Our Approach

We have a unique approach to creating strategic media campaigns: We listen.

Before we begin crafting strategy, we take the time to learn about your business - and we educate you about ours. Only after we're certain we understand your brand, your clients and your goals, do we begin to develop a strategy, create an integrated media plan, and explain how we envision managing your media and delivering your message.

First Steps

We begin with a series of initial meetings with the client to determine goals and objectives, discuss budget levels and target audiences, and brainstorm potential strategies. Armed with this information, we develop a preliminary media plan in which broadcast, Internet, print, out-of-home, and other specialized media are evaluated internally and against each other to determine relative efficiencies and effectiveness in reaching geographic, demographic and psychographic targets.

The Plan

Our initial plan outlines goals and objectives along with proposed strategies and estimated costs of reaching those goals. We illustrate how the disparate pieces of a plan come together using research from nationally recognized firms like Nielsen, Arbitron and Scarborough. Detailed reports are produced with proposed schedules, sample programming, and audience delivery. We make liberal use of flowcharts to illustrate multi-media campaigns and provide an overview of how media is flighted based on variables like seasonal shifts in media consumption, product launches/pushes, and high and low selling periods.

Negotiation Tactics

After the plan is approved, we negotiate rates and schedules and explore and secure promotional and added value opportunities. These negotiations are based not on bullying and gamesmanship, but rather on our knowledge of the market, the media, competition, and a salesperson's ability to support his or her proposal with solid research.

Before, During and After the Flight

We oversee production, prepare rotation schedules, and traffic creative. Media schedules are monitored to insure the client's dollars are maximized and schedules run as ordered, negotiating timely make-goods or credits when necessary. Clients are made aware of special opportunities that arise during the course of an advertising campaign, meeting with their internal marketing/ management team as needed to ensure continual synergy in media and marketing initiatives.

We provide full accounting services, including client invoicing and payment of all media and production bills, along with monthly statements of all transactions. All media buys are reconciled, posted and analyzed using the Strata Buy Management System (SBMS), along with our own Excel-based reports.

We utilize a holistic approach to create advertising campaigns which take advantage of the strengths and weaknesses of each medium and integrate the paid media into a client's overall marketing plan. Rather than viewing a client's target audience as an abstract group, we look beyond the numbers to determine who these individuals are, where they live and work, and how their lifestyles determine their media choices. Here are some of the research tools we use to develop and inform media strategy.

While we specialize in media planning and buying, we work seamlessly with other advertising professionals to develop innovative marketing solutions for our clients. We are proud to partner with some of the best creative shops, PR specialists, and market research consultants in the country.