The media planner should then prepare a media schedule. Media scheduling refers to the programming of media insertions. Media scheduling depends upon a number of factors such as:
v Nature of product- consumer usables, durables or industrial
v Nature of sales-whether seasonal or regular sales.
v Product lifecycle- whether introduction, growth, maturity or decline.
v Pattern of competitor’s programmes.
v Entry of new competitors.
v Availability of funds for advertising.
This involves the scheduling and timing of advertisement. The schedule shows the number of advertisements that are to appear in each medium, the size of the advertisements, and the date on which they are to appear. There are many ways of scheduling any advertising programme. No single way can be said to be best for all advertisers. Each advertiser must prepare a specific schedule most suitable for its market and its advertising objectives. What may be good for one advertiser and his product may be bad for another. Even for the same advertiser, the best at one stage of the product life cycle may not be suitable at another stage. An advertiser, for example, may schedule to buy six pages space in a monthly consumer magazine. Alternatively, he may buy one-page space every month for the first three months; then he may not buy space for the next three months; and then again take one-page space every month for the next three months. There may be a variety of schedules of advertisements. The last method of scheduling is known as the wave method, or the flighting method. In flighting, advertisements are bunched with the intention of providing a concentrated impact. The other method is the blitz schedule. The insertion of double-page advertisements in three consecutive issues of a magazine is an example of the blitz schedule. There are many more methods of bunching advertisements. However, the purpose of bunching is to provide concentrated impact with a single issue of the publication.
We can follow a steady schedule or a “pulsed” campaign. Normally, scheduling is done for a 4-week period. The six types of schedules available are:
- Steady pulse: it is the easiest. For instance, one ad/week for 52 weeks or one ad/month for 12 months.
- Seasonal pulse: Products like Vicks Balm, Glycodin Terp-Vasaka Syrup, Ponds cold cream follow this approach.
- Period pulse: Scheduling follows a regular pattern, e.g., media scheduling of consumer durables, non-durables, etc.
- Erratic pulse: The ads are spaced irregularly. Perhaps, we want to change the typical purchase cycles.
- Start-up pulse: It is concentrated media scheduling. It launches a new product or a new campaign.
- Promotional pulse: A one-shot affair it suits only particular promotional theme. Heavy concentration during a period is the characteristic of this scheduling. For instance, financial advertising of company’s issue.
The implementation of the media plan requires media buying, i.e., buying time and space in the various selected media. The buying of media is handled by the advertising agency on behalf of the advertiser.
There are no short cuts, no rule-of-thumb methods of solving media selection problems. Each advertising situation is different and unique in its own way. Each medium has its own characteristics, and there is no single best way of advertising a product. Different solutions are appropriate in different situations for the same product. There are, moreover, various constraints from time to time. However, the sole objective is to maximize the impact of the advertising investment. Two competitors may adopt two differing situations. No two advertisements are identical.
To ensure that advertising is effective, a host of data are required for analysis, which necessarily call for the application of the computer with a view to simplifying complex jobs and the decisions arrived at about media selection. Complex mathematical models based on linear programming and simulation are useful in making media decisions.
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