media planning

Marketers often think of their communication plan as three distinct types of media: Paid (buying ads), Owned (creating branded content), and Earned (social and word of mouth) Media.

This P.O.E.M. model can be a handy way to think about marketing. But in practice, there are increasingly blurred lines between Paid, Owned, and Earned Media. And marketers sometimes act as if there’s a captive audience waiting to receive their message.

Marketing is largely a battle for attention. Whether Paid, Owned, or Earned, most Media gets completely ignored. There’s never been a greater glut of Media and the audience is less captive than ever. Increasingly all attention has to be earned.

I saw an interesting presentation with Snapchat last week about the ways that brands are advertising on their platform. One of the things that struck me is their idea of measuring “play time” as an ad metric. On average, Snapchat users “play” with a Sponsored Lens for a full 20 seconds before sending to friends. Some ads like their Sponsored Lens Gatorade are played with much longer. These Snapchat ads are Paid, Owned, and Earned Media all at the same time.

I like the idea of marketing that is so compelling that people choose to “play” with it. I think “play time” is an interesting way to think about marketing. What would our marketing plans look like if we tried to maximize “play time” rather than impressions?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Here’s another cartoon I drew a few years ago on Paid and Earned media.