Hot Tip

Orchestrating Campaigns

Anyone who has orchestrated advertising campaigns knows that common pitfalls include waste due to a lack of organized process and the temptation to let concepts drive strategy versus everything flowing from strategy. There are many approaches that work well, but the following 10 step example may be a helpful reference point while in the launch mode:

Step 1: Master Calendar: Detailed, regularly updated and managed timeline of all steps. The timeline is ever changing and rules!
Step 2: Defined Product: Product or service features/benefits/offering has been researched, approved and is not likely to change.
Step 3: Know Your Targets: Targets are defined based on "brand relevant" behaviors and final targets are profiled in depth.
Step 4: Overall Strategy: Based on research/target profiles, finalize all brand elements as well as "go to market" strategies.
Step 5: Tactics/Programs: Identify specific tactics/programs that best fit with target profiles/research, budgets, operations and sales goals.
Step 6: Forecast: Rough forecast of overall spends, results, goals and other scenarios -- use ongoing to refine tactic/program selection.
Step 7: Platform: Develop a creative platform (e.g., look, tone, style, feel, key copy points) that will support planned tactics/programs.
Step 8: Concepts/Testing: Develop actual campaign concepts for focus group testing -- finals will heavily influence creative and tactical directions.
Step 9: Planning/Briefs: Plan all the details (e.g., tactics/formats) and based on these plans & focus results -- develop creative briefs.
Step 10: Implementation: Final creative, media placements, et cetera.

Bite-Sized Chunks

• Diversity Marketing - In English: Many companies feel that they cannot go after diversity opportunities until they are set up internally to handle languages other than English. While it is desirable to have this capability, there is a large population of diversity persons who identify with their cultural heritage but prefer to speak English or are not dependent upon their native language. We have been involved with many successful (e.g., Hispanic and Asian American) targeted campaigns that were culturally relevant but in English only. Efforts included group- specific as well as collectively multicultural. So, if you want to realize diversity sales opportunities sooner than later, this may be an excellent way to start.
• Cost Per Thousand vs. Cost Per Customer: Lowest negotiated CPM (cost per thousand) makes the advertising world go round, but very often the quality of audience reached suffers from this approach, so what is the trade off? Some believe it's better to have a low CPM at all times because the message will reach a broader opportunity -- thus efficiencies and sales volumes will be highest. We believe there will always be rationale for low CPM/mass advertising, but not at the exclusion of other strategies, because although low CPM advertising is broad and efficient, consumer response rates tend to be lower than with more targeted efforts. The rationale for higher CPM, market-specific or segmented campaign "layers" within the overall advertising mix is threefold: 1) Segmented campaigns can open up the message opportunities and result in higher consumer volumes to go after, 2) The "quality of target" audience reached is typically higher per (000) than a mass market approach...lower cost per sale, and 3) Because messages/offers/markets are targeted, the response rates will be higher per (000) reached: 2X higher is not uncommon.

Client To Client Discussion

Please share any ideas you may have that worked well for campaign planning/orchestationand we may include it in our next newsletter.