1 Media Planning and Strategy

Media planning is the series of decisions involved in delivering the promotional message to the prospective purchasers or users of the product or brand. The media plan is the guide for media selection. It requires development of specific media objectives and specific media strategies designed to attain these objectives. Once the decisions have been made and the objectives and strategies formulated, this information is organized into the media plan. The medium is the general category of available delivery systems, which includes broadcast media like TV and radio, print media like newspapers and magazines, direct mail, outdoor advertising, and other support media. The media plan determines the best way to get the advertisers message to the market. In a basic sense, the goal of the media plan is to find that combination of media that enables the marketer to communicate the message in the most effective manner to the largest number of potential customers at the lowest cost. Problems in Media Planning Insufficient Information:

While a great deal of information about markets and the media exists, media planners often require more than is available. Some data are just not measured, either because they cannot be or because measuring them would be too expensive. Inconsistent Technologies:

Problems arise because the cost basis used by different media often varies and the standards of measurement used to establish these costs are not always consistent. Time Pressures:

It seems that advertisers are always in a hurry sometimes because they need to be; other times because they think they need to be.

1.1

Developing the Media Plan

The development of media plan and strategies is focused more specifically to determine the best way to deliver the message. The process involves a series of stages, as described below. 1.1.1 Market Analysis and Target Market Identification

In the development of a media strategy, a market analysis is again performed, although this time the focus is on the media and delivering the message. The key questions at this stage are these;

to whom shall we advertise (who is the target market)? What internal and external factors may influence the market plan? Where (geographically) and when should we focus our efforts. 1.1.2 Establishing Media Objectives

Media objectives are designed to lead the attainment of communications and marketing objectives. Media objectives are the goals for media program and should be limited to those that can be accomplished through media strategies. 1.1.3 Developing and Implementing Media Strategies

Media strategies evolve directly from the actions required to meet the media objectives. Following are the criteria that are considered in the development of media plan. The Media Mix

A wide variety of media and media vehicles are available to advertisers. While it is possible that only one medium and vehicle might be employed, it is much more likely that a number of alternatives will be used. The objectives sought, the characteristics of the product or service, the size of the budget, and individual preferences are just some of the factors that determine what combination of media will be used. Target Market Coverage

The media planner determines which target markets should receive the most media emphasis. The goal of the media planner is to extend media coverage to as many of the members of the target audience as possible while minimizing the amount of waste coverage. Geographic Coverage

The objective of weighing certain geographic areas more than others makes sense, and the strategy of exerting more promotional efforts and dollars in those areas follows naturally. Scheduling

The primary objective of scheduling is to time promotional efforts so that they will coincide with the highest potential buying times. Three scheduling methods available to the media planner are continuity, flighting and pulsing. Continuity refers to a continuous pattern of advertising, which may mean everyday, every week or every month.

Flighting employs a less regular schedule, with intermittent periods of advertising and non-advertising. At some time periods there are heavy promotional expenditures, and at others there may be no advertising. Pulsing is a combination of the first two methods. In a pulsing strategy, continuity is maintained but at certain times promotional efforts are stepped up. Research versus Frequency

Some advertisers have a variety of objectives and face budget constraints, they usually must trade-off reach and frequency. They must decide whether to have the message be seen or heard by more people (reach) or by fewer people more often (frequency). Creative Aspects and Mood

The context of the medium in which the ad is placed may also affect viewers perceptions. A specific creative strategy may require certain media. Because TV provides both sight and sound, it may be more effective in generating emotions than other media; magazines may create different perceptions from newspapers. In developing a media strategy, marketers must consider both creativity and mood factors. Flexibility

An effective media strategy requires a degree of flexibility. Because of the rapidly changing marketing environment, strategies may need to be modified. If the plan has not built in some flexibility, opportunities may be lost and the company may not be able to address new threats. Flexibility may be needed to address the following: 1. Market opportunities: Sometimes a market opportunity arises that the advertiser wishes to take advantage of. 2. Market threats: Internal or external factors may pose a threat to the firm, and a change in media strategy is dictated. 3. Availability of media: Sometimes a desired medium or vehicle is not available to the marketer. Perhaps the medium does not reach a particular target segment or has no time or space available. Alternative vehicles or media then must be considered. 4. Changes in media or media vehicles: A change in the medium or in a particular vehicle may require a change in the media strategy. Budget Considerations

One of the more important decisions in the development of media strategy is cost estimating.

2 Event Management
Management of events has traditionally been alluded to as a post marketing activity and assigned the classic production responsibility as in any manufacturing firm. When we use event management, it is to denote the production of an event. A large number of people with different skills and roles are involved in the execution of an event. There is a complex interaction of people and their responsibilities. Event management involves planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling functions with respect to events.

Planning
Planning tries to optimize resource utilization across the board. A cross-functional team is a necessity here given the complexity in decision-making involved and the requirement for phenomenal researched information. Beginning with understanding the client profile, the brief for the event, the target audience and number expected, a major component of any event that follows is the preparation of the event cash flow statement.

Organizing
Event coordinators are essentially required for the organizing part for an event. Starting from contacting the artist or performers and in case of absence or dropouts, making standby arrangements is one of the most important functions of the event coordinator. After planning and creative functions have worked out the game plan, the event coordinator then goes about fixing the date, terms and conditions with the artist. This is followed by arranging and creating necessary infrastructure. Planning and coordinating with the professionals for the physical availability of the sound, lights, stage, sets and seating is followed by arranging for some softer aspects of organizing.

Staffing
Staffing basically involves matching jobs and individuals. This may require a number of functions like manpower planning, recruitment selection, training and development, performance appraisal, promotion.

Leading and Controlling

physical nature of the job, the time constraints involved and the one-off nature of the event. The overall coordinator also should be able to guide the marketing and project managers and this may even mean that the experience and expertise of past events need to be passed on to relative new comers given the shortage of professional event managers. Thus, great communication skills and patience without letting too many errors happen as well as knowing how to use the carrot and the stick in a balanced manner are the basic characteristics of the overall coordinator. In addition to the above, the leadership qualities desired of an event manager include the ability to spot a deal and think on ones feet. All or organizations, business or on-business face the necessity of coping with problems of control. Like other managerial functions the need for control arises to maximize the use of resources and to achieve purposeful behavior of organization members In the planning stage, managers decide how the resources would be utilized to achieve organizational objectives; at the controlling stage, managers try to visualize whether resources are utilized in the same way as planned. Thus control completes the whole sequence of management process.