Hamish Pringle and Jim Marshall Kogan Page, 2011; £26.39 (from Amazon); 316pp. ISBN: 978-0-7494-6305-2 (Paperback)

If anyone is qualified to write a book with this title, these two gentlemen are.

Hamish Pringle was until recently the Director General of the IPA (Institute Of Practitioners in Advertising) in the UK.

Jim Marshall is the Chief Client Officer at Aegis Media and is ex-Media Director at Young and Rubicam, with a 35-year track record working in media at top agencies.

So what have these two media experts produced for us?

As a non-media specialist, I must admit that I approached doing his review (and in particular reading this book) with some trepidation. I need not have worried. I’m pleased to be able to report that this book is extremely easy to read. It is largely free of media-specific jargon. Terms are explained as they are introduced. Moreover, the book contains much insightful analysis of the current media scene and some thought-provoking ideas about where it's going. It contains many photographs (most taken by Hamish Pringle) and even some cartoons (as is explained, they are intended to ‘lighten up’ the chapter on Media Strategy).

The title is a homage to the classic ‘Spending Advertising Money’ written by Simon Broadbent in 1970. This new book seeks, among other objectives, to update that work for the digital age (which means now, in case you were wondering).

At the core of the book is the concept of the ‘media flow’, the stream of advertising or marketing communications (above the line, below the line, online+++), which we all live alongside and sometimes ‘within’ (!). Media today is compared with a fast-flowing river. All our lives are intertwined with media; the media flow is increasingly hard to avoid and at its best tailored to match our wants and needs.

According to Accenture, each of us is exposed to some 1,009 advertising messages daily. (Yes, one does question how they arrive at this exact number: the book offers a breakdown in the Appendix). In any case, we can probably all agree that the total number of advertising messages we are each exposed to each day is: a lot. Thus (the authors explain), today's media planners need to put their client's brand ‘into the flow’ in such a way that it engages the maximum number of the right consumers in the most effective manner. (Hey: no one said it would be easy!). The familiar model of bought, owned and now ‘earned’ media is employed. The way in which this model interacts with the media and ‘life flows’ of the target consumers (and businesses) is interestingly examined.

Historically (ie in the heyday of Mass Media — think Mad Men), Media Planners used to put their client's brand in front of consumers using awareness advertising, often at a time when the consumer wasn’t particularly in the market to buy; to ‘soften them up’ until the purchase window arrived. Cost considerations meant that this was sporadic and couldn’t be accurately controlled, a blunt and expensive instrument. The viewer/reader/consumer was typically ‘ambushed’ by the creative work (as it crossed their path) and seduced into paying attention, often for emotional reasons and against their rational instincts, or so stunned by the creative idea/execution that the ad was impossible to ignore … (one is reminded of the story about advertising from London Creative Director Dave Trott being ‘like a brick thrown through the consumer's window with the client's name wrapped round it’). The authors argue that today, however, the digital media flow can be present at all points in the purchase funnel rather than only at key stages; for example, a pay per click ad, triggered by a long-tail search term, taking the user to an information-rich product page, or an email newsletter linked to a blog (establishing authority and ideally ‘thought leadership’) targeted at prospective customers of a B2B brand and followed up by high-quality direct mail to the same individual. And of course it is Technology that is driving this new, increasingly 1–1, cost-effective media flow in which each of us finds ourselves immersed, assuming the media and techie guys are indeed getting it right.

The authors have the advantage of access to two valuable and relevant resources:

  • The IPA Touchpoints research, and

  • The IPA Effectiveness Awards databank.

Both are drawn on extensively and add a welcome practical element alongside the more theoretical content.

The authors also refer to research from Nielsen and Millward Brown.

A few gripes. We really don’t talk about ‘PDAs’ anymore (Psion Organiser II anyone? Mind you, I do miss my Compaq iPAQ with its stylish stylus). For this reader, there is, in places, an undue emphasis on ‘Meejah’ at the expense both of creativity/emotional engagement and of technical excellence in execution (ie functionality, information architecture and overall user experience). The book could really have benefitted from some colour pictures, not least to illustrate the ‘media flow’ itself (I recognize that I should take this up with the publishers rather than the authors). The digital element feels at times like a ‘bolt-on’, as if much of this book could have been written 10 years ago by these two distinguished ‘off-line’ media gurus; for example, in PART FOUR, ‘Online’ is allocated fewer pages than ‘Local Newspapers’ and ‘Sponsorship’, and email is lumped together with direct mail. I’m personally not convinced that we need another media planning acronym, viz.: FAIPA (standing for Fame, Advocacy, Information, Price and Availability). There is also an (perhaps understandable) emphasis on the agency perspective (rather than brand owner or media owner).

But these are minor issues. Overall, this is a very interesting book; the reader comes away with an impression of authority: of logical analysis based on long and ‘granular’ experience: these guys genuinely know their stuff. I found it both readable and stimulating.

Specifically, several highly topical issues are explored here; for example, perhaps ‘Digital’ Marketing is really just ‘direct’ marketing with better technology than was available in the 80s and early 90s. Maybe the ‘media flow’ will, in time, become truly bespoke to each of us as individuals; arguably, the role of the Media Strategist is becoming increasingly central in piloting (ie navigating) the client's brand through the media flow.

I enjoyed PART FOUR (Chapters 12–24) consisting of ‘Elevator Pitches’ on behalf of the various individual disciplines (cinema, magazines, PR, Radio etc), written by an array of Expert Contributors. Each is shamelessly partisan and all the better for that(!).

PART FIVE (Chapters 25–28) dares to look ahead to the ‘multi-media future’ and makes some interesting observations about the likely future shape of media channels, media owners and media agencies.

In conclusion: this book tackles many issues currently facing media specialists, their agency colleagues and their clients, arguing convincingly that today's media mix is more complex and fragmented than ever before and that consequently finding that the optimum path through the ‘media flow’ is not only increasingly challenging but also absolutely necessary for marketing and indeed business success.

I recommend it to all marketers who are serious about planning and buying media in today's complex and fast-changing marketing landscape.