Media Planning is not just about creating a Campaign Strategy but also about executing it effectively. With the advancement in Ad Tech and Social Media Marketing, Advertising has become more complex than ever before. This is where Flighting comes to play, a methodical approach that allows advertisers to optimize their ad placement and timing for maximum impact.
Flighting is a media scheduling strategy where advertisers place ads in bursts or waves with gaps in between. These gaps are known as "hiatus" periods during which no ads are broadcasted or published. The objective of this strategy is to ensure optimal reach and frequency while minimizing advertising costs.
Flighting works best for products or services that have seasonal spikes or inconsistent demand throughout the year. It's also helpful when promoting time-sensitive events such as product launches, sales promotions or holidays.
To set up a Flighting schedule, you need to start with determining your campaign goals, target audience and budget allocation. Once you have that settled, divide your campaign into smaller bursts of activity (flights) followed by rest periods (hiatus). During this break period, adjust your targeting based on user data and other analytics collected during the previous flight.
Some popular examples of successful Flighting campaigns include Nike's "Dream Crazy" campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, Apple's iPhone X launch, Netflix's Stranger Things season 2 premiere and Coca-Cola's Share-A-Coke campaign.
Measuring the effectiveness of your flights can be done using key metrics such as impressions count; clicks-through rates; conversion rates; return on advertising spend etc.
