Chapter 12: Media Basics
Similarly, the number of viewers watching a program might be greater than the
number of households reached since there may be more than one viewer watching
and the commercial may be repeated several times in a program.
Media planners add up all those watching and reading and multiply that number by
the number of placements to estimate gross impressions for a media plan.
Ratings
Gross impression figures become very large and difficult to work with, which is why
television and radio industries use ratings (percentage of exposure), which is an
easier measurement to work with because it converts the raw figure to a percentage of
Share
A better estimate of impressions might be found in a program’s share of audience,
which refers to the percent of viewers based on the number of sets turned on. The
share figure is always larger than the rating, since the base is smaller.
Reach and Frequency
The goal of most media plans is to reach as many people in the target audience as
often as the budget allows. Reach is the percentage of the media audience exposed at
least once to the advertiser’s message during a specific time frame.
Equally as important as reach is frequency, which refers to the number of times a
person is exposed to the advertisement. There’s a rule of thumb that you have to hear
Principle: The goal of most media plans is to reach as many people in the target
audience as often as the budget allows.
Intrusiveness
Intrusiveness, the ability of a medium to grab attention by being disruptive or
unexpected, is the primary strategy for countering clutter. Because of the high level of
commercial message clutter, companies in the past have valued all the help they can
get in attracting attention to their messages. With the new media world, engagement
will replace interruption. Still, most media use intrusiveness to some degree as a way
to grab the attention of inattentive media consumers.
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Media, as well as messages, vary in their degree of intrusiveness. The most intrusive
medium is personal selling because the sales representative’s presence demands
attention. Likewise, a phone call is also demanding, and a loud voice or sound on
television can be irritating. The least intrusive media are print because users choose
when and to what extent to use them. If a message is too disruptive or irritating,
it may not help build a positive brand relationship.
CHANGING PATTERNS OF MEDIA USE
Marketing communication media are in an incredible state of flux, partially because
of the introduction of the computer and the internet but also because of the way
people choose to spend their time. Laura Bright identifies three factors driving these
changes: (1) demassification and the trend to narrowcasting; (2) changes in media
consumption, particularly multitasking, and (3) media models becoming consumer-
centric.
Consumer Use of Media
Consumer use of media is changing as technology changes. It used to be that most
Americans were involved with three television networks, a newspaper, and one or
two magazines. The modern media landscape includes hundreds of television
channels, a huge number of special-interest publications, millions of websites, and
new electronic media with content on demand through the internet that enables
dialogue, conversation, connection, and community. Here are some other trends:
Consumer Control. Consumers are much more in control of their own media and
designing their own media landscapes, from video games to Twitter. The people
formerly known as “audiences” are creating their own content, a practice referred
to as consumer-generated content, such as homemade videos and commercials
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Media Multitasking. People not only spend more time with media but also use
more than one medium at a time. According to Nielsen, a whopping 86 percent of
U.S. smartphone owners say they use their devices as second screens while
watching TV, and nearly half do it every single day. Media users may sit at a
computer searching for information, or they may be playing a video game at the
same time they are listening to an iPod and texting on their cell phones.
Social Media. Traditionally, most media involved a solitary experience, such as
reading a paper or listening to the radio, but now there is truly social media. First
there were blogs, then MySpace and Facebook, and then Twitter, Instagram, and
Alternative Media Forms
We use the term nontraditional media to refer to media forms and forms of contact
other than traditional advertising media. The point is that there are other ways to
present promotional messages besides traditional marketing communication. Melissa
Lerner, a specialist in new media planning at a pioneering out-of-home media
company, describes nontraditional media in the A Matter of Principle feature as a
creative opportunity for innovative thinkers.
Product Placement
Technological trends as well as the changing patterns of consumer media use also
affect media planning. Because of the difficulty of reaching targeted audiences with
traditional media such as television, brands are increasingly showing up in movies,
video games, and television programs. This practice is known as product placement.
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Product placement has become important because it isn’t as intrusive as conventional
advertising and audiences can’t skip the ads as they can for television advertising
using the remote control or a DVR. At the same time, it may make the product a
star—or at least be associated with a star. Sometimes the product placement is subtle;
in other cases, the brand is front and center.
The biggest problem is that the placement may not be noticed. There is so much
going on in most movies that unless you can overtly call attention to the product, its
appearance may not register. A more serious problem occurs when there is not a
match between the product and the movie or its audience. Another concern is that
advertisers have no idea whether the movie will be a success or failure as they
negotiate a contract for the placement. If the movie is a dud, what does that do to the
brand’s image?
Another problem is an ethical one—when is a product placement inappropriate? For
example, some pharmaceutical marketers have found that a product “plug” can be a
way around the FDA’s requirements on the disclosure of side effects. Public policy
critics warn that it’s not just drugs; the problem exists for weapons, alcohol, tobacco,
Branded Entertainment
Similar to product placement, the use of the media of entertainment to engage
consumers with brands is referred to as advertainment or branded entertainment.
In some cases, companies may produce films for the internet where the brand is
integrated into the storyline.
An example of branded entertainment is described in the Inside Story feature in this
chapter, which explains how an animated program was created for the male grooming
brand Axe. The integrated launch campaign was a 360-degree promotional effort, and
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computers to search for product and store information, marketing strategies are
designed to assist in this process. Most (90 percent) of the search is done through
search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bing; however, consumers also use
internet directory listings and do comparison shopping on review sites like Angie’s
List. Mobile search using cell phones is one of the fastest growing media forms.
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In late 2016, mobile devices accounted for nearly half of all organic search engine
visits in the United States, up from 33 percent in the last quarter of 2013. Mobile
search is particularly relevant for local businesses because consumers use their
mobile website for information, such as a list of products and opening hours of the
local business. A business’s price list and phone number are also important features to
include on their mobile website, according to consumers.
In 2016, about 62 percent of paid Google search clicks originated from mobile, with
mobile phones accounting for nearly 40 percent of total clicks.
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Mobile marketing is an exciting new platform for location-based messages that,
among other uses, can reach consumers with a promotional message when they are in
the neighborhood of a store.
Word of Mouth
Since we recognize the power of personal communication in decision making,
creative folks are challenged to come up with exciting new ways to generate buzz and
convey brand messages through word of mouth. Buzz is important because it means
people are talking about a brand, and when it gets passed rapidly through a network
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Guerilla Marketing
Exciting and involving personal experiences are designed to reach people on the
street and in public places through a practice known as guerilla marketing, a really
hot area of alternative marketing communication. This place-based strategy creates
unexpected personal encounters with a brand, such as painted messages on streets or
costumed brand characters parading across a busy intersection. Effective guerilla
marketing uses surprise and curiosity to catch attention and create excitement as well
as buzz about a brand.
END-OF-CHAPTER SUPPORT
REVIEW QUESTIONS
12-3. Trace the evolution of media forms and explain how the new digital era is
different from previous media environments.
We can summarize the evolution of media forms through the following 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 represents a more dramatic shift because it has introduced changes unlike
any ever encountered in the history of media. 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 of available media 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
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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, such as the iPad, the
Kindle, and smartphones. Convergence makes it very difficult to categorize media. Print
and broadcast media have evolved into new digital forms. The digital age allows
12-4. Explain the roles of media salespeople, media planners, media buyers, and
media researchers.
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.
Media reps or 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 western United States, for example, the agency’s buyer could contract
with a media rep firm whose sales rep and brokers handle national sales for all those
newspapers. This allows the media buyer to place the buy with one order.
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.
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
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Media researchers compile audience measurement data, media costs, and
availability data for the various media options being considered by the planners.
12-5. What is a media mix and how does the mix differ for an IMC campaign?
In most cases a media plan will outline a set of media, and therefore is a media mix. This
media mix is the way various types of media are strategically combined to create a
certain kind of impact. Because of the breadth of IMC plans, the term multiplatform has
become popular to describe multichannel and multi-marketing communication areas. In
12-6. What is the difference between reach and frequency?
Reach is the percentage of the media audience exposed at least once to the advertiser’s
message during a specific time frame. Frequency refers to the number of times a person
is exposed to the advertisement. There’s a rule of thumb that you have to hear or see
something three times before it makes an impact, which is why frequency of repetition is
12-7. Explain what is meant when we say IMC is multiplatform, multimedia, and
multi-targeted.
IMC plans are multiplatform, meaning that they use a variety of marcom areas. They are
multi-channel, meaning that they use a variety of media, and multi-targeted, meaning that
12-8. In what ways are consumer media patterns changing and how does that
affect marketing communication?
Marketing communication media are in an incredible state of flux, partially because of
the introduction of the computer and the internet but also because of the way people
Chapter 12: Media Basics
Another major change in media use is the increase in media-driven lives and media multi-
tasking. In their youthful days, the lives of traditionalists and baby boomers were
dominated by work and family activities. In contrast, more recent generations spend more
time with media of all kinds, and those channels are more intertwined with their family,
work, and leisure time.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
12-9. What is the difference in perspective between how companies and consumers use
media? Give an example from your own experience where these two perspectives either
align or are at odds.
Companies as well as consumers use media. More and more, we see companies using
interactive media, such as the phone and online social media, as a channel for engaging
in conversations with their customers about their brand. In contrast, mass media have
traditionally been the way in which companies deliver one-way messages to consumers
about their brands.
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Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
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regarding daily menu specials and other promotional activity will help generate word-of-
mouth buzz. Finally, creation of a website that allows potential patrons to preview the
menu, read comments posted by satisfied customers, and interact with the restaurant by
asking questions and receiving personalized responses is critical.
TAKE-HOME PROJECTS
12-12. Portfolio Project. Collect three promotional messages from three different types
of media. Analyze what you believe to be the target for each piece. Now analyze the
medium in which each message appears. Research what you can about that media form to
determine its audience. Compare your analysis of the targeting with the reach of the
medium. Do you think they match? Explain why or why not.
Student responses to this project will vary.
12-13. Mini-Case Analysis: Reread the Axe story at the beginning of this chapter. What
was the problem this brand faced and how did that affect the media planning? What were
the objectives of both the initial campaign and its follow-up? What was the Big Idea that
drove the second campaign and how did that affect the media mix? Do you think this
effort was driven by reach or frequency? Considering all of the new media reviewed in
this chapter, what other media might Axe use in the next year of this campaign?
Axe is the brand that became famous trying to help guys get ahead in the mating game.
But this campaign changed the game, declaring to men: “The magic isn’t in the can, it’s
in you.” Axe chose this message because it reflects emerging cultural definitions of
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TRACE NORTH AMERICA CASE
Multicultural Media
Read the TRACE case in the Appendix before coming to class.
12-14. Which medium do you believe would be most impactful in the “Hard to Explain,
Easy to Experience” campaign? Why?
12-15. What target market insights led to the development of the “Hard to Explain, Easy
to Experience” media plan?
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
ASSIGNMENTS
Individual Assignments
1. Make arrangements to interview a professional who is employed in the media
planning division of an advertising agency. Use this opportunity to seek information
about this person’s day-to-day activities and responsibilities, the clients for whom he
or she has worked, the relationships they have developed in the media industry, major
2. Conduct secondary research on one of your favorite consumer brands by exploring
the following questions: What type of media does this brand use to communicate its
message to and develop relationships with consumers? What is the media plan that
Think-Pair-Share
Pair off with a classmate and construct a five-item survey to find out which media
students on your college campus are using most frequently. Also, develop and include at
least one question that assesses the impact of word of mouth on their consumer decision
OUTSIDE EXAMPLE
Go to www.adage.com and locate their list of the most popular viral videos. Next, go to
www.youtube.com and view at least three of them. Then answer the following questions
for each video that you watched: 1) What is it about this video that sparked people’s