Tim Jones, Senior Media Director, Blue Plate Media Services, provides guest commentary on how toymakers can best reach their target audience amid changing media consumption habits in this extended edition of The Toy Book’s 2023 State of the Industry Q&A roundtable. Want more insight from the all-stars of the toy industry? Click here to explore this year’s lineup!
As media consumption habits change, how can toymakers best reach their target audience?
The kids’ media landscape is going through the largest disruption in media usage and media inventory we have ever seen. Kid-targeted linear TV ratings and household penetration have fallen to levels that no longer make it the first choice for advertising campaigns. Kids regularly utilize at least three devices to access their favorite content and games. There are a wide variety of digital opportunities available for advertising — new ones every day — and how we invest in this space matters now more than ever. Media plans that reach kids and their families must replace the lost reach and presence of Linear TV.
The primary questions to answer:
- What is the role of Linear TV? What is the role of digital?
- What is the right mix of media?
- What digital and linear partners will help me maximize my media spend? Who should I avoid?
- What tactics work? What tactics should I steer away from?
At Blue Plate Media Services (BPMS), we have the answers to these questions.
What makes the most sense for the media plans of today and tomorrow? Rapid media fragmentation has created an environment in which deep media planning has never been more valuable to advertisers. It can’t just be about cost or the latest fad on TikTok; media planning should be based on your sell-in, distribution, and business objectives/strategies. Media strategies and tactics should be built to deliver against these goals. Target audience media usage and engagement are far more important factors in the media decision-making process than any single media outlet.
The magic is in the media mix. Where you deploy your brand messaging matters. The more media types, the better because of reach and efficiency considerations, and also because of the probability that receiving a message from diverse sources leads to better message retention.
But you can’t invest in everything or stretch your media dollars too thin. Are your current plans reaching kids and parents in the right places? Are you maximizing reach and impression shares against your most valuable audiences in a given channel? Is frequency at least in the ballpark you would expect it to be in, or are you hammering incessantly, and needlessly, at a frequency of 30? You don’t want to drive excessive frequency in exchange for lost reach. There must be a smart balance between reach and frequency. Media is math.
Media planning has become complex. It’s less about the buy and more about the plan that drives it. Digital media placements differ vastly in their quality and potential impact. The landscape has changed and BPMS has built tools and assembled a go-to-market strategy to navigate this new and ever-changing landscape. It’s not enough to just add more budget to YouTube. The dollars you invest here are dollars pulled from there. The risk of not getting it right is too high to invest loosely across platforms or to turn your digital over to an aggregator, which might be the easy route, but your campaign may fall short on delivery. An effective media mix must deliver on reach and quantify the available reach from linear and digital options, which is a philosophy BPMS has adhered to for decades. BPMS utilizes audience research and our custom-built suite of tools to select the right mix of Linear, CTV, Digital, gaming, influencer, and paid social channels. The optimal media mix must reach the right audience and maximize reach potential.
In today’s fast-moving consumer retail markets, you don’t often get a second chance to get it right. Your media mix matters. Plan your buy — and buy your plan.
A version of this Q&A was originally published in the 2023 edition of The BIG Toy Book. Click here to read the full issue! Want to receive The Toy Book in print? Click here for subscription options!