• by February 13, 2004

ORLANDO, FL-The art and science of media buying and planning is in a renaissance of sorts. There have never been more options for creatively approaching a marketer's media challenges. There have never been more levers available to integrate media - TV, online, print, radio, outdoor, events, public relations, branded content integration and sponsorship, to name a few.

Sure, there's media fragmentation, rabid concern over developing measurement standards, and having adequate tools to track dollar-for-dollar, the return on investment. And the pressure is on to measure ROI - that was clear from the presentations I heard at the American Association of Advertising Agencies' Media Conference. Notwithstanding, there's still never been a better time to be a media person.

Where else can someone confront the daily business challenge of striving to meet and exceed a marketer's expectation of making contact with consumers? Where else can someone explore how different channels that deliver media exposures reinforce, and impact various forms of media? How do those combinations work? What is their effect? Online media professionals ought to feel energized by this renaissance and can be a great resource, a valuable resource, in fact, to their offline cohorts.

The broadband pipe is another reason - the opportunity to develop genuinely creative approaches to media using this pipe is another reason to get out of bed in the morning and face the challenge anew each day.