Advertising media scheduling

In advertising media planning, scheduling refers to the pattern in which advertising is timed. It is represented as plots on a yearly flowchart that indicates the pattern of times advertising should appear so that it coincides with the most favorable selling periods. The classic scheduling models are "Continuity", "Flighting" and "Pulsing".

Continuity

Primarily for non-seasonal products, advertising runs steadily and varies little over the campaign period. There may be short gaps at regular intervals when no advertising is done. For instance, one ad every week for 52 weeks. This pattern of advertising is prevalent in service and packaged goods that require continuous reinforcement on the audience for top of mind recollection at point of purchase.

Advantages:
*Works as a reminder
*Covers the entire purchase cycle
*Cost efficiencies in the form of large media discounts
*Positioning advantages within media

Flighting (or ‘bursting’)

Commonly employed in media scheduling for the seasonal product categories, flighting strategy involves intermittent and irregular periods of advertising alternating with shorter periods of no advertising at all. For instance, all of 2000 Target Rating Points may be delivered in a single month, ‘going dark’ for the rest of the year. Halloween costumes are rarely purchased all year except during the months of September and October.

Advantages:
*Advertisers buy much heavier weight than competitors for a relatively shorter period of time
*Little waste since advertising is concentrated during the best purchasing cycle period
*Series of commercials appear as a unified campaign on different media vehicles

Pulsing

Pulsing strategy combines flighting and continuous scheduling by using a low level of advertising all year round with provision for heavy advertising during peak selling periods. Product categories that are sold year round but experience a surge in sales at intermittent periods are good examples. For instance, deodorant sprays are sold heavily during the summer months.

Advantages:
*Covers different market situations
*All the advantages of continuity and flighting are possible

References

Sissors, Jack Zanville, and Roger B. Baron. Advertising Media Planning. 6th ed. McGraw-Hill, 2002.