• by October 10, 2001

Newspaper placement specialists Mediaspace Solutions (MSS) released their online newspaper planning and buying tools, available without charge to all users registered at the company's website.

"These tools give media planners and buyers a robust and comprehensive approach to newspaper campaign management," said MSS CEO Geoff Dodge. "We offer a true one-stop solution that can accommodate even the most complicated plans with multiple ads running on different schedules in hundreds of newspapers."

These web-based planning tools interface with internal MSS order execution systems, creating a seamless workflow where information is entered once, and once only.

According to Amy Andrews, MSS VP/Media Product Development, the system is designed to let users quickly and efficiently build media plans and generate cost estimates. "You enter the campaign information, which takes just minutes," explains Andrews, "and generate an estimate, which is virtually instantaneous. You can go back and revise the plan to make sure you meet your objectives. Edit and estimate until you've got what you want."

Once a user is satisfied with their estimate, they can submit the plan to MSS for a firm quote, returned within 48 hours (M-F). When a quote is accepted, MSS takes over the campaign, issuing insertion orders, trafficking ad copy, acquiring proofs-of-performance, and paying the newspapers. MSS guarantees the quoted rate to match the consolidated billing, virtually eliminating rate discrepancies.

To date, most online media planning systems have used either an "exchange" model that brokers a pre-existing inventory of media products, or a "touchstone" model that simply provides a communication channel where buyers and sellers negotiate.

The MSS model differs sharply from both of these. Customers can choose nearly any daily newspapers in the US, but they only need to communicate with one party - MSS.

"Our business is built around service and efficiency," said MSS Senior VP/Sales and Marketing Jeff Burch. "We have resources in place - both human and technological - that let us insulate our customers from the chaos of placing newspaper campaigns."

"To create and execute a campaign with our tools," continues Burch, "all a customer really needs to know is: the papers or markets they want to run in, the size of their ad, and the weeks or days they want to run. Enter that information and you're basically done. We do all the rest."

Before releasing the tools on the web, MSS conducted in-depth "user acceptance testing," asking media planners to use the tools and offer comments. Test users were asked to develop large, complex plans and then vary them several times, generating estimates along the way. Some compared costs for black-and-white, 2-color and 4-color ads, while others compared costs for different newspapers and placement schedules.

After his test drive, Mike Drexler, Executive VP at interactive media agency and media consultancy Mediasmith, Inc, said, "It's a quick and easy way to not only develop an initial plan, but also to look at alternatives and make changes as often as necessary." Impressed by the system's proprietary pricing engine, he added, "It also allows media planners and buyers to maintain optimum control of client budgets as changes occur."