• by Tom Hespos , June 27, 2006

For many media planning professionals, a media plan isn't a plan until every dollar is allocated to a media vehicle. If the client wants to spend $500,000 this quarter, you had best have all $500,000 planned for one vehicle or another--it must go someplace.

For others, there's a distinct advantage to having a certain percentage of the media budget set aside for media opportunities that may come up during the course of the quarter. On many of the plans I've put together over my career, I've placed a small percentage of the plan's dollars into an "Opportunistic Media Fund" to cover such scenarios.

Opportunistic media seems to be a polarizing item among media planners. Either you love it or you hate it. The big reason for avoiding it in the first place is that media planners don't like portions of the budget hanging out there unallocated. If and when the client reviews the budget, looking for dollars to cut, there's a chunk of money unallocated that's very easy for the client to use to fund something else.

It's a legitimate concern, but it makes me wonder whose interests are really at the core of the issue. Personally, I like opportunistic media funds. When I'm planning for three months or more and the client is spending a reasonable amount of money, it's good to place some money aside to pay for future opportunities.

When you think about the number of telephone calls and e-mails you get from sales reps on a daily basis, you begin to remember how many opportunities come up during the course of just a month or two. Odds are that at least some of these will be able to compete with what you already have on the plan for the quarter. Not all opportunities emerge conveniently during your planning cycle. Having some extra money around will help you capitalize on those opportunities.

Sometimes other advertisers back out of commitments, releasing a valuable ad placement or sponsorship back into the marketplace. Other times, content sites might debut a new editorial section or a new Web site entirely. If you're not in the habit of keeping an opportunistic media fund, think about the number of opportunities you've had to pass up recently because every dollar of your client's money was allocated to something else.

Having such a fund also can serve an important function in that it allows new media vendors to earn spots on your media plans. When a new vendor presents himself, you're in the position to tell him that you have special funds earmarked for new opportunities, and what dynamite proposal would he be able to put together for a small commitment that could earn a regular spot on the quarterly plan if it does well?

Yes, it's a risk. When clients have to cut their budgets across the board, the first thing to go is the opportunistic media fund, which means paid media could take a harder hit, percentage-wise, than other line items on the marketing plan. But the alternative is having to pass up many or all of those great opportunities that come up from time to time. I'd prefer to be able to fund the most compelling of these, rather than kick myself until the next planning cycle.