmitting marketing communication messages to the
potential target markets.

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` STEPS IN MEDIA PLANNING
Setting Marketing Objectives :
This involves setting the sales or market share targets
Define Target Audience :
Here the decision on who to aim the advertising is made, also it
entails finding out their media consumption habits.
Media Selection :
This is the process of deciding on which media (TV, radio, print, internet,
etc.) are appropriate and as such, be used to achieve the objectives and your budget is made
at
this stage.
Media Objectives :
Is the intention to expose a lot of people just once to the campaign or a
smaller group many times, i.e., breadth versus depth
Media Scheduling :
Considers the timing, placement and size/length of advertising

Media Buying & Budgeting :
Addresses issues like total advertising budget and how it might
be spread over different media. Also covers media buying discounts and negotiation
Assessing Campaign Effectiveness :
Evaluation of the success of the campaign after it is
executed. Measures of effectiveness include ad awareness, recall and likeability. Other measures
are brand attitude, sales and market share. Attainment of media objectives within budget are also
relevant

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th
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Advertising Practitioners Council Of Nigeria
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Contemporary Advertising
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Contemporary Advertising
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th
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New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin
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The Dynamics of Mass Communication
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Nkocha,J. (2005).
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Pickton, D and Broderick, A (2001).
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Education Limited.

Phillips, M., Raspberry, S. (2008).
Marketing without Advertising: Easy ways to Build a
Business Your Customers
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Terkan, R. (2014). “Importance of Creative Advertising and Marketing According to University
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