Media Planning in the digital environment can one define relative media effectiveness?

Abstract

Media planning should be orientated to optimise effectiveness, however the ongoing digitisation of media channels, proliferation of media vehicles and fragmentation of target audiences (Bianco, 2004), continues to complicate the process of selecting media through which to deliver effective marketing communications and has reinforced the complex, silo driven, intra-media planning environment (Assael, 2011) with channel decisions being taken in isolation via unrelated and unconnected media measurement (Schultz, 2006). But is it possible to identify real media effectiveness? Jenkinson (2007) highlights that planning is often polarised between ‘attitudinal’ and ‘behavioural’ paradigms, which view ‘effectiveness’ differently. A number of studies have sought to identify the most effective medium, either across an ‘all adults’ sample frame (Danaher & Rossiter, 2011, Meulders, 2011) or via media usage structures (Grenville & Novak, 2010) but measurement criteria differ. This study seeks to identify if a common understanding of ‘media effectiveness’ can be found that enables robust comparison of media. In addition, it looks to test the principle of media usage segmentation and explores whether effectiveness varies by such audience segmentation. In depth interviews with agency and corporate media planners will be undertaken followed by a consumer survey segmented across digital natives and digital immigrants.