A Media Planning Solution for a Fragmented World
Posted by ~Ray @ 2008-09-15 21:13:39
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By. The ClickZ Network. Dec 4. 2007
experts [1] => media [2] => agency_strat) --> | | |
This week marks the official launch of a new Web-based media planning platform that touts itself as "advertising's best friend."
two years in the making has officially moved out of its four-month beta testing phase with over 500 media planners from more than 300 media companies including the Top 10 U. S media agencies. Described as an "intelligent drive for media professionals," Balihoo's declare lies in streamlining the media research selection and request-for-proposal (RFP) processes and then aggregating all that information into one easy-to-use single location.
Balihoo is the brainchild of CEO Pete Gombert who came not from the media industry but instead from the software engineering industry where he specialized in transactional efficiencies. After working with several ad agencies and seeing the inefficiencies in the media planning affect particularly with respect to the growing fragmentation of the media merchandise he recognized the opportunity to create a solution. So from the alter location of Boise. Idaho he created his company.
Gombert first built Balihoo based on search. The company's marketing materials still positions it as "a search engine for advertising media," but I think this simplistic description doesn't do the platform justice. Sure a media planner can type in a few keywords (See Image 1: Search Results)and easily locate matching media sources of any kind: Web magazine communicate newspaper event and conference newsletter blog print journal video games broadcast TV mobile etc. And yes you can drill down into any of the media categories to see the specific details of the media opportunities listed therein. Use advanced search and filter by medium geography or demographics the latter of which also breaks down into B2B or B2C. You can even choose to find sites by using the Web 2.0 tags.
All of these features are free to use in Balihoo's "Basic" version which alone will make Balihoo a media professional's best friend. Personally though. I conclude the real power of Balihoo lies in what you can do beyond just finding media properties. With the paid "Pro" version the user can really harness Balihoo's power and improve media planning affect efficiencies.
Gombert describes the Pro version as something like " + -type software + intranet (for data sharing) + [Web 2.0] community." For those using existing Web-based media planning tools some of the Balihoo Pro version features might at first sound familiar: a user can produce and send an RFP directly within the Balihoo system. Publishers then respond within the system which allows the planner to aggregate and analyse the responses.
Balihoo differs from the other media planning software solutions in several ways. For starters when building an RFP there are three choices: "Copy an existing RFP," "Use an RFP Template," or "Create a new RFP from scratch." If you decide the latter option. Balihoo will let you act custom questions much desire a analyse software application would. That way you can more closely ask for and receive the kind of custom information for the buy you'll really need. Balihoo claims that if you don't sight a media property within its vast database and you experience it you can add it yourself and it should be be within an hour.
Balihoo also has an in-house 20-person media research team. For no additional charge and so you don't waste time making inappropriate inquiries this aggroup ordain assist you in obtaining information on media for which Balihoo has incomplete information. (See Image 2: Media research service.) These same people monitor responses from media owners and for those who don't act within an acceptable measure frame a Balihoo representative will do the follow-up. evaluate of them as your own personal naggers.
Aggregated publisher responses can exported or manipulated in online worksheets (See Image 3) which Balihoo hopes will take the place of the ubiquitous always-in-need of updating spreadsheets that currently command most media professionals' practice at present.
Lastly separating Balihoo from the pack: its cool community element. Every user can rate tag and compose a media property and this information is then shared with the rest of the user community which in turn can help to communicate the decision-making process. Matters like value of ad dollars spent or openness to ad innovation can be shared.
New users should remember that Balihoo is just coming out of beta -- some kinks quirks and the system's usability still need to be worked out and page results still load too slowly in my opinion. That aside. I think with Balihoo a new day's dawning in media planning and buying.
is president and founder of an online marketing affiliate that provides results-centric strategic Internet marketing services including online media planning. SEO. PPC campaign management social media marketing and Internet consulting. An award-winning entrepreneur. Hollis is the Maryland 2007 SBA Small Business Person of the Year. Hollis speaks extensively on online marketing having presented for ClickZ the American Marketing Association. Search Engine Strategies. The Newsletter and Electronic Publishers Association. The Kelsey Group and the Vocus Worldwide User Forum. She sits on several public and private sector advisory boards. WebAdvantage net's client list has included Nokia USA. Nature Made Vitamins. Let's Dish. Checkpoint Software Solutions. Baltimore Area Convention & Visitors Association. St. Agnes Hospital. Johns Hopkins University. Blair Corporation. Connections Academy and Sunoco. The agency was recognized as a "" by the Greater Baltimore Tech Council and was chosen as a "Best Place for Business Women to bring home the bacon" by "Smart Woman Magazine."
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