In the last 10 years the media has changed vastly at a speed it is almost impossible to contend with this phenomena mostly contained by the phrase the iPod generation. Media has become on the spot, user demanded, user generated content that is governed by the user themselves as they consume more media then ever: without knowing they are doing it. This leads to new challenges for media buyers and planners rolling out the multimedia rich campaigns that audiences have come to expect as a part of a companies professional credentials.

The fast change in new media has had an inevitable knock on effect within advertising where new and innovative ways to reach the consumer also mean you may not reach the consumer. This is most obvious in the initial advertising scope of newspapers, television and billboards that I am calling traditional, the above the line aspect of a campaign. New technology that feeds the news for example into households and pockets throughout the UK are also seeing an end to the dominance of traditional advertising like billboards and newspaper advertising.

The new consumer does nothing but consume and at a massive rate brought to its height with the use of smartphones, where absolutely everything you need is at your fingertips. Giants like google have embraced this new technology and introduced mobile size ads to their already monopolizing google ads service.

‘Defined as placing an advert within a variety of mobile media formats including mobile Internet, games and applications, the effectiveness of mobile display advertising varies greatly from campaign to campaign. Most marketers of free apps report that it costs between $1.50 and $3.00 (or more) to acquire an installation using mobile display ads, and that mobile display ad campaigns do not scale very well as there are a lot of wasted clicks when users tap on the screen by mistake.’ (Brandchannel, 2014)

This is arguably ineffective though mobile websites have moved away from them as an advertising standard they immediately came they are still used very commonly inside of actual applications.

Responsive website design for modern websites belonging to companies, brands, television shows, actors and beyond mean that which slot the audience see is dependent on the device they are using. This means 4 or 5 times as many slots on the old style of a banner at the top or a banner down the side. The actual adverts themselves have also changed with flash videos added as well as images and even interactive components where you can click on a target etc.

Smartphones also paved the way for applications with functions ranging from productivity to entertainment. The use of promotional driven apps has become common place, used in the run up to an event or as a constant promotion where the audience collect incentives to use a product or service as loyal customers. This was first made famous by the original groupon who offered great deals to customers from retailers across the uk.

Applications like RewardJunkie make being loyal to more then one company and your smartphone pay off, with offers and discounts. Companies can sign up to offer discounts like these through websites and apps for short or long term campaigns. Often these discounts are created with the specific intention of listing on coupon sites and deal aggregators like these which are a part of a media planners and buyers finished campaign.

‘New users are treated to Welcome treats (worth hundreds!) that they can redeem with their smartphone. Users can link a credit card into the app and scan a unique QR code at the shop counter to make their purchases. These in-store purchases give them points that will help them unlock more treats that they can redeem.’ (Lee, 2014)

New technological advances make the traditional advertising techniques seemingly redundant with the popularity of on demand viewing growing and more and more households buying set top boxes and digital television with the function of pause, play, rewind and fast forward: straight through the commercial break. This is an even larger problem then the concept of ‘the empty chair’ in which viewers may get up and leave during commercial breaks.

Good media buying and planning can adapt to this change and choose the right media for the specific campaign. Younger consumers use smart technology on mobile devices the older demographics, and targeting them through games and applications is effective. Where older demographics may still wish to get their media in ways they are used to, this concept lessens every year that technology becomes easier to use and incorporate into everyday life however.

The tide really turned in 2005 when social media became the only media to be involved in, myspace led the way for Facebook and over the coming years twitter emerged victorious as the most addictive application in the world with Instagram proved that the new consumer from the iPod generation would rather have 5 minimal filters and be authentic then 144 and be commercial moving over to Facebooks new image app.

The growing use of below the line advertising is also representative of the media buying and planning changing with the times. This use of new media however can be deployed with very minimal budgets and this can be very effective with little cost. Advertising like graffiti on the side of a building, a temporary image projected on a building or a flash mob relies heavily on word of mouth but takes far less of the budget. Social media video virals have shown how effective internet advertising can be gaining almost cult like status in some places.

‘Viral marketing is no longer a matter of brands getting lucky with an infectious piece of content. These days, virals are meticulously planned to ensure they reach as many people as possible and their social nature is built in from the start.’ (Hargrave, 2012)

During the onset of social media based interaction and broadband technologies triumph in fast enough internet connections for online streaming audiences turned more and more to the internet for their media consumption. In oppose to the earlier problem of getting the consumer to watch your commercials google own YouTube who arguably hold the monopoly on internet video viewing have began forcing users to watch commercials before they can view the content.

The newspaper industry has been greatly effected by the rise of new media and the circulation of their publications began to drop significantly, this led to online and application based versions of publications all over the world which is now viewed as standard. Subsequently advertising space in newspapers were reaching less and less consumers. This mostly effected everyday newspapers and weekly editions as consumers continued to buy their favorite ‘glossys’ for example Vouge, Face and FHM.

The problem caused by the lower circulation of everyday newspapers make advertisers job harder when trying to sell everyday products. This however means uping the advertising industries game with outdoor and ambient advertising. How do you catch the morning commuter and consumer other then with the daily metro strewn about on the seats. This is a task that all buyer and planners need to traverse, they themselves likley to be commuters and know how much they ignore.

The new consumer is only half paying attention to their surroundings, moving on auto pilot across a map they take the same path of everyday. Often the consumer is listening to music on their headphones or even catching up on TV from their iPad. In order to reach these consumers companies are using people handing out samples, incentives like reward cards or just plain disturbance to their morning commute. This type of advertising was made famous by T-mobile when it took the relatively underground concept of a flashmob and turned it into an advertising campaign showing the reactions of commuters at Liverpool street station to the strange going ons.

The media planner has to also account for the audience mood as individual consumers when they encounter the touchpoint. This is again easiest explained with the morning commute commuters going from a to b do not like their routine being interrupted as they hurry to get to work. However in the carriages despite being distracted with possible boredom outlets like their smartphone they are confined for a time in a space with advertising slots above the seats and this is when they may be more susceptible to consuming new information: the advertisement.

The new high level of personal involvement in advertising is to an advertisers benefit in being able to best send offers to consumers directly that they will actually be interested in. The precise nature of Facebook ads mean you can specifically choose age range location, marital status or even if they belong to a specific faculty, group or company. Facebook explains to its users how this advertising works and is relevant to them as individuals

‘The ads you see are selected for you based on the things you do on Facebook, such as liking a Page or commenting on a story, and the information you share, such as your current city or birthday. ‘ (Facebook: 2014)

This is very effective in smaller campaigns like that of the UEL sports dock campaign where the local community as well as the existing student community need to be specifically targeted.

Direct marketing has taken over as the preferred choice for users who rest assured only content they want or is at least believed they want gets through to them. This puts an ever growing pressure on the advertiser to hit the right consumers, where previously more emphasis was put on the creative to grab the attention of the consumer with the graphic across a billboard and the media buyer and planners to put them on the right billboards.

There are now more billboards that are then ever, touchpoints, with as many as 3 devices per person in a household the media planner today has to juggle the many available types of media for their campaign and taylor it to the audience they wish to reach. This has always been the role of the media planners who in conjunction with the buyers will plan out the most effective budget. However this almost overwhelming amount of available advertising forms through the varying types of new media makes this already hard process even more difficult.

The new media available and the endless touchpoints mean that new promotional campaigns can reach massive audiences or specifically small targeted audiences. A successfully brought and planned campaign will have used its budget to its full effectiveness at reaching their consumer, though it has become more effective to do so there is also a hit or miss consequence of new innovative campaigns embracing new media.

 
Brandchannel. 2014. The Esentials of Mobile App Marketing. [online] Available at: http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/531_apppli_wp_mobile_app_marketing_1011.pdf [Accessed: 6 Apr 2014].

Facebook. 2014. Advertising on Facebook | Facebook. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/about/ads/ [Accessed: 6 Apr 2014].

Hargrave, S. 2012. How viral video could do more than a TV ad | Archive | Marketing Week. [online] Available at: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/analysis/digital-strategy/how-viral-video-could-do-more-than-a-tv-ad/4000631.article [Accessed: 6 Apr 2014].

Lee, S. and Lee, S. 2014. Reward Your Customers: 9 Loyalty Platforms For Booming Businesses. [online] Available at: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/mobile-loyalty-platforms/ [Accessed: 6 Apr 2014].