Jillian: Krista, you know when you're not sure about something and then you're too embarrassed to ask because too much time has passed and you hope just no one ever says anything to you about it?
Krista: Yeah, that happens.
Jillian: Okay, well, what is a media director?
Krista: Oh, okay well, media directors manage the selection and purchase of advertising space, whether that be print, broadcast, digital, or TV. They use statistical analysis of each media outlet to determine the most cost effective way of reaching their target audience.
Jillian: Well then, this is gonna be a fun episode.
Krista: Well, in all seriousness, a media director's role is really important. They research a brand's target audience. They negotiate and buy ad space for campaigns and continuously optimize and evaluate media performance.
Jillian: With more and more people joining this profession, sometimes it's hard to tell the hacks with little to no experience from the media veterans with real credentials.
Jess: Hey, how's that third quarter report coming?
Frank: Mallory's not here.
Krista: So how exactly can you tell if you're dealing with a media veteran or just a hack?
Jillian: For one, your media expert should be able to confidently communicate how their strategy aligns with industry wide best practices. There's more to analyze than meets the eye. There should be some level of explanation of the process, the media variables, and the incorrect assumptions that are often made.
Krista: They should also be able to provide you with expected outcomes for your media plan, and we're talking more than just simple timelines and budgets. An expert media director should have estimating tools to provide you with the benchmarks you can expect based on that budget.
Jillian: Things change, which is why they should keep you updated if they edit things for optimization. Obviously they won't be able to give you a full explanation of every little change and why it happened, but the big things should be explained and reported on.
Grace D.: Speaking of reports, sources say Ryan Gosling was spotted at the local Chipotle this afternoon. People flocked to the location in droves to see for themselves. Reporting live from the kitchen is Grace. Grace, what's the sitch?
Grace G.: Thank you Grace. I'm here with Amherst local Dave Siefert, who claims he saw Gosling with his own eyes. Dave, can you give us the dets?
Dammit Dave, you're never any help. Wait, if you're here, who's behind the camera?
Grace D.: Shut up you drunk witch. Oh my God. I can't believe you did that. Okay, yeah, talk soon. Love you too Grandma.
Speaker 7: Grace, Grace, we're not done yet.
Jillian: I love you Ryan.
Ryan: I love you too Jillian.
Jillian: Sorry, continue.
Krista: Since your media director represents your account, he or she should be monitoring it. A true media expert will verify that your creative is running at the right time, in the right place, at the agreed upon budget. If something didn't run correctly, they should be following up with the salesperson for some value added.
Jillian: Or a free pizza.
Krista: Well, that was weird.
Jillian: Yeah, I think we're finally hitting our stride.
Krista: Well that's great, but this is our final episode.
Jillian: Awe you're right, and to think of everything that went into this, countless hours of planning, rehearsal, production, honestly I don't know where this would be without the masterminds behind it all. So, we'd like to take a minute and give a shout out to the people that made this happen. The two of us.
Krista: I can't believe we did all of this ourselves.
Jillian: Yes. Keep it casual.
Episode 7 - You're Not A Media Director (Unless You Are)
Y'know when you're not sure but you're too embarrassed to ask about something and then way too much time passes and you just hope that nobody ever asks you about it? That's how we felt about media directors. Until we watched this episode.
Also, why's Frank wearing his wife's extensions? Your guess is as good as ours.