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Working with a strong brand and creative idea is all well and good, but it is the audience it reaches that will ultimately dictate the success of the ad campaign and whether it reaches its full potential. So, it needs to appear in the right place at the right time. This is particularly important in digital media.

As Faith Carthy, managing director of online planning and buying specialist i-level, points out, digital is a particularly complex medium and offers opportunities for advertisers and clients which cannot be found elsewhere.

Complications can be caused by the technology used, ideas like rich media and the sheer range of ad formats and sizes, as well as the variety of charging models offered by online ad networks, agencies and media owners.

While this complexity is in the nature of the medium, online advertising has become an easier process as the market has simply got older. There is evidence that the different sides of the advertising equation - the media owners, advertisers, media and creative agencies - are working closer together as the market matures.

The announcement by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) that some two per cent of advertisers' budgets are now being allocated online highlights the importance of getting this process right.

More discipline

Certainly, Carthy believes that in recent months the industry has been showing much more discipline in the way it applies the processes needed.

When looking at other mediums, like press or print, you have a range of options depending on the magazine or media owner. With online, broadly speaking, media owners have the scope to be much more flexible.

Carthy suggests that advertisers ask themselves: 'What do I need to deliver?' and 'Why do I need to do this campaign?'. "There is still scope to do something that hasn't been done before online, which is why it is so exciting," she adds.

This does not mean that preparation is any less important in the online space. However, she notes that advertisers are increasingly appreciating the need to be disciplined when planning and buying an online campaign.

"You need to plan in advance with other media and digital is no different. Thankfully, clients have become more savvy and realise that digital is not something to be tacked on to a campaign at the last minute."

As John Owen, planning director at Dare and head of the IPA's Digital Marketing Group, points out: "You've got to involve all parties in the process as early as possible. There just needs to be clarity in the process - it is a best practice issue." He echoes the idea that this side of the media industry is growing up, and that it is now tightening up the procedures and processes used in implementing campaigns. This progress has enabled the IPA, working in conjunction with the IAB, to address other issues such as ad-serving discrepancies and the standardisation of ad formats and sizes.

Owen adds: "We, as an industry, are getting on and tightening the ship, which will make it more attractive to more general marketers and the wider market. The areas of concern for advertisers do change as the industry evolves, but this shows that the industry is growing up in one constant movement."

This all goes to show that the planning and buying process needs to be applied just as rigidly to the digital elements of a campaign as they would for offline channels. If you don't do this, an advertiser will lose value, warns Carthy. "This is particularly true if you are trying to co-ordinate all the elements of a campaign and achieve the layering that a multi-platform campaign can achieve," she explains.

Integrated projects

Adam Freeman, head of commercial development at Guardian Unlimited, has seen a surge in demand for integrated projects. "At Guardian Unlimited, this last year has been about giving advertisers value-for-money, yield and CPM (cost-per-thousand) arrangements. But there has been a rise in the number of advertisers who value the other things we can offer a brand, not simply direct response."

Two metrics used by advertisers to charge for their inventory are CPA (cost per acquisition) and CPC (cost per click). These are particularly popular with firms that want to achieve direct response results online.

Freeman says these models are not being used on Guardian Unlimited. "I think it has been driven by us, but I do think certain clients and sectors have gone beyond the pure direct-response model."

Freeman notes the growth of the idea that the internet can build a brand, and Guardian Unlimited is now researching the affect of brand building on its web site for advertisers. "Direct response is there, and it is growing and using services like search-engine marketing, and that is taking money from formats such as banners and buttons. But it is not for brand building," says Freeman.

It follows that a growth area on Guardian Unlimited is sponsorship. "There is demand for more and more integrated work and sponsorship," Freeman says. "It is coming from a wider range of sectors as we are seeing a range of larger budgets and more sophisticated clients and youth brands getting involved."

As Owen points out, the internet is being seen as an advertising medium by advertisers that don't do business online directly. "McDonald's cannot sell burgers online, but it can and does support its above-the-line advertising and reaches a huge number of its audience cost efficiently. Online is very good at cost-efficient direct response work and it is also doing a job for companies that don't have that particular aim in mind."

However, as online receives more attention from clients and advertisers, there is the possibility that the planning process could be delayed. As Carthy points out, creative provision needs to be considered more carefully: "Unfortunately, as creative becomes increasingly sophisticated, there's potential for it to be supplied later and later in the process."

The reasons for this vary: the creative agencies may not always prepare work to specification or the client may change the brief. "You wouldn't dream of taking this approach offline," says Carthy. "So why should it happen on the web? Online is a far more complex medium and it takes time to get it right."

Carthy adds that it isn't just monetary value that can be lost due to lateness; it also makes it more difficult to get the right placement and opportunities offered by media owners. For instance, sectors like financial services and travel are time-specific and will want to offer certain products at certain times of the year. The quality of the campaign's results can suffer without careful planning. "If you leave it too late, you have far more hurdles to overcome. You should make the decision about integrating your on- and offline campaigns, rather than letting them happen independently by default," says Carthy.

Time sensitive

Although sectors like the aforementioned financial and travel areas have particularly time-sensitive sales cycles, brands from a range of industries seem to be understanding this concept more and more, she continues, but it can be misleading to simply run to a template. "If you put a rigid process in place, you will miss out on opportunities. For instance, do you want the same strategy online and offline? You are likely to miss out on opportunities to maximise the value of the campaign." Yet, it is possible to follow a process. At i-level, there is a creative-management process, which is suggested to clients. "It is like a road map," Carthy explains. "It means that planning doesn't simply become an added burden."

Offline media is also different because of the flexibility of certain media owners online. Naturally, some are more flexible than others and that can often be the result of a particularly competitive environment.

Carthy praises women's web site handbag.com for its flexible approach.

"They recognise online as part of a broader landscape because they recognise that they are selling against magazine teams."

This flexibility can stretch to the payment model as well. Carthy points out that there is no set way of trading - it is about reaching an appropriate balance for the particular project. In 2002, for instance, Guardian Unlimited launched its Surround Sessions ad format. It charges advertisers per user session, rather than by CPM or CPC, which gives them access to every banner and button space in a particular section of the Guardian web site for the length of time that the user spends there.

Brands that have used Surround Sessions since launch include Audi, Orange and the Irish Tourist Board. Freeman is surprised at the way brands have been using the format, which hasn't developed as E he expected. "I thought advertisers would want to build a sequential message with different levels, using different creatives as they followed the user through a session.

But most have gone for repeating the same message several times or they try to control the user's time and environment," he says. Recently, the site came up with another new ad format, the Smart Ad, the first user of which is Vauxhall.

"One of our main brand elements at Guardian is innovation, and not just online," says Freeman. "We try to come up with new ideas all the time and fundamentally believe in the power of online."

However, he believes that, although this is part of Guardian Unlimited's brand values, there isn't a continual search for novelty on the part of advertisers.

Need for innovation

Lack of standards in online advertising, and planning and buying, has been a problem in the past, but, says Owen, agreeing on some should not hinder creativity. "It is about making it easier to compete from a distance, but that isn't to say that the need for innovation goes away. We still rely on new formats and ideas in this space. The remarkable thing about innovation is that it is remarkable. To say something is standard doesn't mean that it isn't good and it isn't professionally done. The 20 per cent of work that plays outside the rules is what gets focused on, wins awards and moves the industry on. Innovation for innovation's sake is not good or even right."

Some media owners, particularly major portals, can be constrained by the creative formats they can accept. They may have to confirm to a worldwide site template. As Freeman notes, there is demand for more intrusive formats from some advertisers and agencies. "A lot of it is to do with size and the size of the canvas the advertiser is given. There is always someone who is going to jump on the latest creative bandwagon, but, generally, requests are acceptable." The use of rich-media formats could change as standards take hold. "As we move to fewer but larger placements on the page, it will be interesting to see what that will mean for rich media," he adds.

Also, the trend towards standardising advertising formats should not be allowed to stifle creativity on the internet, continues Freeman. "Creativity is about what you do with the canvas you are allowed - it doesn't stop you doing something creative around the edges of those standards and it will not stop media owners innovating around that."

However, Carthy believes a dialogue between the agency and media owner can solve many problems. And it benefits the web site as well. "That tends to happen," Carthy admits. "Sites that get the best approach are the ones you brief earlier and more often. In an ideal world, we want to have the same dialogue with all these web sites."

Certainly, taking the broader view of the market with his IPA role, Owen believes the contact between the advertisers' body and the IAB bodes well for this sort of dialogue. "I think this is where we manage to engage more from an IPA perspective with the IAB.

I cannot comment as a member of an individual agency, but it is an obvious point to say that a lot of what is achieved is down to the strength of what the agencies achieve," he adds.

It is clear that all sides of the advertising equation online, from advertiser to media owner, agree on one thing: the user experience is paramount.

Although there are new users coming online every day, it is clear that ill-targeted or annoying advertising can have a detrimental affect.

Explaining value

If the wrong advertising is in the wrong place and users are unhappy, both the advertisers and media owners will suffer. This is a key point to bear in mind as rich-media formats continue to proliferate and intrusive advertising techniques are considered. It also means that, online, the planning and buying process is as important as ever.

Freeman admits that creating the right solution for advertisers can sometimes involve heavy resources on the part of the media owner. However, he accepts the challenge of explaining the value of his property. "The onus is on us to give advertisers and agencies an understanding of our audience, and the value of what we deliver for them. We want them to value it properly and appreciate it. And if they do, they should be happy to pay for it," he adds.

MASTERCLASS PANEL

Faith Carthy is managing director of online specialist planning and buying agency i-level. Founded in 1999, it aims to deliver a high level of service, with the effectiveness and accountability that only digital media can offer. Clients include BT and the COI.

John Owen, a Revolution columnist, is planning director of digital agency Dare and chairman of the IPA Digital Marketing Group. The latter has produced a report on ad-serving discrepancies and is working with the IAB on a resolution and measurement standards.

Adam Freeman is head of commercial development at Guardian Unlimited, where he launched its Surround Session ad format, charging per-user session rather than by CPM or CPC, giving advertisers access to all banners and button spaces in an area for that session.

BA ADAPTS WINNING REGIONAL PUSH FOR PRICE-LED PROMOS

British Airways promoted its regional flight network across a range of national and regional sites in the UK. The main ad format was an expandable banner showing a map of the UK, which enabled users to select their local departure airport. Then they were shown the price and/or value message relative to their location.

Due to the success of the initial promo, this approach has been adopted for all price-led campaigns for BA. It has shown growth in ROI, especially for the localised banner advertising, which saw growth of 400 per cent from August to September 2003.

Digital specialist itraffic was responsible for online creative, media planning, buying and optimisation.

The campaign's key objectives were to raise brand awareness and drive sales to regain market share from rival operators. It aimed to alert consumers to BA's routes from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol, and drive traffic through these regional airports. BA also wanted to combat the perception that 'good deals with British Airways are only obtained when flying from Heathrow or Gatwick'.

Initially, in August 2003, the promo ran on national sites like those of The Times and The Daily Telegraph and portals such as Freeserve and Tiscali. Regional sites, such as My Birmingham, My Bristol, My Edinburgh and The Scotsman, and search directories like Thompson Local, were chosen to keep BA front of mind.

This was regardless of whether the consumer was in a travel-buying mindset or not, says Don Larotonda, strategic planner at itraffic: "Agencies and clients often neglect regions outside London in ad and media placements, not giving them the time, budget and resources they require. Our approach ensured all regions were at the centre of activity."

The regional sites carried specific price and value-messaging for the point of departure in addition to the expandable banner.

According to itraffic, users from specific regions were targeted via advertising networks with fares from local airports.

TOP TIPS ON ONLINE MEDIA PLANNING

1. From the start, there should be a clear understanding of what is required - bookings, registrations, awareness or audience coverage - and measurement methods should be set.

2. Base online budgets on campaign objectives, not a percentage of the above-the-line budget.

3. The medium must be treated as a microcosm of the above-the-line media landscape. High-reach networks provide ubiquitous promos in much the same way as a poster campaign. And search engines work similarly to classified ads.

4. The message must fit the type of buy (media property) and ad size. Ads run on a network, where users will be in a passive mindset, must have a straightforward message.

5. On highly targeted areas where there are high levels of affinity with the product or service, the frequency of message can be relatively low.

6. Ad size should be relative to frequency and affinity of the placement. If the ad has a high affinity with the placement, its format can be relatively small, such as a banner or skyscraper.

7. Rich media can be powerful, but you must always consider the consumer.

8. The planner can target consumers when they are actively searching for a specific product or service, as well as the more traditional means of targeting by demographic and lifestyle.

9. If a number of sites have high levels of duplication, they should be replaced with similar sites, which will extend campaign reach.

10. The time it takes for an integrated online promo to go live is longer than you think. Crucial steps often overlooked include setting up research studies and rich-media trafficking timelines.

Source: itraffic.

CHECKLIST

Questions that should be asked when planning an online media campaign

- Why am I planning this campaign?

- What do I need to deliver in terms of results?

- How will I measure results and know if the campaign has been successful?

- Are we doing something new for its own sake or can we get the desired results by innovation?

- Have I left enough time for planning and buying?

- Have all relevant parties been involved early?

- Will the mix of sites reach the right audience?

- Is there any duplication?

- How do you manage and deliver creative?

- Who will ensure the creative is of the right specification for the media owner?

- How flexible can the media owner be in terms of hosting creative and offering me a solution?

- Does the payment model reflect our aims?

- Has the campaign been effective?

- Was it run on a sustainable basis for both the advertiser and the media owner?