NEW YORK, April 6, 2010 - RJ Palmer unveils its new branded entertainment division. CEO, Peter Knobloch announced today that RJ Palmer is bringing a bit of Hollywood to New York City's advertising community. Serving as Vice President, Director of RJ Palmer Entertainment Media is

President, Jim Vail says, "Given the continuous need to break through media clutter and make a larger impact, RJ Palmer Entertainment Media will work seamlessly with buying and planning groups to enhance client messaging. Our entertainment division will cross agency borders to work with other agencies' clients on content development, brand integration and program extensions".  Ms. Page says, "Branded entertainment has matured to recognize not only blockbuster integrations but also scaled-down messaging in all media forms locally and nationally.  Now all advertisers can benefit from our expertise, strategic tools and alliances".

RJ Palmer Entertainment Media will follow the principle that brands at various stages and growth can follow basic guidelines to create effective integrations with goal-based strategy development, organic content choices and targeted consumer extensions.

Stewardship is the only way to make a good media buy great. Negotiating low CPMs and securing great placements are keys to marketing success. But, in a way, that is all theoretical.  Buy maintenance ties the negotiated proposal to the practical reality. It holds your suppliers' feet to the fire, forcing them to deliver what they promised in the desired time and manner.  

The stewardship process begins even before the buy starts. It is not uncommon for available inventory to contract between the time the buy is finished and approved. It is up to the media buyer to make sure that the tenure of the buy does not change even if the inventory does. Replacing a specific placement with ROS damages the buy. It is better to spend less money on a site but get exactly what your client needs. Salespeople will push back citing minimum budget requirements. This is not to disparage them, rather they lack a macro perspective of the larger media buy. If the most important inventory is no longer available, perhaps that publisher's buy should be called into question. Buyers need to review Insertion Order changes with an eye for detail.  

Media buys rely on even keeled delivery. Constantly monitor for slumps or spikes in impression volume. Let's be honest, large sites don't treat all media buys the same. Larger buys are given somewhat more attention. Last year my ads on a major portal's Green page were pre-empted by a car manufacturer. Looking at the daily TPAS data I discovered this before my sales rep. The portal's plan was to make up the inventory in the last month of the flight. Conversely a very small site experienced a traffic surge and served my entire campaign in the first week. They were kind enough to serve make goods. CPGs don't want their impressions bunched up, they have product to sell all month. Work with your sales reps to monitor the ad delivery.

As you optimize, it is important to distinguish between effective and efficient clicks. Some placements earn high CTRs but the CPC remains too high. The reverse can be true also. Unfortunately, many CPG brand sites don't actually sell anything - which clouds the click to conversion issue. Still there are on site data points that can be tracked. Decide early on which metric is the priority and optimize towards that end.  For a brand building effort, the CPC may be less important than associating with specific content. Alternately, coupon distribution to stimulate trial may be a secondary, more measurable goal. Understand your client's goals from the outset and optimize accordingly.

Harnessing the power of your TPAS is the key to successful stewardship. This is the most technically challenging aspect of a media buyer's job. Become adept at understanding the ad server and, especially pulling reports.  Buy maintenance can be eye straining, but only through exacting detail can a good buy become great.