reflectionmdc730

[reflectionmdc730]

Respond to the statement “increasing levels of legislation are the only way to ensure diversity, inclusion and personal privacy in global media  planning”

Before the advent of the internet, controlling our personal data was much easier to manage on a personal level, Shops could track what we would purchase, but gaining full demographic information without the use of surveys or generalisms through observation would be near impossible for brands to navigate globally. With the rise of inbound marketing in the 1950s and 1960’s Helen (2019) shows us that brands began to collect information on their customers interests, habits and demographics, allowing customers to feel more involved in the customer journey. This was a customer centric approach, but also gave the customer full disclosure on the information that they were prepared to share with the business. 

With the rise of the internet, the way in which our personal data is shared has ultimately changed and the landscape of cookie sharing, and third-party data has taken away an element of personal control over what data we share and when we share it. With the inception of GDPR versed as “…the gold standard.” (Taylor,2020), and ever-increasing legislation worldwide, the notion of consumers being able to regain their basic human rights of what they share with businesses is being seen again. 

Epstein (2024) believes that the impact of the implementation of legislation is 2-fold. As an immediate effect by removing the use of Third-party data, it could hinder the ability to reach the consumer, particularly more so on a world-wide platform. However, positively it pushes businesses back to first party and second-party data meaning that a brand can deliver a more personalised message. 

Third-party data is a vast pool of information that is collected by a third-party organisation and sold to a business. Barron (2022) states that it can give us a much wider view of our audience allowing us to understand more information on a wider scale to help us segment our content, this is particularly useful globally when media planners are not in a physical location. However, with that in mind, by businesses utilising first party data and collecting the information themselves they have the ability to allow their consumers to opt in and Epstein (2024) iterates that by doing so, brands are now speaking to a more engaged audience, where messages are specifically tailored to them, ultimately building long-term emotional brand salience. 

The modern audience has a set of favoured brands as argued by Sharp (2010a) he also theorizes that brands within the same product category sell to an almost identical customer base seen through demographic information, psychographics, personality traits and values. With this in mind, brand preference could be easily swayed if there were to be a data breach seen within the favoured brand. If we look at the case study of Facebook and the Cambridge Analytica 2018 scandal, Hern (2019) states that since the first report of the data breach, likes and shares are down by 20% and younger users are opting for different channels. Ultimately showing us that users have lost a profound trust in the platform. Mackay (2023) shows us that future impacts of this kind of data breach are long lasting through reputational damage, evidence shows a lack of repeat custom with a brand and consumers are more likely to spread negative views through word of mouth “…33.5% will take to social media to vent their anger…" (Mackay,2023).

To summarise, without the use of legislation being implemented worldwide, I do not believe that businesses would have ethically put in policies regarding inclusion, diversity and privacy. Ultimately the end goal of a business is to market to the correct target audience and convert those adverts to sales for the business. By using data and creating audience segmentation through Third-party data, brands could cover a broader reach, and gaining first-party data means collecting, storing and analysing data in house, both a costly and painstaking task. Although I believe that the initial inception of legislation surrounding these practices has been a tough hurdle to overcome, I do believe that, by forcing companies to re-look at the moral and ethical approach by gaining consented data, it has led to a more well-rounded view of their customer, essentially creating a personalised advertising experience for them, thus allowing for a more emotionally engaged audience, with consumers now feeling more respected and valued.

References:

Barron, S.B. (2022) A basic definition of first party, Second Party, & Third Party Data, HubSpot Blog. Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/service/first-party-data (Accessed: 07 July 2024). 

Bessadi, N. (2024) How can we balance security and privacy in the Digital World?, Diplo. Available at: https://www.diplomacy.edu/blog/how-can-we-balance-security-and-privacy-in-the-digital-world/ (Accessed: 07 July 2024). 

Carmicheal, K. (2021) Extended marketing mix: What it is and why it’s useful, HubSpot Blog. Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/extended-marketing-mix (Accessed: 06 July 2024). 

Clark, S. (2023) Guarding trust: Unveiling Data Privacy’s hidden gems, CMSWire.com. Available at: https://www.cmswire.com/digital-experience/the-role-of-data-privacy-in-customer-trust-and-brand-loyalty/ (Accessed: 07 July 2024). 

Epstein, M. and Paget, J. (2024) Interview with Maya Epstein: perspectives on the role of data ethics and privacy in global media planning., Falmouth University. Available at: https://learn.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/804/pages/week-4-guided-practice-page-1?module_item_id=63051 (Accessed: 07 July 2024). 

Helen (2019) A look back at the history of the internet and Digital Marketing, Leading Digital Marketing Agency in Surrey. Available at: https://www.innovationvisual.com/insights/a-look-back-at-the-history-of-the-internet-and-digital-marketing (Accessed: 07 July 2024). 

Hern, A. (2019) Facebook usage falling after privacy scandals, data suggests, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jun/20/facebook-usage-collapsed-since-scandal-data-shows (Accessed: 07 July 2024). 

Katz, H.E. (2022) The Media Handbook: A Complete Guide to Advertising Media Selection, planning, research, and buying. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. 

Koebert, J. (2024) Cookies study: 40% of Americans blindly accept internet cookies, but most don’t know what they do, All About Cookies. Available at: https://allaboutcookies.org/internet-cookies-survey#:~:text=40%25%20of%20internet%20users%20blindly,clear%20cookies%20and%20disable%20them. (Accessed: 07 July 2024). 

MacKay, J. (2023) 5 damaging consequences of Data Breach, MetaCompliance. Available at: https://www.metacompliance.com/blog/data-breaches/5-damaging-consequences-of-a-data-breach (Accessed: 07 July 2024). 

Sharp, B. (2010a)‘How brands really compete’, in How brands grow: What Marketers dont know. Melbourne: Oxford university press, pp. 190–193. 

Sharp, B. (2010b)‘How brands compete for sales’, in How brands grow: What Marketers dont know. Melbourne: Oxford university press, pp. 196. 

Statista research and 10, J. (2023) Consent to cookies usage by country 2021, Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1273012/consent-cookies-worldwide/ (Accessed: 07 July 2024). 

Taylor, M. (2020) Data Protection: Threat to GDPR’s status as ‘gold standard’, International Bar Association. Available at: https://www.ibanet.org/article/A2AA6532-B5C0-4CCE-86F7-1EAA679ED532 (Accessed: 07 July 2024). 

Vinceseropian (2020) Media Planning in a GDPR world - just global: B2B marketing agency, Just Global | B2B Marketing Agency. Available at: https://justglobal.com/insights/jonas-olsson/media-planning-gdpr-world/ (Accessed: 07 July 2024). 

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Should media planners ignore 13% of UK consumers who aren’t online?

As marketers our primary concern is ensuring that our advertising resonates with our audience, converts to sales and gives good ROI. 

Carmichael (2021a) describes the theory of the marking mix as an analogy using ingredients that work. Stating that like we see our perfect sandwich; every marketing structure needs a good strategy or in this case ingredients to make it great. The main ingredients we need to make a good strategy in marketing are “…product, price, placement and promotion…” (Carmichael, 2021a). In the context of the marketing mix, we will be exploring this question through the overarching theory of placement, with the idea of the advert being put in the right place at the right time for the consumer. 

With this theory in mind, if we were looking solely at an e-commerce business. Should media planners ignore the 13% of non-internet users? Yes. 

Lay (2024) Discusses how digital platforms and technology are great for targeting and measurement. She further iterates how digital media forms a strong basis for budgetary restrictions in the demand generation. Digital advertising to digital purchase is fast paced, it allows the consumer to have a smooth customer journey as they could click on the advert, and it automatically tracks them to the e-commerce website. For an e-commerce business we are needing consumers to purchase online, if we were to use traditional media to target the 13% of consumers, the advertising spend wouldn’t be warranted or give us ROI because that consumer wouldn’t be able to purchase, being a non-internet user. 

The internet has become the media planners playing ground and allowed for smaller budgets to be utilised across several platforms. Mossa (2011) explores this idea in detail stating that the internet allows for cost saving and greater reach allowing for business and product development opportunities. Further to this Mossa (2011) explores the idea of using e-commerce channels and believes it has given brands a greater way of building awareness. 

By using the internet as a functional tool, not only does the internet give a clear customer journey, but it also allows media planners to gather data allowing them to know exactly who to target their marketing too. By using data analysis Bryant (2023) argues that it helps media planners to segment their audience through demographic data, browsing history and purchase history. Ultimately, this allows a media planner scope to know the main audience that they should be targeting their marketing efforts towards, thus for a digital platform showing us that really, we should be targeting digital users. 

However, if we were to look at the retail travel sector. Where businesses are heavily reliant on consumer footfall going to physical stores, The answer to the question of should we ignore the 13% of non-internet users changes significantly to a resounding no!

Traditional media as described by Amimbola (2024) encompasses traditional methods of advertising to reach customers such as television, radio, print advertisements, digital screens on location…anything that was around before the advent of internet advertising. Traditional media still has a place in our society, particularly in physical retail/ hospitality outlets where we as marketers still need to reach our target audiences expectations. Lay (2024) further argues that traditional channels are more than likely to produce greater brand effects on location, and drive longer term sales growth, whilst also delivering on creativity and boosting emotional resonation to a brand, all of which still allow businesses to perform on their KPIs.

Arguably, traditional media is harder to measure in terms of ROI, we can’t see click through rates, or direct to purchase information, however we can see physical engagement and return custom. What we can’t drill down data wise is to who our exact target audience are, this is because everyone travels, therefore with retail-travel in mind using a mass-marketing approach as described by Sharp (2010) allows us to target both light and heavy buyers helping us to reinforce buying propensities and win new sales. 

I believe that media planners should understand their target audience and placement of their advertisements through channels that are relevant. If a brand is digital only and requires digital purchases, then targeting the 13% of non-internet users would seem a waste of targeted spend, However, if the brand uses a mass-marketing approach and has physical retail outlets, that the 13% of non-internet users could access, a media planner would be missing a great opportunity for sales conversion by excluding them.

References:

Abimbola, A. (2024) Digital Media vs traditional media: Which is more effective?, Mauco Enterprises. Available at: https://mauconline.net/digital-media-vs-traditional-media-which-is-more-effective/ (Accessed: 06 July 2024). 

Barnhart, B. (2024) What to do when faced with these 10 social media marketing challenges, Sprout Social. Available at: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-challenges/ (Accessed: 06 July 2024). 

Bryant, M. (2023) Harnessing the power of first-party data, Home. Available at: https://www.winwithmcclatchy.com/blog/the-power-of-first-party-data (Accessed: 06 July 2024). 

Carmicheal, K. (2021a) Extended marketing mix: What it is and why it’s useful, HubSpot Blog. Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/extended-marketing-mix (Accessed: 06 July 2024). 

Carmicheal, K. (2022b) Target audience: How to find yours [+ 5 campaign examples], HubSpot Blog. Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/target-audience#how-to-find-audience (Accessed: 06 July 2024). 

Katz, H.E. (2022) The Media Handbook: A Complete Guide to Advertising Media Selection, planning, research, and buying. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. 

Lay, S. (2024) Why traditional media is still so important in a Digital World, Grove. Available at: https://thegrovemedia.co.uk/why-traditional-media-is-still-so-important-in-a-digital-world/#:~:text=It%20is%20still%20incredibly%20important,real%2Dworld%20approach%20to%20media. (Accessed: 06 July 2024). 

Morgan, B. (2021) Customer journeys are becoming increasingly complex, Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2020/08/31/customer-journeys-are-becoming-increasingly-complex/ (Accessed: 06 July 2024). 

Mossa, C. (2011) Barriers and Drivers in media adoption: The chief marketing officers perspective. Available at: https://research-api.cbs.dk/ws/portalfiles/portal/58423841/claudia_mossa.pdf (Accessed: 06 July 2024). 

Robin Waite (2022) Creating a brand that resonates with your target audience, RSS. Available at: https://www.robinwaite.com/blog/creating-a-brand-that-resonates-with-your-audience (Accessed: 06 July 2024). 

Sharp, B. (2010) ‘Which customers matter most’, in How brands grow: What Marketers dont know. Melbourne: Oxford university press, pp. 39-49

Stroud, D. (2012) The digitally excluded consumer - options for marketers - journal of direct, data and digital marketing practice, SpringerLink. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/dddmp.2012.14 (Accessed: 06 July 2024).

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What are the biggest barriers to successful media planning from an advertiser’s point of view? How does this affect the consumer. 

Naturally when we think about media planning our thoughts immediately look towards the consumer. The AIDA – Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action model allows us to strategise with the customer journey in mind. Hanlon (2023) states that as marketers we both consciously and subconsciously apply this model to our strategies as we are all consumers. 

These theoretical elements can help media planners understand the basics. We need to hit the right people (target audience) in the right place (geographic location/advertising medium) at the right time (are consumers in the market for conversion/has the advert been seen at the right time). Without this we effectively disengage a consumer and can push them towards other well-known brands. Sharp (2010a) tells us that as consumers we have a filter on brands and advertising. Essentially a brand must be noticed and considered for successful conversion. 

Whilst the model helps us to strategise it also provides us with clarity on some key-factors that could put a barrier in place for successful media planning:

Target audience and their behaviours

The unpredictability of buyer behaviours is increasing. Sharp (2010b) shows us that our target audiences are busier than ever and there are a rising number of brands that are constantly competing for their attention. He compels this notion further stating that our consumers ‘Satisfice’ when purchasing rather than optimising. Essentially meaning that we go for the brands that we know, when we are under pressure.

Thus, leading us onto the notion that we as marketers need to understand the consumer. Who are they, where they are, what gains their attention and keeps it driving them to purchase from a specific brand. Ultimately, how do we as a brand make the product speak to the consumer and change with their behaviours.

Some key steps for marketers to take:

Collection of 1st & 2nd party data – Barron (2022) Helps to show us that by utilising data i.e. CRM data, Consumer touch points, demographic information etc. or working with a trusted partner. Help to create tailored ads, assist leads and remove sales friction, assisting the consumer to conversion.

Once you know your customer, Ensure the customer journey is right for your audience. If a customer engages at the initial advert, Sharp (2010) shows us that the advert has pushed through the cluttered advertising world. We must then ensure that there are no hiccups in the purchasing arena.

Consumers are constantly battling with who to purchase from. With growing busy lives, if a media planner doesn’t understand a consumer’s behaviour the consumer can completely disengage from the brand and product.

Integration of new platforms

Keeping relevant on social media and keeping up with new/changing social media platforms causes holes in marketing strategies and could lead to brands missing or not hitting the mark with their target audience. 

Barnhart (2024) shows us that 49% of marketers have reported that identifying new trends and responding to them is their biggest challenge and looking at this challenge globally draws barriers in understanding what platforms your global audience is on/have they migrated to a new platform. Using inbuilt analytical tools can help media planners to understand if their target audience is engaging and how to best position themselves. 

Consumers see hundreds of adverts a day through cross-channel platforms, as a consumer it’s easy to become blind to adverts, particularly if they do not resonate. Planners need to be aware of this impact and how integrating on the wrong platform is a waste of resource but also misses the customer and therefore does not convert the sale.

Budgets

With growing commercial uncertainty, marketing and media budgets are consistently being stripped back. Essentially business want media planners to deliver the same KPI’s and Ad-performance for less budget. However, this is not necessarily possible. 

Brands are focusing on shorter term benefits and not looking at the longer-term resonation – with a focus on small quick interest peaks. Those who remain visible across multi-channel platforms typically deliver superior shareholder return as stated by Inskip (2021), He further shows us that brands who focus on budget and investment, reap the rewards of ROI as they stay more relevant and in the forefront of the minds of their consumers. 

Ratajczak (2024) furthers this statement showing that it costs a brand more long-term by trying to regain their consumers through mindshare. Therefore, if a brand cuts budget for short-term gain it disengages customers through lack of market share and essentially, they need to be reconverted. 

References:

Barnhart, B. (2024) What to do when faced with these 10 social media marketing challenges, Sprout Social. Available at: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-challenges/ (Accessed: 05 July 2024). 

Barron, S.B. (2022) A basic definition of first party, Second Party, & Third Party Data, HubSpot Blog. Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/service/first-party-data (Accessed: 05 July 2024). 

Carmicheal, K. (2022) Target audience: How to find yours [+ 5 campaign examples], HubSpot Blog. Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/target-audience#how-to-find-audience (Accessed: 05 July 2024). 

Inskip, M. (2021) Don’t stop me now: Why brands should continue to make their voice heard, WARC. Available at: https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/opinion/dont-stop-me-now-why-brands-should-continue-to-make-their-voice-heard/en-gb/4044 (Accessed: 05 July 2024). 

Hanlon, A. (2023) The AIDA model, [Online Blog] available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/traffic-building-strategy/offer-and-message-development/aida-model/ [accessed 5/7/2023]

Ratajczak, D. et al. (2024) Don’t cut your brand-marketing budget. rethink it., BCG Global. Available at: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2023/rethink-brand-marketing-budget (Accessed: 05 July 2024). 

Sharp, B. (2010a) ‘Mental and physical availability – a brands market-based assets’, in How brands grow: What Marketers dont know. Melbourne: Oxford university press, pp. 197.

Sharp, B. (2010b) ‘How consumers cope’, in How brands grow: What Marketers dont know. Melbourne: Oxford university press, pp. 185. Wood, O. et al. (2019) Lemon.: How the Advertising Brain Turned Sour. London, England: IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising). 

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To what extent do I (dis)agree that global media planning should be based off of gut feel

As a creative at heart, I use right brained creativity on a daily basis and I particularly resonate with advertising that feels like it captures a story, draws on my heart strings and captivates me. Whilst I believe that gut feelings do have a place in the role of global media planning, I can't completely agree with the quote from Jeff Bezos in relation to global media planning and feel like im sitting firmly centred on the fence with this question. 

Global media planning at its heart relies on research and evidence based facts to help inform, guide and essentially place the correct media, in the correct place, at the correct time. My concern with gut feel, unless you are well versed in a role, understand the market you are aiming at and the context of the brand in that market; is missing the consumer because of an opinion based on previous knowledge. Global and local markets change at such a significant rate and keeping on top of what is making the target audience tick through gut feel alone would not necessarily hit the interest or sales peaks. However, I do feel when looking at new opportunities in different global markets such as new advertising streams, social platforms, targeted space it would seem detrimental, if from knowledge of similar spaces working to not try and experiment to see if the brand or product would resonate with that platform. Ultimately exposure, knowing the brand and product and a little creative experimentation with advertising placement may help to break the pattern and push the brand out of mould, but it is a risky practice.

In conclusion, I believe having some creative experimentation within global media planning could be effective and it may be the way forward to pushing the boundaries and breaking the pattern with what we expect, but I firmly believe that it cannot be based on gut instinct alone and research and evidence based facts should help to underpin and ultimately guide the global media planner. 

[reflectionmdc730]

My MA Marketing & Communications reflections

After recently re-joining the MA Marketing & Communications course at Falmouth University, I will be using my blog space to post some reflective musings on questions that are discussed during the module global media planning.