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I’ve often wondered how my keen sense of humor and stellar creative capabilities in my youth led me into the ad agency world of media versus the land of creative.   Perhaps it was all of the advanced math and statistics courses that skewed my path.  I’m not disappointed; the media world is fascinating and currently evolving at a rapid pace.  I’m proud to be a part of it.  Yet, my biggest challenge over the years hasn’t been buying, planning, or strategizing media but overcoming the “Redheaded Stepchild” (no offense to redheaded stepchildren, I happen to know a few and they are superior individuals) label pasted on agency media departments.  Maybe it wasn’t the late nights trying to get the answer to the very last story problem that led me down this road, but rather having the skills and desire necessary to change what I see as “redheaded stepchildren” into a more fitting label such as “first-born, blonde bombshells”.  We all know that essentially all departments that make up an ad agency are needed for client success, but think about these things the next time you question the importance of an agency’s media department (or pass up a redheaded stepchild):

Media Spending:  With billions of dollars spent on advertising media each year and media usually the majority of a client’s budget, it is in an agency’s best interest to place this responsibility in the hands of well-trained professionals.   The different tools needed to develop media direction based on client needs, build strong partnerships, and leverage valuable dollars aren’t easy to come by in just one individual.  Great media folks have these in skills their tool kit and they are essential to determining implementing the optimal media direction for their clients.  With so many dollars at stake, it just shouldn’t be any other way.

Creativity: Product placement, aqua advertising, wallscapes, projection advertising, and parking lot stripes – just a few examples of the creative output found in agency meeting departments.  Though sometimes the ideas stem from media and other times creative, the optimal scenario takes place when creative and media departments collaborate to determine the optimal solution for a client. 

Emerging Media and Ever-changing Media Landscape: Who plans and buys those ads that expand or peel back on web sites?  Or the text links found on search engines?  Or the rich media that floats across your web page?  Why redheaded media stepchildren around the globe do.  Media strategists aren’t constrained by just a few choices in media (television, radio, newspaper); the digital world has changed the media landscape into one that into accounts and makes room for the still growing media consumption on the Internet. 

In closing, the next time you find yourself saying, “What a great ad” during a commercial break, consider that you wouldn’t have seen it if it weren’t for the media professional who made certain that it was viewed by the right person, at the right time, and for the right price.  

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