Cross media planning offers an embarrassment of riches when
it comes to the range of media and datasets available to marketers. This is why
a seasoned professional like Kevin O’Reilly, Senior Vice President of Product,
Data and Monetization for a4,
is the go-to person to help optimize advertising messages in the planning stage
through sales enablement across cable, OTT and digital.
The Value of Cross Media Planning
Cross media planning involves, according to O’Reilly, “reaching households that you need to with the appropriate efficiency and the appropriate frequency for targeting.” This process requires deftness. “When you build a plan,” he explained, “there are many options such as targetable media, which is one-to-one. But with that there is a trade-off in cost and, to be honest, accuracy. How do I make sure that I am achieving the greatest efficiency that I can? I want to make sure my clients are reaching their correct audiences without waste. So when it comes into that full sales process, it’s about the conversation. ”
Balance in a plan is vital. “When you look at cross platform you have to ask the question, how do I establish the most efficient base? How can I get, from a good pricing perspective, the majority of my reach? And then when I start paying for incremental reach, I start using the targeting platforms, while controlling the frequency.”
The Components of Cross Media
The two big core pieces of media in a4, “are local linear, a commercial ad on a spot, in a market, on a station on a specific point of time in a day. But that might be delivering to a couple of thousand households – it depends on the size of the zone. Then there is OTT and to a lesser extent OLV into devices like iPads etc in the house,” he stated. And, when the client requests it, household addressable, which, “gives us the ability to reach a set of target households with a specific piece of content back to the zone.” For a programmer, the remaining households in that zone would see a different piece of content, a PSA or a different commercial.
There is also Direct-to-Mobile, which O’Reilly explained, “is our own messenger product which has the ability to target very specific households within a very local region.” Content here can be text messaging as a bottom display with an ability to click on it. “It can take you directly into the video that we have been showing on the big screen or, if you are a local retailer, could actually be your address on Google maps or some other form of sequential messaging that you would want to put in front of the customer,” he added.
The Importance of Data and Metrics
The wealth of data Available to a4 is focused mainly within their footprint although there are also opportunities to work with data from outside partners. Within a4, “we have deterministic device graphs,” he noted, “we have anonymized unique household IDs which are obviously router ID addresses. So when it comes to targeting, we are leveraging this anonymized key to reach across all of our various digital assets.” And he added, “On top of that we have our set top box data and we also supplement with ACR data with vendors.” All of this revolves around privacy which is secured through an anonymized key. “We never see the household data,” he assured.
When it comes to metrics, “a lot of our clients and agencies out there are still relying heavily on ratings and reach,” he revealed. “For me, I try to understand the cost of incremental action that we are generating whether that is reach or frequency or further down the attribution funnel. But also what is really important to me is the concept of effective frequency – not average frequency.“
But, he advised, “it’s becoming increasingly important for advertisers to understand the data that are being used inside the ecosystem. Understand the source of the data when you are talking with your partners about doing targeted ads. Make sure that the data reflects that you are reaching who you think you are reaching.”
Perfecting Cross Media Planning
When it comes to launching a cross media plan, O’Reilly offered some cogent advice for advertisers. “Understand what it is that you are trying to achieve,” he noted, “What are the critical business metrics that I am looking to achieve? Am I trying to get more people to buy my product? Am I trying to get people to the top of my funnel? What is my internal sales cycle? What is the business outcome I am to achieve?” That is the starting point. Then you need to find media, “that activates customers from this part of the funnel, to have a conversion event to get them through the next part of the funnel,” he explained.
Ultimately it comes down to perfecting timing, “how much business activity am I trying to drive to a point in the future. Then there is a work back calendar when you start to think about how to best treat specific customer segments, when does that campaign start, when do we have a flighting structure, maybe building up to crescendo in the final two weeks reiterating the message,” he stated.
When it comes to the future, with the impact of the pandemic taken into account, O’Reilly is bullish. “It will definitely be more digital. The way people are consuming linear is changing as is the increase in bandwidth which creates even more opportunities. Two years from now, IPV6 will be ‘a thing.’ We will make that move from being just household addressable into individual devices beyond the router.” His enthusiasm is infectious. It looks like the future of cross media planning will be even brighter.
This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com
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