A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

Media planning – deciding on the online/offline mix for advertising

This decision is typically taken by the media planner. The mix between online and offline 

spend should reflect consumers’ media consumption and the  cost-  response effectiveness 

of each medium. But, depending on the agency used, they may play it safe by putting the 

ad spend into what they are familiar with and what may be most rewarding in terms of 

 commission – offline media. Many 

 cross‑  media  optimisation  studies  (XMOS)

 have shown 

that the optimal online spend for  low-  involvement products is surprisingly high at  10–  15% 

of total spend. Although this is not a large amount, it compares to previous spend levels 

below 1% for many organisations.

XMOS research is designed to help marketers and their agencies answer the (rather 

involved) question, ‘What is the optimal mix of advertising vehicles across different media, 

in terms of frequency, reach and budget allocation, for a given campaign to achieve its mar-

keting goals?’

The mix between online and offline spend is varied to maximise campaign metrics such as 

reach, brand awareness and purchase intent. Table 9.2 summarises the optimal mix identi-

fied for four famous brands. For example, Dove found that increasing the level of interactive 

advertising to 15% would have resulted in an increase in overall branding metrics of 8%. The 

proportion of online is small, but remember that many companies are spending less than 

1% of their ad budgets online, meaning that offline frequency is too high and they may not 

be reaching many consumers.