Description
The purpose of the Advertising Planning Framework is to consider and capture important strategic elements of a modern advertising campaign on a single page. This is a useful exercise, as advertising campaigns have become more integrated, digital, and data-driven. Often, the creative strategy (what you want to communicate) and the media strategy (how you are going to activate the communication) are considered separately which can cause misalignment. Using an Advertising Planning Framework allows marketers to explore opportunities relating to targeting, segmentation, and the use of data earlier in planning process. The Framework can also be used as workshop tool with a group, to capture ideas for different potential advertising campaigns.
Questions
The Advertising Planning Framework helps to answer marketing questions like:
Who is our advertising campaign targeting and how will we engage them?
What is the objective of our advertising campaign and how will we measure success?
What touchpoints and targeting techniques are in scope for this advertising campaign?
Steps
Determine the scope of the advertising campaign that you are focusing on. Are you trying to generate ideas for multiple campaigns, or is there a specific campaign you are planning? Be clear and precise.
Complete the top row, from left to right. These are the primary elements of your communication strategy, often part of a creative brief. Make sure your business goals, target segments, and proposition align.
Complete the bottom row, from left to right. These are the primary elements of your activation strategy. Consider how data and advertising targeting techniques can be used to reach audiences with precision.
Review what you have captured in your framework. Does everything align? If not, you may need to revisit different elements in the framework or create separate frameworks for different campaigns.
Once completed, validate the plan. Speak with marketing leads to refine the communication strategy and media leads for the activation strategy. Ensure the expected campaign cost do not exceed expected value.
Considerations
Use the framework early in the planning process to align teams on general direction.
The framework is best used as a way to capture high-level opportunities, not detailed requirements.
Before you start, decide if you are using the framework to generate ideas or to capture a single recommendation.