What factors should I consider when placing an ad buy?

Advertisers should ask four key questions to help in determining the best media plan for their business:

1. What type of advertising message am I conveying?

Examples of the types of message an advertiser may want to convey are:

  • Awareness
  • Introduction
  • Sustaining
  • Recognition
  • Recall
  • Learning
  • Attitude shift
  • Purchase
  • New product
  • Image
  • Market share
  • Promotional
  • Call to action (direct response)

2. What are the marketing factors?

Advertisers should consider several factors and how they apply to their brand or business, such as:

  • Established name brand versus new name brand: Established brands already have high awareness and require less frequency, while new brands need to build awareness.
  • Brand loyalty: The higher the loyalty factor, the lower the need for frequency.
  • Brand dominance: A dominant brand needs lower frequency levels because of its high degree of awareness and acceptance.
  • Purchase/usage cycle: The longer the product/service purchase/usage cycle, the less frequency required than those with shorter cycles. Shorter product/usage cycles have to use higher frequency levels to make greater impact on the marketplace.
  • Competitive strategy: Higher frequency is recommended to beat the competition.
  • Target group: Every group has a different threshold. Younger demos are generally less tolerant of repeated messages so a lower frequency may work best for messages designed for that audience while older demos will be more receptive to repetition.

3. What are the creative factors?

  • Message complexity: The more simplistic the message, the lower frequency needed.
  • Message uniqueness: A high level of creativity requires less frequency.
  • New versus continued campaign: A repeated message requires lower frequency while a new message requires a higher frequency.
  • Selling an “image” vs. a product: Image requires reinforcement (high frequency), while selling product requires greater reach.
  • Message variation: The greater number of messages being used, the more frequency is required.
  • Burnout: To lessen message “burnout”, advertisers should aim for greater reach with lesser frequency.
  • Advertising units: Shorter messages (e.g. 10- and 15-second commercials) generally require higher frequency to be effective.

4. What are the media factors?

  • Clutter level: The more cluttered the advertising environment, the more frequency necessary to maintain share of voice.
  • Editorial environment: Programming that does not enhance the advertising message requires more frequency.
  • Attentiveness: Programs that generally have a higher level of viewer engagement/attentiveness (e.g. dramas, sports and news) generally require a lower frequency for commercials to be effective.
  • Continuous versus flighting: An ad schedule can be arranged as one long campaign that runs daily or weekly, or it can be scheduled in succinct flights, running for a specific period of time before going off-air for a week or two and then resuming. Flighting can help extend timing and ad dollars over a longer period, but tend to require more frequency than continuous advertising plans.