MEDIA PLANNING & BUYING: WHAT CHANGES REMAINS THE SAME

Posted on March 26, 2015 by bobquaglia

We have been planning and buying media for many years, now, and the construct that “…everything has changed…” due to the internet, mobile, social media and the fall of network TV versus cable, strikes me as being mostly invalid.

I believe that the basic concepts of media planning and negotiations have changed very little from the very beginnings. Smart planners and buyers have always operated on the premise that the most successful campaigns are based on a few generic concepts:

Know your product or service as well as you can
Know your target audience
Build frequency of exposure
Maximize reach
Devise that plan to be frugal with the budget
Follow up with post analysis
DO “YOUR HOMEWORK”

The “New” media landscape while building on new vehicles of delivery are still contained within these seven or so basic rules of the game. We change the nomenclature (Pay-per-View/Sale is now pay-per-click), but the concepts remain the same.

The rush to embrace social media as a be all, end all has proved to be shortsighted – 80% of those using Facebook and Twitter do not read or respond to the ads on those sites.

There are no magic bullets.

Moreover, more than ever, the sensitive elements of quality of product, truthfulness of message and listening to the consumer are as valid today as when there were only Newspapers, Magazines, Radio and three TV networks.

We can change the name but the song remains the same.

JAMIE LEE-RISING STAR

Posted on March 8, 2015 by bobquaglia

A few years ago, my step-daughter asked me to see if I could help a friend of hers find a job in New York at Comedy Central. I Introduced this young lady to the then Sales Manager of the network and she landed a internship at MTV Networks.

Last night we went to Hyena’s Comedy Club here in Dallas to see her new stand-up routine. We were really thrilled with her performance.

Jamie Lee is now a rising star on MTV’s “Girl Code”, plus is writing for other MTV properties. She has been noted as “one of the top five comedian who should be movie stars” by Nerve.com. And she is a native of Dallas.

We will be following her career more closely now and wishing her the best.

You Go Girl!!

FIRST COLBERT…then STEWART…then Williams

Posted on February 20, 2015 by bobquaglia

ed. note: The above typing is not a mistake, the lower case is intended.

I know this is old news, but I just wanted to add my thoughts to the departure of the two most trusted names in news reporting and one who just couldn’t get over himself.

For all the talk about fake news that Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart were accused of reporting, in the end, theirs was probably, the most reliable.

Brian Williams, on the other hand, seems to have so taken with himself that he wished for some heroics for, then believed that the wish had come true.

Comedy Central and all of us news junkies will sorely miss those two honest reporters and I, for one, will not miss Mr. Williams.

The selection of Larry Wilmore to fill in the 11:30 block is, while not Colbert, a fine replacement . He has a sharp wit and tongue and his “Keep it 100” is an interesting take on interviewing (I can’t wait until he gets some real celebrities for that hot seat.)

As to who will replace B. Williams, who cares

And my vote for Jon’s replacement…Hey, Tina Fey, what are you up to lately?

After a long Absence…

Posted on February 14, 2015 by bobquaglia

GonzoMedia has not posted anything in quite a while. I can give excuses for this, but it really is a matter of not being inclined simply to regurgitate articles from media publications, blogs and web sites, that are readily available to those concerned with this part of the advertising business.

I have never much cared for “cut-and-paste,” so mostly what you will see will be observations and commentary and occasionally, a very short story – longer than twitter-shorter than a page.

As always, you are welcome to comment, but don’t expect a long debate. Your opinion is yours and you are certainly welcome to it. If it is in opposition to mine, well, this is my blog and…enough said.

Please, visit again. I hope to have fun here.

Thanks

ADDITION TO THE TEAM

Posted on February 18, 2013 by sharon.shero@citywork.com

I am proud to announce that GonzoMedia will be assigning all future creative projects to our new associate, Sharon Shero. As many of you know, she and I have been partners in life for the past 17 plus years and now we will be able to work together on future advertising projects as well.

Since GonzoMedia has begun to attract clients with more than pure media planning and buying needs, we will finally be able to take advantage of her many creative talents.

Sharon will serve as Creative Director, handling Art Direction, Graphic Design, Copy Writing and Photography—all of which she has been expertly providing for her own clients since 1998.

With her addition to our team, we will now be able to broaden our reach into the marketplace. We are excited about this change and are looking forward to great work from Sharon and an expanded client base for GonzoMedia.

Please welcome her aboard with a note at sharon.shero@gonzomedia.com.

A note to current Ad Agency clients of GonzoMedia, we won’t be pitching any of your accounts!

HBO, SHOWTIME vs. ESPN, etal.

Posted on January 26, 2013 by bobquaglia

The New York Times has a lead story today regarding the ever present problem of the outrageous cost of sports programming on cable and how all of us have to pay for it.

I guess you see where my head is on this one. Nobody helps me pay for HBO or Showtime, why should I have to pay for something I never watch?

The dilemma, it is argued, is that if the cable systems charged back the entire cost to only those who watch, very few could afford to watch sports and we all know that already, attending sports events has gotten totally out of the reach of Joe Six-Pack and his family.

The fact that Time Warner just paid the LA Dodgers 7 billion–that’s right 7 BILLION-for the right to carry their games and that every subscriber in Los Angeles will have $4 to $5 added to their bill each month, just makes it more and more frustrating for those of us who already pay through the nose for premium channels.

Plus, some of the systems are planning to drop, “a few of their less popular”, channels in order to help pay for this. Great! Now we are approaching a cable landscape where only the big guys get to play and all of us have to pay.

Sound familiar??…….Bankers, Wall Street, AIG…….

It’s time that the industry treats the sports channels exactly like they do the premiums-you want ESPN? You pay extra for it. These guys are not even footing most of the bill for the broadcast, the sponsors are.

Hello Stupor Bowl….

OFF PLANET RETAILING

Posted on November 2, 2012 by bobquaglia

In the November 1 issue of CIO Magazine there is an article on what the new retail model is and where is it going.

It’s called “Omnichannel Retailing” (put it in your computer’s dictionary, you will be seeing more of it and using it quite a bit in the near future).

The beginnings of this seem to have begun as a way to stop what is called “Scan & Scram,” the practice of scanning a product at the brick and mortar location and then going home and buying it on line at another retailer or at least for the lower, on-line price.

This new process goes way beyond the concept of checking it out on-line and then buying on the net or going to the store. It combines search, pricing, availability checking, pickup, return and paying before you get there or even adding items on your smart phone as you shop so that at the end of the trip to the grocery store you simply walk out with an electronic receipt and the items in your bag – no more lines to stand in!

Leaders in the field are Verizon on the equipment/provider side and Sears and, most notably Nordstrom, in retailing.

Soon to come will be the ability to scan a barcode on a product, check for size, color, virtually “Try it on”, price, order, pick it up or have it shipped.

Bloomingdale’s has gone so far as to allow passers-by outside the store “try on” virtual sunglasses to see what’s new and in store.

There are, obviously some major “devils in the details” here; the process must be completely foolproof and easy to use. There must be a minimum of “glitches” that will minimize, wrong items, colors, sizes, etc. causing consumer frustration.

While not mentioned in the article, I envision some challenges in the area of security, but overall Omnichanneling will certainly be the next wave in retailing. Retailers with Brick and Mortar responsibilities are making the changes necessary to keep up with us and our technology.

NBClympics

Posted on July 29, 2012 by bobquaglia

We watched the ceremonies last evening and while the Brits blew it out, I was more impressed with the way that everyone – especially Bob Costas – kept promoting all of the other feeds that NBC was filling for the games. From BRAVO to MSNBC to NBC Sports, they have the waterfront and the track covered!

If you did it right, you could program every sport you wanted to see and play them back for decades, or at least until the next summer Olympics came along or until you ran out of disk space.

I was also very impressed with the quality and smartness of most of the commercials and the way the majority of the advertisers was tied to promoting the games. It would really be great if they kept that intelligence level throughout the rest of the year.

I am looking forward to the remaining fifteen days.

On a more personal note, this past week, I was nominated and approved as First Vice President of the Dallas Chapter of the AAF (American Advertising Federation) for 2012-2013. I am anticipating a fun and productive year.

AD CHOPPERS

Posted on July 11, 2012 by bobquaglia

In case you missed it, a federal judge has moved the FOX, CBS and NBC lawsuit against DISH’s “AUTOHOP” to California from New York, as requested by the three networks. They assume the west coast legal system will be friendlier to them. A similar case involving DVR’s would give DISH legal precedent in New York.

As you know, “AUTOHOP” is the service on DISH that allows subscribers to automatically skip commercials in playback programs on their DVR’s. This looks like another new battle over who has the right to control technology and its devices.

Those of us, who can remember it, know that some of these same networks once tried to sue to stop the production and sale of videocassette recorders, claiming that recording programs was a violation of copyright laws. They lost that one and I believe that there is a chance they may lose this one as well.

The suit brought by the networks does not address the right of the subscriber/consumer to delete advertising, but rather that DISH “…has created and marketed a product with the clear goal of breaching its license…..”

The networks are claiming that this violates copyrights and destroys the fundamental underpinnings of the broadcast television business.

And they may well be correct in this claim.

If DISH can get away with this, it surely will not be too long before another company will have an AUTOHOP clone on the market, opening a real Pandora’s Box for commercial TV, and drastically changing the way we media planners and buyers look at delayed viewing and pre-recorded audience numbers, when evaluating total delivery, for our clients.

On the other hand, it may be the beginning of the demise of DISH. They have already come into conflict with AMC and other content providers and have dropped AMC from their feed. If they win this suit, other commercial networks may also decide not to do business with DISH.

AMC has a group of very popular programs – Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and The Killing, to name a few. And Dish does have competition – DIRECTV……

This will be a very interesting case for all of us to follow.

PRIVACY, OPEN INTERNET, BIG BROTHER, FIRST DO NO HARM

Posted on July 5, 2012 by bobquaglia

None of us is unaware of the conflict going on around the issues of free speech, protecting privacy, protecting copyrights and a myriad of other legal and social issues, revolving around the internet.

There doesn’t seem to be any way to answer all of these knotty issues very satisfactorily. The internet is, for all intents and purposes, a totally new dimension of communication.

Since GonzoMedia is a Media Planning and Buying Company, and needs all the possible information we can garner about the consumer in order to “properly” target our clients’ commercials, we are, “greedy” for the demographics, psychographics and personal habits of the consumer.

And we are – through sites like Google, Facebook and a multitude of other sources, never before available – able to gather more and more of that valuable data. It seems that many people are perfectly willing to disclose information about their personal lives, their jobs and other information on the internet that they would never discuss or reveal to their family members or clergy.

On a personal level, however, I have concerns about how we protect the information which those consumers do not want revealed.

We have all seen reports of people losing jobs because they have posted their dislike for their bosses and/or companies they work for. And we marvel at why a person would reveal videos of themselves in embarrassing situations.

Obviously, there is no accounting for taste or for lack of foresight for many of our fellow citizens, so I say, “post away”, and, hopefully, these individuals will not do themselves too much harm.

As I said before, I do have concerns about those of us who do not desire to have personal and private information revealed without our permission. The fact that the simple act of going to the web to gain information on any given subject, product type or medical affliction, can generate an e-mail assuming that we are prone to buy a product or service, or a sufferer of that affliction, is a bit more than frightening.

We once feared that “Government” would create Big Brother, this is no longer true. We have created him out of whole cloth. As Walt Kelly’s POGO once observed, “…We have met the enemy and he is US…”

In my opinion, therefore, we should promote the concept of Opting IN rather than that of having to Opt Out in matters of privacy on the net and it should be as simple as a universal tag on one’s email address declining all intrusion.

If a particular site refuses to give information regarding what they regard as proprietary, unless one allows the gathering of personal data, so be it! Somewhere on the net, There will be another site willing to give one the requested information without requiring the divulging of that personal data. That’s how it works, “out there”!

FIRST DO NO HARM.