Addressing New Media with Conventional Media Planning

Accepted industry wisdom is that many new, and particularly Internet, media cannot be addressed through conventional media planning procedures. This paper takes a contrary position. It not only argues that new media can be addressed through conventional planning procedures, but it contends that they should be. Increasingly, all media compete for the same budget. Furthermore, they play critical roles in the same integrated marketing communications programs. To suggest that they should be treated differently argues against truly integrated media planning. While this paper does not suggest a comprehensive integrated planning solution, it does outline the directions such a solution should take. Most important, it shows how all media selections can be addressed through a common evaluative process.