Despite continued technological innovations aimed to support rapid growth within media advertising, the vast majority (85%) of brand and agency marketers use Excel or Google Sheets to manage media planning. That’s according to findings of a new survey released today by Guideline, which polled 250 brand and agency marketers across various verticals.
“The results of this survey underpin the eminent need for enhanced media planning technology in order to inform and optimize billions in advertising investments – and with 65% of marketers planning to increase spend in 2025, multi-channel advertising is at a critical inflection point when it comes to the way media is planned and purchased,” said Scott Knoll, Founder and CEO at Guideline.
The survey, conducted in April 2024, also revealed:
- Marketers depend on several data sources to inform their media planning. 54% of brand and agency marketers utilize 3-5 data sources to inform their planning, while 20% use 1-2, and nearly 18% utilize 6-9.
- There is a disconnect between insights and optimization. While 28% of respondents indicated they receive data daily to help optimize ad spend throughout the year, many marketers still optimize plans on a monthly basis. In fact, nearly 26% (25.7%) stated they alter and/or optimize ad spend allocation monthly – with just over 12% (12.4%) optimizing daily. This disconnect creates a lag in optimal allocation.
- Planned ad spend depends on more than previous investments. When deciding where to allocate ad spend while making yearly plans, over 48% indicated they base their decisions on channel or medium successes from the previous year; nearly 31% indicated “based largely on spend allocations from the previous year;” and nearly 21% indicated “based on conversations in-market.” While the planning process has historically remained an annual occurrence, today’s media landscape requires a more frequent cadence when it comes to the optimization of planned investments.
In conjunction with the release of these findings, Guideline announced today the launch of Guideline Planning, a centralized planning management solution that allows advertiser and agency clients to plan, allocate, visualize, analyze, and optimize their media plans – delivering unprecedented insight to ensure maximized investment outcomes.
With insight into both sides of the media investment process, marketers and agencies now have a holistic view across all facets of the planning process in one, centralized platform. Guideline Planning offers over 20 API integrations for marketers to automate campaign insights and reporting, while monitoring campaign progress and performance to create optimal efficiency.
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