It may be a cliché, but it’s very true nevertheless – the only constant in life is change. If you do not continuously learn, grow and adapt you are likely to be left behind and ultimately become irrelevant. This is true for you as a person, but also as a media owner or an advertising offering.
As a media planner, I have seen many changes in my career – each one seemingly very daunting and scary at the time, but this is what change does – it takes you out of your comfort zone and once you have learnt the new way and secured the knowledge of a new skill or way of doing something, you grow and evolve into a better, more efficient you!
With the changing landscape that the ‘new normal’ and ‘working from home’ brings, we have all had to adapt to new ways in all aspects of our working and private lives. When you reflect on how far we have all come and how much we have succeeded, we should be very proud.
This year saw me learning a few new skills I thought I would never have to learn or try, one of them being outdoor planning. At first it was scary and daunting, but after doing it a couple of times the process become easier and part of my planning DNA. All that has been thrown at me, has now made me evolve into a more rounded planner, something that can only benefit myself and my clients.
As we grow individually, so too does the advertising and media landscape in the traditional space continue to evolve, change and become better, to adapt to what clients want while remaining relevant in an ever changing digital-focused landscape.
A few examples that have been seen in the industry are:
Digital out of home. A few media owners started to offer programmatic DOOH which, like in the traditional space, allows the industry to buy digital billboards based on a pre-determined set of demographics. Instead of buying a board for a few months – you are now able to buy impressions at a variable rate and period.
This has proven to be successful, and many more media owners are adopting the technology and offering this media buy as well. At this stage the digital media agencies are finding it easier to plan and buy as it uses the digital buying platforms. I am sure over time this will become part of the traditional media planners’ world as we all become more digitally focused and led.
Guaranteed audiences. This has been in the industry for a while, on TV in particular, with some brands buying set CPPs or ratings on channels. This has now also been launched in the radio world. Again, it has only been offered by a handful of radio media owners in the market. I am sure that as this proves successful and growth in revenue is achieved, more will adapt and take on this opportunity – it allows radio to become more targeted and potentially more impactful.
Television has seen many changes over the years, for example, this year marks the fourth anniversary when all TV channels converted to the now industry standard of nett rates while many channels have adapted to technology and offered many new and exciting advances.
Examples of these include DStv offering video advertising space on their Showmax Free platform as well as on their CatchUp and DStv Now platforms – you can even flight a static advert now when a viewer pauses CatchUp.
Brands willing to try and test new ways of doing traditional things, stand out from the crowd and help the evolution of media grow!
Change is inevitable. We grow and change, as technology and the world around us evolves. The key is to embrace this and know that in time all that is new and seemed scary, will soon become the way we have always done it! We grow, we adapt and as we evolve, we become great!
Kevin Levy is senior implementation planner at Meta Media.
