Media Planning
Assignment #1: Client Email
Assigned: Class Five
Email Due: Class Ten
ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW
The purpose of this assignment is to get you comfortable with making a recommendation to a
client/ You will do this in the form of an email to your client. Email business writing is an
important skill as it is the primary way you will communicate in your job.
This assignment will help you learn to:
● Analyze a target audience, and interpret the makeup of that audience.
● Research and analyze a media vehicle
● Write a cohesive piece of persuasive communication to convince your client to accept
your recommendation on places to reach that audience
In advertising, a recommendation is not a soliloquy on what you believe to be true. It is an
in-depth analysis of topic which results in an informed position by an expert(in this casem you).
Therefore, writing a recommendation requires a lot of research, the collection of data points that
proceeds hared evidence, and a thoughtful critique which will convince the client that your
position is one to which they should agree. In shor, this is a piece of persuasive communication
built on​ facts​.The most persuasive communication is concise and to the point, one of your
challenges will be to determine which facts are the most persuasive and state your case
succinctly.
ASSIGNMENT:
1. Your client for this assignment is Greenies pet food treats. https://www.greenies.com/​ .
Greenies is a line of treats that caters to people who are concerned about health and
nutrition. Since they consider their pet part of their family, they are concerned about
feeding their pet nutritious products. They have asked you to concentrate on their line of
dog treats and drive online sales of the treats.
2. The target audience for this assignment has been defined as dog owners who try to
maintain a healthy diet (for themselves) and treat their dogs like family. Below you are
provided with some basic demographic and media usage information on this audience.
* Remember the definition of a media vehicle: a specific television program, magazine, website
or social network.
3. Based on that information, select a media vehicle that you think will be an engaging place
for your message. Research that vehicle to understand/ prove it will:
a. Reach a substantial portion of your target audience (look at impressions or
GRPs)
b. Reach an audience that is of similar makeup to your target audience
(demographically or psychographically)
c. Provide a contextually relevant editorial environment whereby people will likely
be receptive to your message
4. Compose an email (between 500 and 750 words) that takes your case to your client. In
the email, introduce this person to your client. Imagine that you are introducing an actual
person. How old are they? Where do they live? Do they have a family? What motivates this
person? Based on this, explain why you are recommending the vehicle you have chosen
and explain how it is the best place to reach your target audience. The challenge here is to
be persuasive. Simply telling them that it will reach their target audience doesn’t make it the
right option, just an option/ finding a creative way to use the vehicle can be helpful. For
example/ you could say you are going to advertise on Downton Abbey and create vignettes
between Robert Crawley and his dog, Isis (note no only is Downton Abbey no longer on air,
PBS doesn’t accept general commercials so this example is purposely not viable).
a. You may want to use visuals to help tell your story
Be creative! Be colorful and descriptive when trying to sell the media vehicle.
For most of you this is probably the first time you’ve written an email in a business context,
below are some links to use as a guide:
a. https://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/EmailCommunication.htm
b. http://business.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-master-proper-businessemail-format
-and-avoid-professional-disaster--cms-26442
TIPS ON RESEARCHING MEDIA VEHICLES:
Be aware that researching a television vehicle (i.e. a TV show) will be the most challenging as
they tend to have the least amount of information available online. You may be able to find
some information on network’s websites (for example, ESPN provides limited information here:
http://espncms.com/tv/​ ) You can also find more detailed ratings information at
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/​ . Finally, h
​ ttp://www.hollywoodreporter.com/​ amd
http://variety.com/​ do a great job covering the television industry and often provide detailed
audience and rating information.
Magazines and websites tend to have the most complete open-sourced “media kits.” Media kit
is an industry term for the marketing materials publishers put together to sell their publication to
advertisers. To make the comparison to the available television information, take a look at the
online media kits for ESPN, the Magazine and espn.com:
https://espncms.com/pdf/magazine-qlu.html​ and
http://espnmediazone.com/us/mediakits/espn-digital-and-print-media/​ . The best way to access
these media kits is to simply Google “media vehicle’ media kit.”
Finally, if you want to recommend a social media network, Facebook provides you with the best
information via their Facebook Audience Insights
(​https://www.facebook.com/ads/audience-insights/people?act=32005115&age=18-&country=US
) This allows you to understand the size of your audience on Facebook given various criteria.