Commentary

New Age Media Plans, With A Twist: Better Work, More Sweat

A good media plan can require hard work and sweat. But should everyone -- bosses, clients, vendors and consumers -- know what goes into that?

You could have proof. You could keep your sweat for evidence.  And then think of your favorite entertainers.

Some would say that Rodney Dangerfield’s widow, Joan, had a “glowing” idea: actual sweat from the comedian. Dangerfield, who died in 2004, had long been known for his extensive perspiration ability.

Joan got the idea when she heard that one of Elvis Presley’s sweaty handkerchiefs sold for a lot of money -- no doubt giving some credence to the belief that Presley was perhaps the hardest-working man in show business.

A plan to bottle some of Presley’s sweat in a merchandising deal worked for a while until the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas put the kibosh on things.

We all know that clients want results when it comes to marketing -- evidence of the hard work, especially when things go wrong. Along with this comes empathy as a way to build a work team and success.

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Clients will always focus on better sales, higher gross rating points for a cheap price, improved completion of video data, or perhaps higher click through rates. But stuff always falls through the cracks -- and who’s to blame? If you got 80% of what you expect, you’d be happy. Maybe 70% is a better figure.

Now we have botnets counting -- erroneously –how many actual humans are watching your digital advertising videos or display ads. Start sweating now. The good news is that those media robots haven’t yet figured out how to scam traditional media plans. Then their shvitzing would really begin.

But we need more. I agree with Mark Ingwer, founder and managing partner, Insight Consulting Group. He doesn’t just call for a return on investment with media plans, but a “return on empathy” -- from companies dealing with their consumer relationships.

This is not just about rewarding “loyalty” but offering forgiveness when things go wrong with a purchase-- something Ingwer rightly says is hard to practice, and harder to get right.

Take this a step further. Give empathy to those who work for you, internally or with outside vendors and marketing agencies.

If companies can figure this out, then congratulations are in order. If not, they can show us how much they need to sweat things out in order to make things right. Shower to come later.

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