The quest for media planning tools that can keep up with the breakneck pace of change in the marketplace has become something of a holy grail. Most media planning tools are at their most powerful within a single channel: the best are able to bring in one or two other channels but so far the quest for a truly integrated media planning platform has remained elusive. It doesn’t help that consumers have significantly expanded the channels by which they consume media (mobile, other hand-held), that they often consume simultaneously and that the channels also interact and influence one another.
The best media planning tools seek to automate the process for efficiency gains. As functionality continues to scale and evolve organically, improved versions replace original versions with additional features and improvements. A media planning tool can come in many forms—as a media planning analytics gatherer, as an optimization kit, or as a media buying platform that can harness multiple channels seamlessly.
Using Only The Best Media Planning Tools
Although each of these functions is a holy grail, the focus is increasingly on how to build an integrated tool using media planning buying that incorporates all of those functions. Cross platform attribution could be a single platform on a global virtual network through which networks and advertisers can harmoniously participate in media selling and buying. This media planning tool could then be linked to a real-time auction and bid engine to give the power of discovery back in the hands of those who want it—the brands looking to efficiently manage their marketing campaigns.
Not everything is just a pipe dream. One of the integrated solutions to appear in the marketplace does exactly that. LogicLab is one of the few media planning tools that gives access to powerful analytics backed up by advertiser and media data to calculate both campaign efficiency at planning stage as well as campaign efficacy at post-campaign performance measurement stage. Check out www.logiclabinc.com for more details.
