Part 4
Practice: Where Are Media Headed?
We talked about creating messages in Part 3. In Part 4 we turn to the delivery of
messages.
Note that people consume media, as well as products. They push buttons, touch screens,
click their fingers on links and turn pages – electronic as well as paper. Their fingers are
always in control of the media relationship. To explore dynamic media environment, our
book’s advisory board members Larry Kelley and David Rittenhouse share their thoughts
on how media is changing. Below is a summary of their comments.
A major change is the blurring of media as traditional media forms morph into
digital formats and new functions. According to Kelley, “Media convergence is
more than just providing content in a variety of forms. It is about the convergence
of content, branding, and consumer engagement.” Convergence is the definitive
word in 21st century media.
Kelley also says that media are the conduits through which brand information is
presented to audiences. In this new world, media actually makes two-way
communication possible. We need ways to describe new patterns of media use.
Rittenhouse refers to ‘established’ channels, such as broadcast, out of home, print,
and even online search and display. This contrasts with ‘emergent’ channels, such
as social, mobile and online video. He also describes media as physical/digital –
in other words digital layers are being added to physical content.
Kelley also points out that consumer engagement may be just as important as the
delivery of a message using traditional push media. Media is all about
connection. If the connection is successful, it will have high levels of experiential
or emotional engagement.
The point is that people come in contact with a brand message in many different
ways. Kelley says, ‘Everything is multiplatform.’
Consumers sometimes use multiple media channels simultaneously, which
Rittenhouse defines as ‘coviewing.’
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Chapter 11
MEDIA BASICS
CHAPTER CONTENT
CHAPTER KEY POINTS
1. How do media work in marketing communication and how is the industry organized?
2. What are the key strategic media concepts and how would you define them?
3. Why and how is the media landscape changing?
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
This chapter presents an introduction to the basics of media strategy and the changes in
the media industry. It opens with a survey of the media landscape and an explanation of
various media types and terms. Next, the evolution of media forms and functions is traced
and the functions of key players in the industry are detailed. This is followed by a
discussion of the fundamentals of media strategy and the basics of media buying. The
chapter closes with a summary of the many changes in the industry, such as shifts in
consumer usage patterns and increased inclusion of alternative media forms such as
search and mobile marketing, branded entertainment, guerilla marketing, and product
placement in IMC campaigns.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY MEDIA?
Media refers to the way messages are delivered to target audiences and, increasingly, back to
companies, as well as among audience members themselves. Media make up the channel step in
the communication model, conveying the message and connecting source and receiver, that is, the
company or brand and its customers.
Historically, the basis for most media was a way to present the news to the public, and advertising
made presenting the news possible because it supported the costs of producing and distributing
print or broadcast media. Of course, some revenue is derived from subscriptions, but in the United
States the bulk of media revenue comes from advertising. As a result, over the years the word
media has been associated with advertising, leading many to think that media are used only or
primarily for advertising. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Media delivers messages. In traditional mass media, this is a one-way process from the source to
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the receiver. In another sense, media are interactive because they offer opportunities for dialogue
and two-way conversation. Interactive communication is a hallmark of IMC programs that aim to
build brand relationships, which is why this expanded view of media is so important to IMC
planners.
“Sometimes the new way to present a message demonstrates creativity in the use of media as
much as it does in the design of the message. The nature of creative ideas has changed with the
development of new, more engaging media,” according to industry professional Ingvi Logason.
Media also offer opportunities for engagement, a media buzzword that refers to the captivating
quality of media that the audience finds engrossing. Media experts describe engagement as the
closeness of fit between the interest of viewers and the relevance of the media content. The
principle of engagement is illustrated in the A Matter of Principle feature in this chapter.
IMC and Media
In IMC programs, media are also contact points in that they connect a brand with the audience and
ultimately touch their emotions as well as engage their minds. The difference between delivery
and connection is significant. Delivery is the first step in connecting. Delivery is a one-way
concept, while connecting is a partnership.
Principle: IMC plans are multiplatform (use a variety of marcom areas), multichannel (use a
variety of media, and multi-targeted (engage a variety of stakeholders).
Effectiveness depends on coordinating all of these efforts around some central concept, such as the
brand position, or in the case of a campaign, the Big Idea. To get a picture of the scope of media,
see the list in the textbook, which includes goes beyond conventional mass media to include
personal experiences with events salespeople and customer service as well as word-of-mouth
messages.
The Media Industry
The recession, combined with the explosion of online media, seriously hurt
traditional media. Even though they still dominate in terms of dollars, all
traditional media saw decreases in their ad revenues. This was partly because of
an overall decline in media advertising but also because marketers were
increasingly turning to the Internet for visibility at less cost.
Newspapers were the biggest losers and many major papers closed. Others were
reduced in size, staff and news coverage. Magazines suffered as well.
In spite of the recession, traditional mass media advertising continues to be a huge
industry with $144 billion spent on advertising in measured media at the end of
2011. Television continues to dominate media budgets, partially because it’s more
expensive than other media. It is also more cost effective because it reaches more
people.
On the other hand, the Internet may seem to be a minor player in terms of
spending. That is partially because of the difficulty of measuring its impact and
revenues, as well as its much lower cost in comparison to traditional mass media.
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Media Types and Terms
The plural noun media is an umbrella term for all types of print, broadcast,
out-of-home, and Internet communication. The singular noun medium refers to
each specific type. A media vehicle is a specific TV program, newspaper,
magazine, or radio station or program. When a company buys media, it is really
buying access to the audiences of specific media vehicles. The forms that those
“buys” take are “space” (print, outdoor boards, or the Internet) and “time” (radio
and television).
Size and Profile of Audience
Media, particularly those used in advertising, are referred to as mass media, the
communication channels through which messages are sent to large, diverse
audiences. A mass medium reaches many people simultaneously and it uses some
technological system or device to reach them, as opposed to personal
communication. In contrast, the new computer-based media of the digital
revolution are essentially personal and messages are individually delivered.
The size of the audience is the reason we refer to radio and television as
broadcasting media – they cast their audio and visual signals broadly to reach
mass audiences. In contrast, niche media are communication channels through
which messages are sent to niche segments – identifiable groups of people with a
distinct common interest, such as El Nuevo Herald or Advertising Age. Both
serve a subset of the more general newspaper and magazine category. The
distinction between mass and niche is not necessarily based on size.
Measured media refers to the ability of media planners to analyze the cost of a
media buy relative to the size of the medium’s audience. The following
categories identify the primary types of measured media:
Television: network, cable, syndication, spot (local), Spanish language
Magazines: Consumer, business to business, Sunday, local, Spanish
language
Radio: Network, national spot, local
Newspapers: national, local, Spanish language
Freestanding Inserts
Metrics are available for traditional media, either from the medium itself or from
external auditing agencies. However, such figures are much harder to find the new
and nontraditional media because the auditing procedures for them have not yet been
developed.
Targeted and Interactive Conduits
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Another category refers to the way the media transmits messages. The placement
of the message is an important factor in targeted media plans. The other categories
of media refer to the way the media transmit the messages. The Internet, mail, and
the telephone are called addressable media because they are used to send brand
messages to specific geographic and electronic addresses. Interactive media, such
as the phone and online social media, allow conversations between companies and
customers, as well as between and among consumers.
Corporate versus Consumer Use of Media
So far, we have been discussing media primarily from the viewpoint of companies
and their brands. However, companies as well as consumers use media. Mass
media may be good for delivering brand messages, but interactive media may be
more useful for engaging consumers in a brand related conversation, assuming
that the conversation is relevant to their interests.
Paid, Owned, and Earned Media Categories
Paid media are the traditional measured media, such as print and broadcast,
where ad placements are bought by the company or organization. These
established media channels are distinctive in that the advertising spending on
them, as well as the size of their audiences is tracked by media research services.
The various categories of paid media are print (newspapers, magazines, inserts,
directories), broadcast (radio, television, movie trailers), placed based
(billboards, transit, kiosks, painted buildings and cars, movie trailers, event and
sponsorship ads, stadium and aerial ads), and online (banner and display ads and
search advertising.)
Owned media are channels that are controlled by the organization and that carry
branded content, such as websites, direct mail e-mail lists, Facebook sites, blogs,
public relations publications, and catalogs, along with other forms. We also
include communication platforms that rely on one-on-one communication, such as
personal sales or customer service in this category. See the textbook for a detailed
listing.
Earned media are channels where brand communication is spread by outsiders
such as social media users or news media that carry publicity. Examples include
publicity (hits and mentions in the news media), word of mouth (e-mail, texting,
buzz, and viral communications, business-to-consumer-to consumer influence),
social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), and interest sharing (YouTube,
Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, and social games).
A chart in the textbook summarizes these three media categories and how media
professionals use them to make sense of the changing media landscape in which
media forms are converging, blurring, and changing their shapes.
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The Evolution of Media Forms and Functions
People in our contemporary society live in a world of media-delivered news and
information, which traditionally has been supported by advertising. Over several
hundred years, media have evolved from print to radio, then television, and now
the Internet. Newspapers, magazines, and posters provided the visual dimension
of communication, and radio added an audio dimension. Television enabled
messages to heard and seen with moving images.
Today we have the Internet, which has basically combined television and the
personal computer, thus providing the added dimension of interactivity. We can
summarize these changes in technology as eras:
The Print Era: Ink and print images reproduced as newspapers, magazines,
and posters
The Broadcast Era: Visual and audio information in the form of radio and
television programs originally transmitted through air waves but now also
distributed by cable and satellite
The Digital Era: Electronic information transmitted through the Internet, but
like broadcasting, now also distributed through cable and satellite
The Social Media Era: Social networks connecting friends and contacts.
Also where users can become publishers and generate their own content, some
of which may be brand related.
The point is that media have been and continue to be changing in form and
function. This changing is occurring rapidly, which makes it difficult to keep up.
Adaptation
Every technological advance has threatened the older media whose managers
feared their medium was on the edge of extinction. Instead, the media adjusted to
their new circumstances by emphasizing what they do best. The new media take
on some of the characteristics and roles of the old at the same time that they add
to the richness of the communication experience.
A more dramatic shift, however, is occurring in the 21st century as computers and
the Internet personalize media and bring changes unlike any ever encountered in
the history of media. The only medium that is even more multidimensional than
the Internet is personal selling, which is also a lot more expensive for commercial
communication.
Convergence
Although new media tend to launch themselves by adapting the forms of media
that preceded them, the older media also adapt by adopting some of the advances
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of the new media. For example, nearly every media vehicle has one or more
websites, and that creates convergence. This makes it very hard to categorize
media.
Although we discuss convergence primarily as shape-shifting where traditional
media take on characteristics of new electronic media, there is actually more to it
than that, according to Larry Kelley, one of the textbook’s advisory board
members. He observes that promotional areas such as advertising and public
relations are morphing together in integrated brand planning. He insists that
“media convergence is more than just providing content in a variety of forms. It is
about the convergence of content, branding, and consumer engagement.” The
brand, the message and the media are all interwoven in contemporary media
strategies.
The Contemporary Media Landscape
There have always been evolution and change in the shape and forms of media.
However, the speed of change has increased, as has the number media available
for use in brand communication. This has created pressure for more coordination
and integration. There has also been a change in delivery systems.
The modern media landscape includes up to 200 television channels in some
markets, a huge number of special interest publications, millions of websites, and
new and novel media forms that were not even imagined 20 years ago.
Key Media Players
In terms of jobs and career opportunities in media, there are professionals who both sell
and buy media. It is important that you understand the difference. First let’s look at the
professionals who sell space or time in media.
•Media salespeople work for a specific vehicle with the objective of building the
best possible argument to convince media planners to use the medium they
represent. Currently, media conglomerates dominate media sales. CBS, for
example, created a coordinated ad-selling division, called CBS RIOT, which
stands for radio, Internet, outdoor, and television. The new division was designed
to serve primarily local markets and offers cross-media (also called
cross-platform or multichannel) integrated deals. Disney is
reorganizing its ad sales to deliver a similar cross-media ad sales program for its
kids’ media properties.
Media brokers are people (or companies) that sell space (in print) and time (in
broadcast) for a variety of media. If an agency wants to buy space in all of the
major newspapers in the West, for example, the agency’s buyer could contract
with a media rep firm whose sales rep and brokers handle national sales for all of
those newspapers. This allows the media buyer to place the buy with one order.
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On the buying side, media planners, buyers, and researchers work primarily for
agencies, although they can also be found working for marketers who handle their
own media work in-house. Their challenge is to determine the best way to deliver
a message, which is called media planning. The job functions are as follows:
Media researchers compile audience measurement data, media costs, and
availability data for the various media options being considered by the
planners.
Media planners develop the strategic decisions outlined in the media
plan, such as where to advertise geographically, when to advertise, and
which type of media to use to reach specific types of audiences.
Media buyers implement the media plan by contracting for specific amounts of time or
space. They spend the media budget according to the plan developed by the media
planner. Media buyers are expected to maintain good media supplier relations to facilitate
a flow of information within the fast changing media marketplace. This means there
should be close working relationships between planners and buyers, as well as media
reps, so media planners can tap this source of media information to better forecast media
changes, including price and patterns of coverage.
Media buying companies are independent companies that specialize in
doing media research, planning, and buying. They consolidate media
buying in order to get maximum discounts from the media for the volume
of their buys. They then pass on some of this saving to their clients.
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