202 CHAPTER 8 COMMUNICATINGTOMASSMARKETS
EvaluatingMedia
AsnotedinTable8.3,therearedefiniteinherentstrengthsandweaknessesassociatedwith
eachmedium.Inaddition,it wouldrequireextensiveprimaryresearcheitherbythespon-
soringfirmortheiradvertisingagencyinordertoassesshowa particularmessageandthe
targetaudiencewouldrelate': 0 a givenmedium.Asa result,manyadvertisersrelyheavily
ontheresearchfindingsprovidedbythemedium,bytheirownexperience..andbysub-
jectiveappraisal.
Select ionandImplementation
Themediaplannermustmakemediamixdecisionsandtimingdirections. bothofwhich
arerestIictedbytheavailablebudget.Themediamixdecisioninvolvesputtingmediatogether
inthemosteffectivemanner.Thisis a difficulttask,andnecessitatesquantitativelyandqual-
itativelyevaluatingeachmediumandcombinationthereof.
Unfortunately,thereareveryfewvalidrulesofthumbtoguiaethisprocess,andthe
supportingresearchisspottyatbest.Forexample,inattemptingtocompareaudiencesof
variousmedia, wefindthatA.C.NielsenmeasuresaudiencesbasedonTVviewerreports
oftheprogramswatched,whileoutdooraudienceexposureestimatesarebasedoncounts
ofthenumberofautomobilevehiclesthatpassparticularoutdoorposterlocations.Thetim-
ingafmediareferstotheactualplacementofadvertisementsduringthetimeperiodsthat
aremostappropriate,giventheselectedmediaobjectives.It includesnotonlythesched-
ulingofadvertisements,butalsothesizeandpositionoftheadvertisement^4
DeterminingtheMediaBudget
Thisbudgetisa partoftheadvertisingbudget,andthesanetechniquesandfactorsthat
applytotheadvertisingbudgetapplytothemediabudgetaswell.
BannerAdvertisements
Beforeleavingthetopicofadvertising,bothcreativeandmedia, itisimportanttointro-
ducea newformofadvertising-banneradvertising.Banneradsarethedominan~formof
onlineadvertising.BanneradsaregraphicimagesinWebpagesthatareoftenanimated
andcanincludesmallpiecesofsoftwarecodetoallowfurtherinteraction.Mostimportantly,
theyare"clickable,"andtakea viewertoanotherWeblocationwhenchosen.
Banneradstypicallyrunatthetopandbottomofthepage,buttheycanbeincorpo-
ratedanywhere.TheCASlEorganizationhasdevelopeda smallnumberofstandardsizes
andformats. LiketheWebitself,banneradsarea mixtureofapproaches,withelementsof
traditionalprintadvertisingandmoretargeteddirectadvertising.Banneradsincludedirect
marketingcapabili~ies.Eachbannercarrieswithit a uniqueidentifier.ThisallowstheWeb
sitetotracktheeffectivenessoftheadingeneratingtraffic.M~asurabilitypermitsadban-
nerpricingbasedonresultsandbehavior.Click-throughpricingignoresimpressionsand
chargestheadvertiserbasedonthenumberofviewersthatselecttheadandfollowit to
thelinkingWebsite.
Admittedly,theperformanceofbanneradstodatehasbeenlessthanstellar.Onecom-
pany,SanFrancisco-basedOrganic,hasapproachedtheproblemofineffectiveonlineadver-
tisingwitha productcalled"expand-o."ThisnewadvehicleaJlowsanadvertisertoinclude
someofitsWebsite's contentinanexpandablebannerad.Attheclickofamoc;se,theadver-
tisementexpandstoa",muchasfiveorsixtimesitsoriginalsize.Forinstance,anexpand-o
