Paid Media Process

Before any request can be approved, a paid support brief should be prepared, discussed and aligned with the Channels and Amplification team. This should be done well ahead (at least 3 weeks) of the requested date of the planned launch of the paid activity.

A Paid Support Brief Includes:

• Communication Goal
• Objectives
• Target Audience
• Budget
• Content Strategy
• Content Plan and Timeline

Budget Planning Considerations 

What is enough investment? This is highly dependent on a variety of critical variables, including communication objectives, size of audience, desired geography, length of effort, media mix and needed assets. These can often be adjusted up or down to better accommodate available budget.

At least 80% of the media budget will go to net media (working Euros). The remaining 20% should be used for production, agency fees, etc. 

• NET MEDIA FEES (“Working Euros”) — Costs directly related to the amount you pay the media vendor for advertising space. 
• NON MEDIA FEES (“Non-Working Euros”) — Costs related to supporting the media buy. This includes the time for agency partners to execute the plan, including: 
  • Strategy, planning and set-up  
  • Ad creative development including out-of-pocket expenses 
  • Buying and trafficking
  • Analytics and reporting

Project owners should align on the following strategic parameters during the first phase of planning. 

Audiences — Assess the potential percentage of audience overlap between targeted audience between existing paid efforts and proposed efforts. Questions to address:

• If there is audience overlap, is the media mix complementary and does it avoid conflicting campaigns?
• Are there efficiencies within retargeting?

Content Strategy & Timing — Questions to address:

• Is the content aligned with the content framework and topics?
• Are there potential timing conflicts with content or announcements?

Channel Strategy — Questions to address:

• Is content aligned to the channel strategy?
• Are there priority channels?

KPIs — KPIs for paid efforts should utilize the Global Reporting Framework (in development) to select KPIs and determine reporting needs. Questions to address:

• What desired behaviors are we trying to drive with this effort and what are the KPIs associated?
• How will measurement and reporting occur? 
• How can we enable shared learnings across efforts?
   

Once the internal alignment and approval of the Paid Support Brief is reached, the brief will be handed over to a media agency which will take the parameters given in the brief and create a media plan recommendation that outlines the targeting, channels, frequency, timeline and costs within the given budget. 

Questions to address:

• Who is preparing the media strategy? Preference is to use the existing media strategy agency for Bayer Group (Paradowski Creative) for both timing and buying/budget efficiencies.
• If another agency is preparing the media strategy, how will they collaborate with the group agency? (Note: coordination across multiple agencies increases agency hours for all agencies)
• Who will be placing the media buy? The preference is to use the existing agency for Bayer Group for efficiency. This should be addressed further in the implementation plan.
   

Implementation

• There are efficiencies in coordination and implementation of paid tactics by utilizing a common media buying partner. When possible we should use a consistent partner.
• If using an agency in addition to the current partner, consider that additional hours will be required to coordinate targeting, ad account access, etc. when planning a budget. 
• Question to address: 
  • Who are the key contacts?
  • Who will manage the paid ads and editorial calendar in Percolate?

Community Engagement 

• Who will be managing the comments and engagement on the ads? 
  • Paid ads almost always increase commenting. Reserve budget to fund additional community engagement hours.
  • The virtual community engagement team can consult on potential hours needed once a media plan has been developed.
• Do we need to update the community engagement playbook with new talking points or FAQs?
• What is the escalation process if ads need to be halted or adjusted due to unforeseen circumstances?
   

Maintenance 

• All content assets in paid effort should be loaded into Percolate as well as appropriately labeled as paid assets 
• Share paid efforts and go live date in Newsroom 
• Alert appropriate contacts for community engagement and flag ad URLs for community engagement team
• Set regular meetings with Ch&Amps and other paid media stakeholders to share status and learnings

Reporting & Optimization

• Determine if scope of reporting is covered by the global integrated report or requires additional budget.
• Report during and after paid effort on KPI progress.
• Determine if optimizations need to be made during the paid support timeline. 
• After conclusion of paid efforts, share learnings in Newsroom and with other stakeholders and adjust strategy as needed for future content marketing content creation and paid support.