Launched in October 2008 we are one of the youngest, brightest media buying and planning agencies in the UK

Our vision

Our vision is to bring the world of brand and response together, unifying hard numbers to brands and brand to hard numbers – we call it Brand Response

Our process

Our process is solely about You

The plan we give you is yours and yours alone
The buying strategy we employ saves you and no one else the most money
It’s about insightful dashboards not excel results sheets with no commentary
Plain simple common sense approaches, not media speak

Our mission

Our mission has always been to be to end lazy ‘one size fits all’ media planning and laissez faire buying

From grand media strategy to fine tactical deployment we apply the same rigour and care – for us every client is a signature
Our aim is to buy better than anyone by actually negotiating everything we buy and ensure all our clients know what they are buying and why

Being young, innovative and digital are at our core.

It was our starting point – not a ‘bolt on’ It is deeper than just our leading edge paid search – is about digital as a business driver.

This unique ability allows us to optimise across all online and offline media.

If you are looking for a new way, drop us an email, like us on Facebook, follow us on twitter, call us or pop in and say hello

29
Apr

Author
Spencer Stratford

Category
Uncategorized

Valuing Facebook fans – Media Buying

Part of the Opticomm ethos is to deliver hard numbers to soft measures. As such we were intrigued to see recent press around ‘Value of a Facebook fan rises to an average of $174’. The basis for the story has come from a report written by Hotspex. Hotspex is a market research company that claims to deliver provocative market research enabling their clients to make informed and inspired decisions. Whilst we would certainly agree with the provocative approach we are not so sure with the latter claim. Our main issue with the report is the valuation model used; the model used was on Syncapse’s. How they derive the valuation is not clear but it is claimed to take into account product spending, brand loyalty, propensity to recommend, media value, cost of acquisition and brand affinity. Whilst there can be a definitive on some of these variables some are entirely subjective and therefore without the detail of how the report becomes at best thin and most likely an attempt to create something rather than an attempt at valuation.

It hasn’t changed our view which puts the valuation of a like at that of just over warm data, higher because of the viral opportunity and lower cost of communication. However even this must be tempered as often over communication can lead to wall papering where value is driven out.

Nice try guys but think again.

12
Apr

Author
Spencer Stratford

Category
Uncategorized

Opticomm win talkSPORT quiz…

Opticomm’s team of sport trvia experts secured victory in last nights talkSPORT quiz.

Winning the team name competition with ‘Maggie’s Thatch’, and then the overall quiz itself, the prize was a golf break for two each! Having seen some of the team’s golf skills at Urban Golf for last years Xmas party we don’t see anyone being allowed past the first tee…

Thanks to Micky Quinn the host with the most (innapropriate and un PC jokes)

Well done Opticommers!

Micky and the boys celebrate

02
Apr

Author
Spencer Stratford

Category
Media Buying

Media Buying – NRS 2012 review

The latest figures show how much national press brands have moved on from the days when everyone looked purely at monthly ABC’s. Content is king and there is rightly an increased focus on news brand touchpoints – meaning you have to look what the reach is for both print and digital platforms to understand what is really happening.

And it is an interesting picture – the rise of the Mail (both Daily and Sunday) is overwhelming. Whilst all print circulations have declined over the last 10 years they probably had the shallowest fall – but it is their online domination that comes as perhaps the biggest surprise. The monthly reach just on the Daily Mail and Mail Online stands at over 20 million – The Sun, for years the behemoth in the print world and an early leader in online with its strong gaming and football content, lags 2.4 million a month behind (that is near enough the entire circulation was in its print heyday).

Beyond the picture in quality press is most interesting as titles with smaller print circulations , for years the poor relations now have the greatest reach; the Guardian achieves 12.8million, whilst the Telegraph has achieved good online growth considering its audience brand heritage. It is the Times/Sunday Times which really suffers – strongest in print, it is by far the weakest in online reach moving it into last place amongst all the quality press – even the Independent.

Whilst you don’t buy the digital component from an advertising perspective in the same way you do the print, its importance can’t be over stated. The pay wall argument may make some short term sense on a P&L but looking into the next medium term, can a weak online presence really be sustained by declining print market? Whether the media planners and buyers use one part of their portfolio or another, or cross platform partnerships with titles as we have used recently, will we see some of the regulars on schedules diminish in their importance?

Surely some model of looking at both would be a good idea rather than reliance on just one?

07
Feb

Author
Spencer Stratford

Category
Media Buying Uncategorized

Media Buying – Digital is dead.

Digital is dead
In today’s world, media agency planning and buying units should be media agnostic.. and develop integrated campaigns that work using all media and mechanic across media whether it is being planned and bought by them or it is part of the whole media universe used by the client.

But that also means that the teams need deep expertise and broad knowledge. Very few campaigns sit in a silo – even at the lowest spend levels. Very few campaigns will succeed unless they find the audience at the right time, in the right place and at the right level
of engagement. Digital channels and approaches are an integral part of achieving this, but a ‘part’ – not the whole.

There was an article only last night in the Evening Standard in which a digital guru was saying ‘everyone knows old media is broken…’ I didn’t know – and I do it for a living! Is it? Why hadn’t I heard of him or his website until I saw it in the Standard?

Isn’t it about how to be open to all media and use them together?

We think so.

30
Jan

Author
Spencer Stratford

Category
Blog Media Buying

Media Buying in Quality press – a doomed future?

“The great thing about the future of the media is that it changes every five minutes” Raymond Snoddy said last week. The demise of print newspapers is certain surely.

The qualities will be the first – apparently because their audience were the early adopters of internet and tablets.

The issues for us as media buyers is that the Guardian, Independent et al were great places for finding particular audiences. Sure we can buy them in the new channels, but not for long – something will have to give.

Online readers do not generate the cash required to support the editorial. If you can only serve a couple of ads per page and readers only look a four to five pages per read, then the cost per thousand needs to go up by at least 750% to maintain the revenue for the media owner.

Now we know what most media buyers would do if their rep asked them for £100 per thousand…

The future of media will not feature as much choice and diversity for media buyers. The demise of print versions is merely a milestone in the demise of many titles.

18
Jan

Author
Spencer Stratford

Category
General

Is TV viewing the new radio?

Has the way we watch TV changed? BARB tells us that viewing levels haven’t really changed in 40 years but we have always known that the TV being on doesn’t mean that we are watching. Remember the National Press Association ads of twenty years ago showing an intertwined couple on the sofa and asking if you really thought they had seen your ad.

But we are going through long term changes that mean we ought to think differently about how we plan and buy television. Two clear trends are the rise of media stacking, which has been widely written about elsewhere, and the rise of the lonely viewer.

The opportunities of media stacking are huge. We plan and buy media to deliver messages across channels and now we have an audience always ready and near to respond. It once was difficult to break inertia – to go to their spare room and log on to the web or wait until they got to work the next day, or to have to pick up the phone and talk to someone. Now we have the internet in their palm all the time… And they are already online…

The majority of viewing is now alone. Increasing numbers of people are single occupancy and the numbers of screens in multiple occupancy homes often exceeds the number of people living there. Video viewing on PC and other devices is typically a solitary affair. Whilst VoD is usually sought out and watched, a lot of viewers are using TV as a grazing, tune in and tune out medium – left on – like radio.

When media buying goes wrong

The impact of the spat between Group M and Channel 4, where the WPP agencies are not using the Channel4 and UKTV portfolio, is causing significant volatility in the media buying market. Is it worth the hassle for WPPs clients – I doubt it for those spending less than £10m or so.

ITV have unsurprisingly started raising its prices to make the most of the situation, whereas Channel4 have been forced to lower theirs – so reducing their yield more than the 40% or so of media they have lost from WPP.

Will this shift trading positions in the long term? I can’t see how a return to normality before Q2 as stuff works through. If ITV have a bad time on audience delivery it could get interesting!

The great thing about planning and buying to specific campaigns rather than fitting your client to a deal you already have means that you get the airtime that is right for you, not the airtime that we have bought.

Which then begs the question – is it good for WPPs clients? I guess it depends on whether they care too much about the audience they deliver. If it is about volume only then maybe not, but for many advertisers Channel4 and UKTV delivers good audience that are hard to reach. When we plan we get down to specific placement around programming and Channel4, More 4, Gold and Dave usually feature in the list of programmes we want to be around – whether that is media buying for charities or retailers

As we so often point out – 10% discount in 100% the wrong media is 100% wastage…