• by Adam Bernard , June 13, 2002

For this section, we usually try to find five or six new or newly useful online destinations and give you a one-paragraph synopsis of why you should be interested in them. We’ve recently decided that a short paragraph just isn’t enough, so from now on ClickPicks will focus on just one destination per issue. This time, the site is AMIC.com and the spotlight is on their primary affiliate, eTelmar.

We came across the two sites when eTelmar—the online arm of Telmar, which has long been a fixture in the ad industry—launched an online tool that can optimize all media simultaneously.

The concept of media optimization in ad campaigns has been around for years—it’s all about calculating which combination of ad vehicles makes the most sense for a particular ad budget. The IMC Suite (Integrated Marketing Communications) is a subscription-based Internet software system that uses many of the same methodologies media planners have employed for years, but in an interactive fashion.

For example, a planner can analyze and select possible media vehicles using several data sources (Nielsen, Arbitron, MRI, etc.), enter a budget and InterMix builds the optimum cross-media plan based on the total media optimization criteria. The eTelmar online slide show provides a graphic explanation of the process. You could get to it from eTelmar.com directly, or from AMIC.com, which has additional info.

IMC aside, it’s worth mentioning that eTelmar also offers a tool called Web Planner, which lets media buyers evaluate website schedules in terms of targeting, impressions, reach & frequency, cost efficiency, and timing by importing any syndicated web data (Media Metrix or Nielsen//NetRatings).

Our only gripe with eTelmar is that their site isn’t very comprehensive; it’s major purpose being to get potential customers to pick up the phone and call. Some pages are also outdated. But the tools they offer do seem to make a media planner’s life a lot less messy.