Even with growing budgetary pressures and increased public scrutiny, mass media is still a critical element of a successful marketing mix. Mass media helps to build awareness, educate and inform and, importantly, initiate information searches and drive attention to other brand assets. While strategic planning is essential to creating mass media messages; channel planning is essential to developing the overall strategy, especially with the growing constraints on marketing. Channel Planning Marketers intuitively understand that the medium can be the mes sage. Channel planning, when utilized fully, capitalizes on this insight and does more than help guide effective and efficient use of advertising spend. Working in conjunction with traditional brand planning, channel insights also help enrich the understanding of the target audience helping guide message strategy. Then the right message may be sent, not just through the right medium, but at the right time, and in the right context for engagement. Maximize Brand Spend The first reason to focus on channel planning is, quite simply, to max imize the efficient use of brand spend. By understanding a “day in the media life” of the customer base, marketers can carefully spend where only the target audience is looking, without competing for the most expensive airtime or layout. A Super Bowl ad does have maximum expo sure, but if research shows that the audience base for your product tunes in after prime time, then late night spots are more valuable and less expensive. Channel planning has always balanced reach and efficiency but will need to improve efficiencies in 2009 as budgets are scrutinized. Not All Channels Are Created Equal The second way channel insights help ROI in advertising is that, to the target audience, all channels are not created equal: there are channels that are trusted, channels that are neutral, and channels that may have expo sure, but utterly lack credibility or the ability to engage. For a working commuter, a bus panel may have more relevance than an Internet banner ad, especially if the content relates to the commuter’s work life, such as a migraine product. Public or shared channels are especially worthy of reflection: a refrigerator magnet may be perfect to remind a caregiver to give a child her asthma medication, but it may not work as well for an overactive bladder medication. Extending the notion of “channel” beyond media outlets, research has found that the most trusted channel is often a friend or a doctor. The ability to activate this type of human influencer is also a core part of the overall channel mix. Developing the Right Channel Mix Finally, by studying media mix and usage carefully, the channels can provide insights about the consumer that help marketers understand the purpose for which the different media are being used.These insights allow messages to be crafted that resonate and to select channels that may not yet show up in media usage but can be “bundled” with the current pat tern. In elderly or isolated populations, media may be used as a social sur rogate. For other conditions, the consumer may be indexing in channels that are far younger, or far older, than one would expect given the usage of their peers. If your target consumer is a grandparent, he or she may be more Internetsavvy than one would think. If the target audience is virtu ally housebound, no matter what age, they will be watching television at a much older demographic index. Consumers are turning to specific con tent for reasons they themselves may not even recognize, but offer a win dow into their needs, hopes, wants, and fears. When marketers identify what consumers are seeking, they can connect the brand to that need. Viewed most efficiently, a channel strategy is more that just finding the channels the consumer is most likely to use. Channel planning can, and should, go beyond the mere identification of the channel mix to help determine the nature of consumers’ interactions with those channels.This information can be used to learn about the needs of consumers and help craft relevant messages that will be seen by them in the right context, which will have the most impact in the most efficient way. These days, channel planning is more important than ever. EVOLOGUE, part of CommonHealth, focuses specifically on the consumer experience within the increasingly complex healthcare marketplace. For more information, visit commonhealth.com/evologue. Channel Planning Is Integral To Strategy in the Changing DTC Environment Channel planning can, and should, go beyond the mere identification of the channel mix to help determine the nature of consumer’s interactions with those channels. EvoLogue, part of CommonHealth Shelagh Brooke EVP, Chief Strategic Officer, EvoLogue, part of CommonHealth Liz O’Neil VP, Director of Channel Marketing, EvoLogue, part of CommonHealth Brad Davidson VP, Strategic Planner, EvoLogue, part of CommonHealth 17 VIEW on Advertising March 2009 AGENCY OUTLOOK

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