Media Planners

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (August 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Media Planner is a job title in an advertising agency responsible for selecting media for advertisement placement on behalf of their clients. The main aim of a Media Planner is to assist their client in achieving business objectives through their advertising budgets by recommending the best possible use of various media platforms available to advertisers^[1]. Their roles may include analyzing target audiences, keeping abreast of media developments, reading market trends and understanding motivations of consumers (often including psychology and neuroscience).

Traditionally, the role of the media planner was quite close to that of the Media Buyer, the obvious distinction being that the planner would devise a plan for advertising and the buyer would negotiate with the Media proprietor on things such as rates, copy deadlines, placement etc. The role of the modern media planner is more wide reaching however. Today many agencies are actually eschewing the job title of 'media planner' in favour of titles such as communications planner, brand planner or strategist. This reflects the shift away from 'traditional' media planning to a more holistic approach, with the planner now having to consider (as well as standard above-the-line channels such as TV, print, radio and outdoor) PR, below-the-line channels, in-store, digital media, product placement and other emerging communications channels all for the purpose of ensuring the client's advertising budget is well spent as well as adhering to the overall marketing strategy devised by marketing consultants or the client themselves. Their expanded job scope has thus made more demands of their time, placing them in immensely pressured situations matched by the states faced by their creative (copywriters and art directors) counterparts. Media planners have otherwise thought to have been in a far more relaxed working environment.

Media Planners tend to work very closely with client marketing departments, and the creative advertising agency to develop their recommendations. Profits in media buying, unlike the hourly billings made by many creative positions in the advertising industry, is afforded by the margin gained between the gross cost of an ad paid by an advertiser/client, minus the actual net negotiated by the media planner. For example, if a brand buys an ad for $10,000, the media buyer will negotiate for an industry standard discount of 15%, paying the newspaper or magazine a net of $8,500, earning a $1,500 margin.

Though many media planners are housed within ad firms, Initiative Worldwide, Carat, ZenithOptimedia, Starcom, Mindshare and OMD are examples of stand-alone global media planning agencies for general consumer brands. Specialty media buying groups, with industry-specific expertise include ^[2]. (law firm and professional services-only), [^[3]] (real estate and resort developments), among others.