Isabelle Huet, comms planner, ZenithOptimedia
I hadn't realised just how much free stuff I was using," admits Isabelle Huet. "A few years ago, I'd go everywhere with a traditional London A-Z, but now I just use Google Maps."
Facebook, the BBC iPlayer and YouTube are other online favourites and her latest find is free music streaming site Spotify.
She adds: "I enjoy thelondonpaper, which I read every day. The only time I read a paid-for paper is at my parents' house." Huet gets news updates from Google and has recently discovered websites offering free vouchers. She says: "My friends and I will always check which restaurants are offering the best deals before we go out."
While Huet is keen to embrace free media on a personal level, she recognises that not everyone is as open-minded; previous clients have questioned whether a media product was paid for. She says: "Clients can be a bit apprehensive or traditional. However, they are having to realise that the world has moved on and they need to view free media as an integral part of an overall strategy."
Only a few years ago, there was still snobbery around free media, but the success of free products means planners, buyers and clients are having to change their ways.
Meanwhile, media owners will need to work harder to engage with the - often fickle - consumer and retain their loyalty. One good working practice, says Huet, is getting consumers to click through to a microsite when they are looking at websites such as Facebook or Flickr.
She explains: "O2's strategy on Facebook got it right - its Orgy of Fun campaign totally understood and listened to the target audience."
However, the distinction between free and paid-for media isn't always obvious, which is no bad thing. Huet explains: "When you think about how you're going to target audiences, you don't think about whether you are going to do it via a free or a paid-for channel - you don't differentiate."
Modern media planners have more to take in and learn and more media owners to talk to, Huet believes. The challenge when planning client strategy is to address clients' relentless questions and demands for proof of audience figures.
"We need to back everything up, so it helps if a media owner comes to us with proof their product works," she says.
"There will be more accountability in future and there needs to be more quantitative research so clients know where their money is going and planners can be more confident."
Huet is deadly serious when she says: "I've got to be ruthless as a planner. If you can't prove what you're saying, you won't make it onto my schedule.
Matt Redman, digital planner, MCHI
Planning around display media is still important, but it certainly takes up far less of my time," confesses Matt Redman, a digital planner at MCHI.
He reckons a whole new world has been created for media planners to understand and explore - one where outdated "share-of-voice" models for planning just won't wash.
Instead, new models focusing on "share of mind" are emerging, with consumers engaged, participating and distributing information.
This approach takes clients and planners out of the comfort zone of planning around space to planning around making connections with consumers.
Redman says: "There is a move from focusing on content alone to looking at how content can be accessed and distributed, and developing services and applications.
Understanding technology and its impact on consumers, as well as the opportunities for clients this creates, is a key part of his job and technologically minded Redman embraces it on a personal level.
He often starts the day by using his iPhone to catch up on a film or read his RSS feeds. Next he will launch Spotify at his desk, log on to Kublax to check his finances and then search Urbanspoon to decide where to go for lunch.
"I might take some photos using my phone and send them to Flickr via ShoZu and access my home media using my phone to show mates a video of my 19-month-old daughter," he says.
"Back home, I'll sometimes watch new films using The Pirate Bay, download and transfer them to my iPhone, use my laptop to look up recipes for dinner and log on to Skype so my grandparents can see their granddaughter. I'll then go to MyP2P to see what matches are on or go to Zattoo to watch TV."
Redman knows that consumers like him are becoming more adept at ad avoidance, which is putting pressure on the foundations of media. Even if content is viewed in greater numbers, it is being consumed across multiple platforms, many of which can't be controlled by clients. This diversity means it can be harder for media planners and advertisers to reach large audiences.
"It will become increasingly hard to create unique or even premium content that people are prepared to pay for," says Redman, who believes clients will need to become more creatively minded.
He adds: "The dichotomy between the cost to create content and the value a consumer places upon this content will force media owners to look at innovative ways to commoditise their products or perhaps form partnerships.
Samantha Neal, account executive, Mindshare
Some clients are set in their ways and don't want to change with the times, but newer, smaller firms are often more amenable to trying new things," says Samantha Neal, who works on the commercial planning team for News International.
Neal recognises the stumbling blocks in the path of free media, which even younger, more dynamic companies can be slow to embrace. She says: "Some clients with a smaller budget can be reluctant to spend it in this way."
However, it is possible to convert recalcitrant clients with a little perseverance. Neal recalls one client who was encouraged to support a free e-newsletter.
She says: "The client was worried about who would see the e-newsletter, but we were convinced it had a value for the readers who signed up. The strategy actually worked well and had a good response rate."
However, while recognising its potential, Neal says free media can be a harder sell because new channels may not have figures behind them, unlike traditional media.
Clients also have to address an increasing lack of consumer loyalty, a trend that is particularly evident in press. Neal says: "There are fewer dedicated newspaper readers, particularly if free CDs and DVDs are on offer.
"Papers are fighting to give away the best ones and readers expect good quality; giveaway CDs aren't the rubbish bands any more."
The case of free CDs illustrates that while consumers might have viewed free media as inferior quality products a few years ago, this is no longer the case. Neal, like many consumers, expects good quality, whatever the cost.
Neal's personal media use illustrates how free media has permeated most parts of her life. She uses Hotmail and MSN regularly, while City AM and thelondonpaper are regular reads.
She says: "I use Getty Images and Flickr daily for putting pictures together at work and I've been looking for a flat and selling my car on Gumtree, whereas before I would have put it in Auto Trader. I also use Facebook, YouTube and Google Maps."
Neal adds that while media planners used to read fewer trade magazines to keep up with trends, there are now many more titles to keep up with, about many new channels, and this trend will only become more pronounced. She concludes: "I don't think my job will change fundamentally, but it will have to evolve."