Media planning & buying

Don’t start with the media.Start with what needs to change.

AdIQ turns objectives, audience evidence and experience into media plans with a clear reason behind every channel, schedule and pound invested.

Discuss a media plan See the approach

Before anything is bought

Five decisions.
In the right order.

Planning is not selecting media from a menu. It is working backwards from the change the campaign needs to create, then deciding where enough meaningful contact can be bought within the available budget.

01Outcome

02Audience

03Channel

04Timing

05Measurement

Planning with consequences

Value is an outcome.
Not simply a discount.

Strong buying matters, but the cheapest media can still be expensive if it reaches the wrong people or appears at the wrong time. AdIQ connects negotiated value to what the campaign is actually there to achieve.

£2,250Approximate campaign media cost per approved foster carer

Fostering in Somerset

A carefully planned, TV-led campaign connected creative, channel choice and scheduling to the outcome that mattered: approved foster carers.

For context, the Competition and Markets Authority estimated that the wider recruitment and assessment process can involve around £10,000 of expense per carer.

View the CMA report →

The figures are not directly equivalent: AdIQ’s figure represents campaign media expenditure, while the CMA estimate includes marketing and assessment.

Well belowMedia-owner base rate

Outdoor buying value

On a recent out-of-home plan, AdIQ negotiated rates well below the media owner’s base rate—allowing more of the available budget to reach the audience.

How the budget lives

Burst, pulse,
phase or continue.

There is no universally superior schedule. The right pattern depends on the objective, buying cycle, seasonality, audience, competitive activity and how much budget is available to create a noticeable presence.

01 / BURST

Concentrated impact

Focus the available weight around a launch, event, seasonal opportunity or period of greatest demand.

02 / PULSING

Presence with peaks

Maintain a level of visibility while increasing campaign weight at strategically important moments.

03 / PHASED

Plan, learn, adapt

Structure longer activity into defined periods so each phase can inform the next without losing continuity.

04 / ALWAYS-ON

Ready when demand appears

Stay visible when potential customers enter the market continually rather than during one predictable window.

Independent judgement

The most valuable recommendation may be what not to buy.

A channel does not become right simply because it is available, fashionable or easy to measure.

AdIQ reads the data, understands the audience and compares what different channels can realistically contribute. Experience adds the context that a planning tool cannot: when the evidence is meaningful, when it is misleading and when a proposal simply does not justify the spend.

01Will it reach enough of the people who can create the outcome?

02Can the budget buy sufficient weight to make the channel useful?

03Does the environment suit the message and creative?

04Would another channel do the job more efficiently?

The buying discipline

Interrogate first.
Recommend second.

Media-owner proposals are the beginning of the conversation—not the finished plan.

Brief the market

Give media owners a clear audience, geography, objective, timing and budget so proposals answer the same planning problem.

Compare real value

Look beyond headline discounts to coverage, reach, frequency, placement quality, wastage and the conditions attached to the offer.

Pressure-test schedules

Discuss proposals with scheduling teams before they reach the client, resolving questions and improving the plan while there is still room to change it.

Negotiate

Use long-standing industry relationships and market knowledge to pursue competitive rates, appropriate placements and useful added value.

Coordinate delivery

Manage bookings, deadlines, specifications, creative delivery and the practical detail required to get the campaign into the world.

Review the outcome

Evaluate what the campaign delivered and retain enough flexibility, where appropriate, to respond to changing priorities, availability and performance.

26Years in advertising and media

Data, interpreted

Experience is knowing what the numbers mean.

AdIQ combines specialist television knowledge with practical planning across video, audio, outdoor, print and digital. Audience data provides the evidence; years of buying and campaign experience provide the judgement needed to use it well.

Put that experience to work →

Start with the outcome

What needs to change?

Tell us what the campaign needs to achieve, who matters and what budget is available. AdIQ can develop the media strategy, challenge the options and manage the buying process.

hello@adiq.co.uk →