TEACHING ADVERTISING MEDIA: The Other Creative Discipline
Frances L. Collins
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
130 Taylor Hall
Kent State University
Kent, OH 44242
Phone: 216-672-2572
FAX: 216-672-4064
This paper is submitted for consideration for the Research-in-Brief Session
of the Teaching Standards Division of AEJMC
for the Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.,
August 8-12, 1995
ABSTRACT
This paper presents a "real-world" method of teaching advertising media
planning that allows students to develop a complete media proposal as
the
course progresses. From research methodology through media buying
techniques for print and electronic media, students learn to develop a
media plan for one local client, using actual market advertising rates.
Included are a sample syllabus, project evaluation form, and suggested
exercises to hone students' skills in evaluating and analyzing media
buying
options.
INTRODUCTION
A former ad agency media buyer told the author that, while working on a
media planning assignment early in her career, she realized: "So,
that's
what he was talking about." "That" was a lecture topic in a media
planning
class. But it wasn't until the buyer was actually on the job that she
understood the strategic applications of the individual class
assignments
to the overall job of a media planner.
The purpose of this paper is to offer an alternative method of teaching a
media planning course by relating all elements of the course to the
coordinated development of a single media placement proposal for a
local-market client, which represents the type of work most beginning media
planners will do on the job. The course is designed to use actual
companies as class assignment clients and actual media rates from the
students' own local market.
Class discussions and exercises are related to the course's client and the
final media planning assignment, so that everything covered in the class
represents a coordinated approach, rather than a collection of
unrelated
mathematical exercises. Students learn how making changes in one
element
of a media plan affects the entire plan.
This format stresses both the concepts and mechanics of media planning,
rather than a textbook approach "that emphasizes media concepts
rather
than how-to-do-it explanations" (Sissors & Bumba, 1993, ix). While
it's
vital that students understand those concepts, it is also important
that
they have the opportunity to effectively apply them, actually creating
a
media plan, not just reviewing and evaluating textbook plans or
completing
individual mathematical exercises.
One ad agency manager noted that "... ad agency personnel who babble media
jargon, but don't really understand the basics, are not worth their keep.
Conversely, those who know the fundamentals can really shine when a client
interrupts the meeting to ask questions like: 'Would you explain this
page from the latest Arbitron TV ratings book for me?' Or, 'If I want
to
reach 50 percent of my target audience with a weekly frequency of
four, how
many television GRPs [gross rating points] do I need to buy?' ... Or,
'What does Simmons say about in-home readership for Sunset?' " (Perrin,
1992, 22).
The course curriculum described here teaches students to answer each of
those questions by providing them with the opportunity to develop a
plan
from actual ratings books and local station avails, based on reach and
frequency considerations, and to understand Simmons (or MRI) research
data
through using such published information in completing their course
assignment.
For many (if not most) advertising students, media planning is like a
foreign language. It's a whole new world to them -- a world they don't
even know exists, because, when most students think about advertising,
they
think in terms of the creative product. However, "many students do not
realize that media and
media-related jobs are more plentiful than those in the so-called
'creative' area.
They are often unaware that they are considerably more likely to begin
their advertising careers in media than in creative" (Jugenheimer,
Barban,
& Turk, 1992, 2).
The phrase "so-called 'creative' area" is particularly important.
Students tend to think of media as nothing more than numbers crunching.
But, evaluating all the elements of a media plan to devise the best
combination of media, vehicles, reach, frequency, and costs can be just as
'creative' as any other aspect of advertising. University of South
Carolina
professor Harry Miller defines creativity as "innovative problem solving"
(Jewler, 1995, 49). With the proliferation of cable television channels,
more specialized publications, and predictions of a world of
internet-connected individual consumers, ad agencies and their clients
will
be looking for media planners who can devise innovative media plans that
take advantage of twenty-first century media options. According to
business writer Thomas Forbes, "The simple days are gone, possibly forever.
Media is a specialty of its own, and a world of new options is growing
ever more complex" (Forbes, 1994, 36).
A recent editorial in Advertising Age magazine (January 30, 1995, 17)
voiced the hope that media buying organizations will begin to "... buy
media more smartly, not just more cheaply, and will have more influence
in
overall marketing strategy." Jack Myers, media consultant for
Campbell
Soup Co., says, "This elevates the role of media and empowers it as a
part
of the strategic marketing process" (Ibid).
The media planning course, as described in the following pages, is
designed to encourage students to develop and apply creative
problem-solving techniques in designing an advertising media plan
tailored
to their client's marketing needs.
Students learn the basic language and strategies of media buying and apply
their understanding to developing a complete three-month media plan
for a
client in
their own local market, within a small, manageable, media placement budget
($300,000 to $500,000, depending on the assignment client and the
hypothetical creative available for placement).
Students learn to read a publication's rate card and evaluate its
(selective) media kit information; to determine a print vehicle's discount
level; to apply the appropriate discount level to their own media
placement
recommendations; to read, evaluate, and compute cost-per-point comparisons
of television station availability information, and recommend the most
appropriate, cost-efficient programs; and to interpret a radio
station's
rate structure. By the end of the course, with this
tailored-to-the-local-
market approach, students have done all those things and created their
own
media plans, based on their individual assessment of the market,
audience,
and media characteristics applicable to the marketing situation they
have
been given.
THE COURSE: AN OVERVIEW
This media planning course covers the most important concepts, methods and
strategies a student would need in an entry-level media planning position.
According to Advertising Age, some larger agencies still provide
extensive training programs for their entry-level hires, but in many
agencies, "... training programs are a luxury" (Robbs, 1994, 28).
Graduates who can come into an agency, knowing not only the basic "media
jargon," but also how to apply media concepts to real clients'
marketing
needs, will be increasingly more valuable to agencies as each new
media
choice gains audience acceptance.
In this course, students apply media concepts, methods, and strategies to
local media planning and buying, rather than to media planning on the
national
level. Even if "... national advertising is the kind that students see
most often" (Sissors & Bumba, 1993, v), it isn't necessarily the kind
they
will be buying for their clients. And, while students certainly are
familiar with national advertisers, they're accustomed to seeing and
hearing about those advertisers and their products through their own local
media -- the local television stations they watch, the radio stations
they
listen to, and the local and/or campus newspapers they read.
(Students do,
of course, read nationally distributed magazines, and advertising
placement procedures for such publications are covered in this course
curriculum.)
The course has been designed to be completed during a 15-week semester, in
a course meeting twice a week. However, it could be adapted to
accommodate the quarter system. (See Appendix A for a sample 15-week
course outline.)
During the first three to four weeks, research sources and methodologies,
media characteristics, and the basics of putting the project assignment
together are covered and tested. Following this segment, students
complete
the first part of the semester's assignment (Situation Analysis).
During the next four to five weeks, print media are discussed in detail:
newspapers, magazines (consumer and business-to-business), outdoor,
and
direct marketing. Topics covered include reading and understanding
Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS) information for newspapers and
magazines, local (retail)
newspaper rates, local-market outdoor showings and costs, direct marketing
list and distribution costs, and all appropriate calculations. After
these
topics have been covered, students are tested on their knowledge, and they
submit the second
part of the semester's assignment (Print Media proposal).
The next five to six weeks are devoted to electronic media: local
broadcast
television affiliates, local cable options, and local radio. Local
television and radio stations and cable operators usually are willing to
provide local avails and costs for students' use. When specific local
costs are not available (or local stations are too numerous for
practical
inclusion) local average market costs per point may be
substituted. During this segment of the course, students learn to
understand and compute television and radio schedule costs and GRP levels,
costs per point, and reach and frequency. When this segment of the
course
has been completed, students are again tested, and they submit the
third
portion of the semester's assignment (Electronic Media proposal).
Any remaining classes may be devoted to the mechanics of putting the
semester's final project together and special media planning
considerations, such as advertiser opportunities in new, interactive
media.
ASSIGNMENTS: AN OVERVIEW
Each semester, a different client is chosen. There are two methods
available for selecting this client. One is to work with a local company
that does not employ an advertising agency and is willing to share
enough
proprietary information with the class (sales projections, target
audience[s], projected budget, etc.), for students to be able to develop
appropriate recommendations. All student proposals would then be
available
to the company for its use. The second method uses a hypothetical local
client. That is, the instructor selects a type of company that does, in
fact, exist, but
he/she "creates" the marketing objectives for the class to achieve.
Sample clients used by the author have included fast-food restaurants,
specific banking services directed to college students, a hospital
out-patient clinic, a major league baseball team, the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame and Museum, and the
educational institution itself. (Colleges and universities must compete
for students just as Procter and Gamble competes for users of its
toothpastes and laundry detergents.)
This is where the instructor's creative media planning begins -- by
selecting (or creating) an appropriate local client that will keep
students
interested in, and
excited about, the project. Although media planners cannot choose only
those clients for whom they would like to work, if students feel a
sense of
compatibility with the subject, they are likely to become more interested
in the project and do a more thorough job (thereby using more of the
media
information they are learning, in a more professional manner).
When students can identify with their client or the client's product, they
tend to develop a proprietary attitude toward their plans, become more
interested in the project, and want to do a better job. This also
reduces
the possibility of students working together and submitting
too-similar
proposals, because each wants his or her proposal to be something
special.
Students often do additional research on the assigned (or a similar)
client to be able to add something to their proposals that no
other student has found. Many students also personalize their proposals by
giving themselves an agency name, by creating a proposal cover that
reflects the client's
personality, printing the proposal on stylized paper, or by having the
proposal
spiral-bound to give it a more professional look than a typical
end-of-the-course
term paper. These students include their proposals as portfolio material
when
interviewing for an internship or their first job.
The instructor should provide students with a description of the
(hypothetical) creative to be placed in the various media available to
them. The author recommends at least one (1) ad size for newspaper
placement, one (1) magazine ad designation, an outdoor board design, a
direct marketing piece (print, video, or both, depending on the client),
at
least one (1) 30-second television spot, and 60-second radio spot. (No
creative actually has to be produced, but students need a creative
platform
from which to jump into the media mix.)
During the media planning process, the students' own creativity develops
as they begin to see the relationships not only among the various
media and
vehicles,
but also between media and creative. They often include suggestions for
the creative so it provides a better "fit" with the media
recommendations.
For example, several students developing media plans for the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame and Museum recommended that all magazine advertising run in
black and white because, they said, magazines tend to reach an older
audience, and the older Baby Boomers grew up watching rock and roll
performers on black and white televisions. Therefore, the students
reasoned, these older Boomers would be more likely to identify with the
black and white representations of their early rock and roll idols.
The
students' media proposal, as outlined here, is designed to cover a
13-week
time period (one quarter of the year), which would be an appropriate
time
frame for a media planner to work with. Again, the instructor's
creativity
comes into play.
The quarter of the year assigned should not begin until after the course
will be
completed. That way, students are less likely to see a campaign for that
specific (or a
similar) client's product or service while they are developing their own
proposals.
In addition, students would be planning for future placements using current
media information, just as a professional media planner would do.
For example, a fall semester/quarter class could develop a placement
schedule to run during the first quarter of the following year. A winter
or spring quarter or spring semester class could develop a schedule to
run
during the summer or fall of that year.
The proposal should be assigned (and graded) in four stages. The three
preliminary submissions should carry less weight than the final, complete
proposal. This gives students the opportunity to grow into the
project and
to correct errors before the end of the semester/quarter when the final
proposal is submitted.
This four-stage process works quite well:
First, students submit a Situation Analysis, discussing the market
(geographic as well as demographic/psychographic), available media from
which to choose (to be recommended specifically in later stages), the
competitive environment facing this client, problems and opportunities
for
the client, the budget, and placement time frame.
Next, students submit their Print Media proposal, covering the
newspaper(s),
magazine(s), outdoor, and/or direct marketing vehicles they recommend for
advertising placement. This segment includes the students' rationale
for
their recommendations, costs, and specific ad placement schedules over
the
duration of the campaign. It also includes the students' reasons for
not
recommending media
and/or vehicles not included in their proposals. They must evaluate all
available
media and vehicles, make informed choices, and explain/defend those
choices.
Students resubmit their Situation Analysis with their print proposal so
the instructor can begin to see (and advise the students about) the
continuity and
logic of their proposals.
Then, students resubmit the Situation Analysis and Print Media proposal
with their final segment: the Electronic Media proposal. This section
again includes a rationale for the recommendations that follow,
explanation
for any media and/or vehicles not recommended, plus cost breakdowns and
specific placement schedules. By this time, students should see, and
be
able to explain, the relationships among the various media vehicles
they
have recommended, how the combined placements achieve their marketing
objectives, and how the plan will serve the client's needs.
After all three segments of the proposal have been submitted and graded,
students have the opportunity to make final revisions prior to the
final
submission for the project's overall grade.
At each stage of the submission process students may rewrite the prior
section for re-evaluation by the instructor. Rewriting may be regraded
or
not, according to each instructor's preference. Rewriting for a
higher
grade may motivate students to rewrite at each stage, but it also may
lull
students into believing that they don't have to work very hard at each
stage because they'll have opportunities to improve each grade.
Re-evaluation without regrading shows students whether they are on track
with their revisions without rewarding them for making less than their
best
effort
on the first submission.
The author does not regrade each resubmission prior to the end of the
course, but encourages students to rewrite in stages to help them see
how
the proposal
segments are related, and to help the students put the final, composite
proposal together more easily. Even without the incentive of a higher
grade, during the most recent semester, 14 of 22 students (63.6 percent)
rewrote their situation analysis prior to resubmitting it with the
print
proposal. Seven students (31.8 percent) rewrote both the situation
analysis and print proposal prior to submitting the electronic segment.
Before each segment of the proposal is submitted, all pertinent
information should be discussed and practice exercises conducted, so
students have the skills needed to complete each segment. And after each
portion of the course is completed, students should be tested on their
knowledge and understanding of the concepts presented and how to apply
those concepts to specific media planning situations.
SITUATION ANALYSIS
On first submission, this segment of the media proposal represents the
students' blueprint for the rest of the project. It gives them the
opportunity to introduce all pertinent elements for discussion: the
geographic market to be covered, potential target audience population, the
demographic and psychographic characteristics of the target
audience(s),
the competitive environment the client
faces, the various media and media vehicles available for the planner's
consideration, the budget available, and the placement time frame. By the
final submission, this section becomes an Executive Summary, recapping
the
market environment for the client (instructor) and previewing the key
elements of the
proposal.
To prepare students to write this section, class lectures and assignments
should cover basic media research techniques and applications,
discussion
and use of basic research materials (e.g., SMRB and/or MRI index
numbers,
SRDS materials, and source information about the demographic and
psychographic characteristics of the local target audience[s]).
The instructor should develop appropriate class discussions and exercises
designed to encourage students to begin to think like media planners
and to
answer questions media planners are likely to confront. For example,
students should begin to look at media vehicles, not from the audience's
point of view ("I wonder what's on TV tonight?"), but from the
marketer's
point of view ("How can what's on TV tonight help me reach my target
audience with my message?").
Or, instructors could ask students how representatives of two competing
magazines can provide independent research results "proving" that each
magazine is the number-one choice among the target audience. This is
not a
hypothetical question, but one faced by the author during the first week
as a media planner. (Answer: Each "independent" survey queries only
the
subscribers of each magazine.) Students must understand how research
information is generated before they can evaluate its reliability and
applicability to their needs. In helping students read and understand
index numbers, if the semester's client is a professional sports
franchise,
for example, appropriate SMRB and/or MRI information and audience
characteristics for adults who attend sports events could be used for class
discussion and exercises.
Students also should be expected to do out-of-class research on their own,
such as determining the geographic market and identifying the major media
outlets available in the area.
Students also should be encouraged to think about what they know about the
client's product category, the local market and media, and consumer
behavior. This project gives students the opportunity to think beyond
their textbooks and to bring relevant information to their proposals
from a
variety of sources. For example, again using the pro sports team as the
client, students could be asked to describe the target audience for
the
sport, both demographically and psychographically, to discuss which
media
they think these fans would look to for information and/or
entertainment, and which media and media vehicles they would match to their
audience descriptions, and why.
PRINT MEDIA PROPOSAL
This segment includes the students' recommendations for all print media
and print media vehicles. Students should be able to discuss the
print
media serving their market that are most appropriate for their client's
advertising. They should explain which vehicles they do or don't
recommend, when the advertising should run, and the cost of each vehicle.
(Students should provide only gross costs in their proposals, because
that
is the amount their clients would be billed.)
This segment of the course begins with an explanation of how to read an
SRDS newspaper listing. Of course, SRDS provides only gross rates, for
national advertisers. But, students first need to know how to find
(and
understand) information in an SRDS listing. After they understand
standard
ad units,
column-inch rates, color costs and other special (position) charges, the
use and computation of cost per thousand, and gross and net costs,
they
should be given the retail rates for the major daily newspaper(s)
serving
the local market. Most newspaper representatives are willing to
provide a
media kit with retail rate information for use in college classrooms.
It will be up to the students (individually) to decide when, where (if
more than one newspaper serves their target market), and how often they
would
recommend placing newspaper advertising for their client. After students
have made that decision, they must compute all (gross) costs of the
placement schedule they recommend.
After students are familiar with reading SRDS listings for newspapers,
they can easily understand SRDS listings for magazines, both consumer
and
business-to-business, and the differences between the two. If the
students' local market supports one or more magazines, they should be
introduced. Most local (city, regional, business) magazines will make a
media kit and sample issues available for teaching purposes.
Students
also should be introduced to Magazine Network, Inc. (MNI) as an
opportunity
to place local-client advertising in national, weekly magazines. As with
newspapers, students will decide whether to recommend such magazine
options, and they will include all appropriate explanations and costs in
their proposal.
The outdoor company that serves the local area probably would make local
outdoor showing costs and circulation information available for classroom
use. (If not, various media guides provide market cost-per-point
information that students could use.) After discussing outdoor advertising
as an option, local showings,
ratings, daily and monthly circulation and costs, students will be able to
determine if outdoor would be beneficial to their client's media mix,
and,
if so, at what level and cost, and for how much of the three-month
buy.
SRDS, as well as many direct marketing companies, provides direct mail
list information that students can use in determining whether direct
marketing (mail) would be appropriate for their client and at what
distribution level and cost. Students like the idea of direct mail because
they want to get their creative materials into the hands of their target
audience. And, with the proliferation of video as a direct marketing
tool,
students are even more enamored of the option. However, they have to
learn to weigh the advantages of such a direct-to-the-consumer strategy
against the cost of direct mail as part of the media mix. Direct mail
gives students the best opportunity to compare the value of a medium
with
the cost of that medium in relation to their client's budget.
When students submit their print media recommendations, they resubmit
their Situation Analysis. This gives the instructor an opportunity to
begin to judge the continuity of their observations and recommendations
and
to point out any problems or inconsistencies. Students should include a
monthly calendar or flow chart to neatly summarize their print media
recommendations. They also should include a budget summary to which they
can add their recommended costs for the electronic media they will
discuss
in the next section.
ELECTRONIC MEDIA
This segment includes students' recommendations for the electronic media
(broadcast television affiliates, cable, and radio) and specific
vehicles
most
appropriate for their client's needs. This new segment should be
accompanied by the Situation Analysis and the Print Media recommendations,
tying the entire proposal together. At this stage, students should
have
developed a broad overview of how all the media work together and how
their
recommendations for each medium contribute to the whole.
In getting started on this section, students first have to understand how
ratings information is gathered (diary and electronic methods) and how
to
read
Arbitron or Nielsen ratings books. They should use this information in
conjunction with avails from local affiliates to determine which
television
programs they recommend for their client's advertising schedule and why.
Once again, students must demonstrate more than textbook knowledge of
concepts and definitions. They must understand who their target audience
is and the programs that audience is most likely to watch. Again, if
the
client is the local sports team, and the primary target audience is
men
25-54, what do students know about the programs that are most likely to
reach that segment of the population? Do these fans limit their
television
viewing to just sports-related programming? And how can students combine
what they know about the audience and their program
choices to develop a television proposal designed to reach that audience
with the appropriate frequency within a reasonable cost per point?
One exercise to help students match programming to target audiences asks
them to watch prime-time programming to identify the programs' target
audience(s), and to predict whether each show will be a "hit," a "miss,"
or
a "maybe" by the end of the season. What's important is not whether the
students like the programs, but whether they think the programs will
attract enough of the target audience they have identified, satisfy that
audience and advertisers, and stay on the air. With networks'
changing
their programming and schedules regularly, this exercise is applicable
to
fall or winter/spring classes. See Appendix B for a sample "Hit,
Miss,
Maybe" worksheet.
If each local broadcast affiliate will provide a set of avails, students
can use the specific ratings and costs for their identified
demographic
target to develop their
proposals. Absent that specific information, students can use average
costs per point in the local market for the various television dayparts
to
develop recommendations based on those averages. They then should
include
recommendations for specific
programming within those dayparts that they believe would be most effective
in reaching their target audience(s).
Although local ratings for cable viewing are not available, local cable
companies can provide subscriber information and 30-second spot costs
for
the various networks carried by their systems. Students need to be
aware
of the various cable offerings and the specific audiences served by
each
network. They should understand how cable helps build frequency for
their
messages, in conjunction with broadcast television (and the other
media
they recommend), and how cable buying is similar to buying time on
radio,
because cable viewers are attracted by a cable network's format (CNN
for
news, MTV and VH-1 for music, etc.), just as radio listeners are
attracted
by a station's specific format (adult contemporary, rock, etc.).
Most major metropolitan areas support a vast number of radio stations, and
it would be difficult -- if not impossible -- to obtain avails from so
many. With radio, using the market's average cost per point for each
radio
daypart, in combination with ratings for the local stations, provides
students the opportunity to select radio stations based on their
formats,
ratings, and average cost for their market. The instructor could, of
course, select several stations from which students would make their
selections and recommendations, and the instructor could request avails
from only those stations.
Again, students must determine which stations to recommend and why, and
which daypart(s) -- based on the ratings -- would be most appropriate
to
carry their client's advertising message.
After completing the electronic media portion of their proposals, students
add
those costs to their budget summary, and those recommendations to their
flow
chart, calendars, and/or schedule worksheets, so their client would be able
to see -- at a glance -- the complete three-month (13-week) placement
recommendations.
COMPLETE MEDIA PLACEMENT PROPOSAL
After the instructor has evaluated each segment of the proposal, students
have one more opportunity to rework any area(s) with which they had
difficulty and to submit the proposal in its complete and final form. This
submission should be as error-free and professional as possible. If the
client is an actual local advertiser who has shared marketing
information
with the class, these proposals should be passed on to that
advertiser.
With their projects completed, students should have a clear understanding,
not only of the concepts underlying media planning and buying, but also
how to apply those concepts to develop and evaluate a completely
integrated
media plan. This final proposal combines the student's overview of the
client's marketing situation, an evaluation of the available media,
recommendations for the specific media and vehicles most appropriate for
achieving the marketing objectives, explanations for any
media/vehicles not
recommended, the cost of each medium's placements, as well as the total
cost, and calendars and/or flow charts summarizing the
recommendations.
SUMMARY
Each local media market presents a unique set of circumstances. Some
markets are served by multiple daily newspapers; some provide a
significant
number of local-interest magazines; some receive more than one local
affiliate of a major television network, and some may experience a change
in network affiliations. The development of a local-market-based media
planning course must take all market idiosyncrasies into consideration.
But, the author believes that a media course grounded in the local
market,
giving students the opportunity to develop their own, individual media
proposals, provides a firm foundation for their understanding of, and
appreciation for, the creative requirements of any media plan.
Instructors may initiate or further develop their working relationships
with
local media outlets by making use of actual rate information obtained from
those
outlets. Or, they may base their discussions, exercises, and assignments
on average costs for the local market, available from such sources as
SRDS,
Media Week's Guide to Media or Adweek Magazines' Marketer's Guide to Media
.
Each instructor will, of course, develop his or her own grading system and
weights for each segment of the course. The author assigns 50 percent of
the course content to the written assignments: Each preliminary
segment of
the media project represents 10 percent of the student's final grade, for
a total of 30 percent, and the final submission represents 20 percent.
(See Appendix C for a sample proposal evaluation form.) Forty-five
percent
of the final grade is based on three exams, each worth 15 percent. This
provides an almost equal balance between an understanding of the
conceptual
information demonstrated on exams and the hands-on planning required in
developing the media plans. The remaining five percent of students'
grades
represents their attendance and class participation.
Instructors who wish to use this advertising media planning model should,
of course, adjust the format described above to suit the
characteristics
and
requirements of their institutions and departments, and to their own
teaching styles. The author has found this model to be a successful
classroom method, and students who have completed media department
internships or begun their careers in agency media departments have
reported that they felt comfortable with, and were not intimidated by, the
assignments they were given.
APPENDIX A
15-Week Course Schedule
DATE TOPIC
01/17 Introduction; media basics
01/19 Media basics (cont'd)
Writing the media plan
01/24 "... lies, damned lies, & statistics"
01/26 Media research
01/31 Media research (cont'd)
02/02 Reach and frequency
02/07 FIRST TEST
02/09 Net "vs." gross; how agencies
make money; national newspapers
02/14 FIRST PROJECT DUE
National newspapers (cont'd)
02/16 Local newspapers
02/21 Consumer magazines
02/23 Consumer magazines (cont'd)
02/28 Business magazines
03/02 Direct Marketing
03/07 Direct Marketing (cont'd)
03/09 Outdoor advertising
03/14 SECOND TEST
03/16 Writing the media plan
Broadcast television
03/21 SECOND PROJECT DUE
Broadcast television (cont'd)
03/23 Broadcast Television (cont'd)
03/28 NO CLASS -- SPRING BREAK
03/30 NO CLASS -- SPRING BREAK
04/04 Broadcast television (review)
04/06 Cable television
04/11 Cable television
04/13 Radio
04/18 Radio (cont'd)
04/20 Radio (cont'd)
04/25 THIRD PROJECT DUE
Integrated Marketing Communications
04/27 Special media considerations
05/02 THIRD TEST
05/04 Writing the media plan
05/09 FINAL PROJECT DUE BY 10:30 A.M.
APPENDIX B
HIT, MISS, MAYBE
PRIME TIME 1994 - 1995
DAY/TIME NETWORK PROGRAM HIT MISS MAYBE
Sun 7/8p ABC Funniest Videos ________________
CBS 60 Minutes ________________
NBC Earth 2 ________________
FOX Simpsons/Get Smart _________________
Sun 8/9p ABC Lois & Clark _________________
CBS Murder She Wrote _________________
NBC SeaQuest DSV _________________
FOX Simpsons/House of ... _________________
Sun 9/10p ABC Movie _________________
CBS Movie _________________
NBC Movie _________________
FOX Married/Dream On _________________
Sun 10/11p ABC Movie _________________
CBS Movie _________________
NBC Movie _________________
FOX Local Programming _________________
Mon 8/9p ABC Coach/New Ballgame _________________
CBS Nanny/Dave's World _________________
NBC Fresh Prince/Blossom _________________
FOX Melrose Place _________________
Mon 9/10p ABC Movie _________________
CBS Murphy Brown/Cybill _________________
NBC Movie _________________
FOX Models, Inc. _________________
Mon 10/11p ABC Movie _________________
CBS Chicago Hope _________________
NBC Movie _________________
FOX Local Programming _________________
APPENDIX C
SAMPLE PROPOSAL EVALUATION FORM
______________________
(Name)
MEDIA PROJECT EVALUATION
AVAILABLE POINTS POINTS RECEIVED FOR YOUR POINTS
(85%) Media Plan (__________)
50% Rationale/Discussion ___________
25% Computations ___________
10% Organization ___________
(15%) Technical Skills
Grammar, spelling,
punctuation, typos (__________)
100% TOTAL ___________
GRADE ___________
COMMENTS:
REFERENCES
Forbes, T. (1994, Spring). "Great Moments in Media." Agency, 4 (2).
Jewler, A. J. (1995). Creative strategy in advertising (5th ed.).
Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Jugenheimer, D. W., Barban, A. M., & Turk, P.B. (1992). Instructor's
manual and test item file to accompany advertising media: Strategy
and
tactics. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown Communications, Inc.
Perrin, W. (1992). Advertising realities. Mountainview, CA: Mayfield
Publishing Company.
"Power to the planners." (1995, January 30). Advertising Age.
Robbs, B. "Agencies need strong partner in diversity effort." (1994,
September 12). Advertising Age.
Sissors, J. Z. & Bumba, L. (1993). Advertising media planning (4th ed.).
Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Business Books.
Sissors, J. Z. & Bumba, L. (1993). Advertising media planning
instructor's
manual. (4th ed.). Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Business Books.
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