The best way to describe iAd is to think about Google Adwords and changing it to work within iPhone applications – the entire system is run by Apple with the proceeds going to Apple (40%) and application developers (60%).

Of course, for developers, this is big news, but for advertisers and media buying services agencies, this is huge – a real game-changer. Assuming that Apple allows it, we will be able to target customers based on location and preferences. For example, if you are a store in a mall, you have the potential to be able to advertise your store once someone sets foot in the mall (to be fair, we don”t know yet if iAd will have those capabilities). In short, this turns the whole idea of mobile advertising on its ear.

If you”ve been reading the news, it”s obvious that Apple and Google have started to clash. This can”t do much for that relationship. What it will do is create another advertising outlet that allows us targeting that has only been available on the Web.

7. Free Stuff – No, I”m not talking about the free tickets that advertisers get. I”m talking about free placements. Often, media buyers will negotiate additional free advertising into the contract. Not only that, but with posting, we find that our clients often get lots of ads that they would have missed out on if they had been placing their media themselves.

8. Much Less Work – If you take away all of the accounting hassles, calls from sales reps, research into shows and networks, and all of the other miscellaneous work that goes into good media buying, then you can save lots of time. If you”ve worked with a media buying services agency, you know that working with one contact and company saves tons of time over placing on multiple media outlets.

9. Media Strategy – One of the biggest benefits of working with a media buyer is that they can often see the big picture in a way that the individual sales reps cannot. Your buyer knows all of your placements; they know your targets. Instead of ordering a buy based on open inventory (that”s the word that TV stations use for commercial slots), a buy is based on what you need.

I hope that you have found the Nine Reasons to Use a Media Buying Services Company useful. Of course, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to post below or send me an email.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

4. Posting – When you buy television advertising, you are buying based on the estimated number of people that might see your spot. What happens if you pay based on a million viewers and only half a million viewers tune in? It happens all the time. A good media buyer will review the ratings to make sure that you have gotten all of the eyeballs that you paid for. This can be huge benefit if you haven”t been getting all that you have purchased. As a matter of fact, in 2008 we were averaging about 20% under-delivery in our market. This isn”t the fault of the television station, but they aren”t going to point out under-delivery either.

5. One Contact – I was just talking to a potential client about our buying services, and I mentioned that any media salesperson that calls should be forwarded to us. As you might guess, he was very excited. When you work with a media buyer, you only work with your buyer – meaning, you don”t have to take all those media calls from sales reps.

6. Avoid Accounting Hassles – No matter how hard you plan, television advertising billing fluctuates and is sometimes incorrect. With a media buyer, you have an accountant that is accustomed to working with television stations to make sure that budgets are kept. This helps you avoid surprises in billing, and it gives you piece of mind that your invoices are correct.

Part 3

I’ve come up with 9 reasons that you might want to use a media buying services company instead of forging ahead on your own. Look for parts 2 and 3 on Wednesday and Friday, respectively.

1. It Doesn’t Cost Anything – When you use a media buying services agency to buy radio and television, they are paid through an agency discount offered by the station. For example, let”s pretend that you want to buy an ad spot that costs $100. If you work directly with the station sales rep, that spot costs $100. If you were to call a media buyer, that ad would still cost you $100, but you wouldn”t have any of the headaches. The station gives the media buyer a price discount (typically 15%) that is only available to media buying agencies. So, although you pay the media services agency $100 on your ad, the buyer only pays the station $85. In our example, it might seem like overkill to introduce a buyer into the mix. If you were buying just one ad, you could probably do it yourself. On the other hand, real buys often are complex with multiple stations.

2. Economies of Scale – Media buying services agencies often have quite a bit of influence – especially in local markets. Because media buyers typically have a few clients for which they are placing advertising, they can easily be one of the largest clients of the station. As you might guess, this has some real advantages when negotiating contracts.

3. More Experience – Most buyers will tell you that negotiating media buys is more art than science. A really good buyer understands the stations that she is buying. She knows how to create a compromise that helps both her client and the station. She also knows all of the tricks and traps that could cause problems with a buy. For example, did you know that if you negotiate a price that is too low that your spot will probably get bumped in favor of an advertiser that”s willing to pay more? Unfortunately, television stations have to bump spots all the time. Of course, there are ways to avoid this problem, but it takes some experience.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Watch part one here, and then visit YouTube for part 2.

Did you notice more Pilsbury ads last year? How about Cheerios or Yoplait? Odds are, you did.

With the lousy economy, more and more of us have been eating meals at home. Sucks for  restaurants, but a great opportunity for General Mills (SWOT anyone?). To capitalize on this and other opportunities, the company boosted last year’s second quarter ad spend by $40 million – a 37% increase – focusing the spend on “high ROI ideas”. The result of this and other strategic moves was a very surprised Wall Street when the Big G announced their 49% increase in second quarter earnings.

General Mills’ strategy involved:

• Identifying the existing marketing opportunities
• Pinpointing and dumping their non-performing products
• Increasing their marketing spend on performing products
• Targeting ads to reach high-return market segments
• Balancing their media spend for highest return
• Investing in international growth
• Prepping new products to launch in 2010 (Chocolate Cheerios anyone?)

Marketing strategy – yes! Kudos to General Mills for taking the right steps and reaping the rewards. Think I’ll go have a bowl of Wheaties now.

Today, we are going to do an experiment that those of you with a DVR can do at home. This experiment will prove my point. More on that in a minute…

The ad agency world is all abuzz about the death of television advertising. With the DVR, people can *gasp* fast forward through commercials. Yesterday I had a meeting with a newspaper advertising sales rep who gleefully proclaimed that TV advertising was going downhill because of DVRs (yes, I did note the irony).

Well, folks, you heard it here first: The DVR is the best thing to happen to television advertising. Now for our little experiment. You”ll need a DVR and a friend.

Step 1: Watch “live” TV with your friend. Watch her during commercials. What is she looking at? Where is she going? In my tests, commercial break was for a quick trip to the bathroom, a little channel surfing, a quick look at the digital TV guide to choose the next program and maybe even a little conversation with me. Don’t get me wrong, the commercials were not ignored, they just weren”t the center of attention.

Step 2: Observe the same person watching a recorded program. Watch what happens when they fast forward through the commercials. THEY ARE LOOKING DIRECTLY AT THE TELEVISION! THE COMMERCIAL IS THE CENTER OF ATTENTION! Yes, the ad is the star! Sure, they don’t necessarily hear the ad, but for good television advertising, something can be gained through the visuals alone. Need proof? Ask your friend who is on the Late Show. Ask about the specials that Sprint is running. Yes, advertisers, DVR viewers are getting the message.

Bonus research: When observing your friend watching recorded TV, see what she does when she needs to leave the room for a snack or to go to the bathroom. She does not leave the TV running. She pauses her recorded show. Yup, and when she returns, she fast-forwards through the commercial break. Those lost eyeballs have been found through the beauty of the DVR!

Ok, I admit, not every ad is effective when being viewed at 4x speed. What do we need to do? First, remember the first lesson of advertising school: TV ads have to be effective even with no sound. Try it out. Do your ads get any message to the audience when there is no sound? If not, you don”t have an effective “DVR” ad, and many would argue that you don’t have an effective ad during “normal” viewing – TV is a visual medium, right?

The other important component is repetition. For an ad to be effective, it has to run more than once. That’s true with any television advertising (or just about any media), but it’s even more important in the DVR age. Make sure people see your brand multiple times. That makes any advertising more effective.

Lastly, make your television advertising good. It has become too easy to produce a :30 spot. Too many people are putting out bad advertising. Fortunately, the DVR will put the squeeze on them. By a show of hands, how many of you have actually stopped the fast forward to watch a television commercial that appeals to you? Yup, the “average” person does that too.

Update: Turns out that there has been some research done that confirms what I believe. Just remember, keep your brand a large part of your commercial.