Media Planner is a job title in an advertising agency or media planning and buyi

ng agency[1], responsible for selecting media for advertisement placement on beh

alf of their clients. The main aim of a Media Planner is to assist their client
in achieving business objectives through their advertising budgets by recommendi
ng the best possible use of various media platforms available to advertisers[2].
Their roles may include analyzing target audiences, keeping abreast of media de
velopments, reading market trends and understanding motivations of consumers (of
ten including psychology and neuroscience).
Traditionally, the role of the media planner was quite close to that of the Medi
a Buyer, the obvious distinction being that the planner would devise a plan for
advertising and the buyer would negotiate with the Media proprietor on things su
ch as rates, copy deadlines, placement, merchandising, etc. The role of the mode
rn media planner is more wide reaching however. Today many agencies are actually
eschewing the job title of 'media planner' in favour of titles such as communic
ations planner, brand planner or strategist. This reflects the shift away from '
traditional' media planning to a more holistic approach, with the planner now ha
ving to consider (as well as standard above-the-line channels such as TV, print,
radio and outdoor) PR, below-the-line channels, in-store, digital media, produc
t placement and other emerging communications channels all for the purpose of en
suring the client's advertising budget is well spent as well as adhering to the
overall marketing strategy devised by marketing consultants or the client themse
lves. Their expanded job scope has thus made greater demands of their time, plac
ing them in immensely pressured situations matched by the states faced by their
creative (copywriters and art directors) counterparts.
Though many media planners are housed within ad firms, Initiative Worldwide, Car
at, ZenithOptimedia, Starcom, Mindshare and OMD are examples of stand-alone glob
al media planning agencies for general consumer brands. As media opportunities g
row increasingly fragmented, greater degrees of specificity and specialization h
ave become expected by advertisers. Specialization within individual vertical in
dustries has become the norm. For example, Communications Media Inc. is known fo
r media planning for the pharmaceutical industry, and would therefore be versed
in the complex legality of advertising within that industry. Criterion Global is
an international media buyer with expertise in lead-generation media buying, cu
stomizing multi-lingual and multi-market media strategy to suit the return on in
vestment objectives of travel, real estate, higher education, and retail brands.
Strategic Media, in Washington DC, US specializes in political campaign media b
uying, which requires special expertise due to legal restrictions on political a
dvertising expenditure and other campaign finance cash-flow regulations.
Additionally, specialization within media type has made the media planning lands
cape more complex. For example, digital media planners are now heavily recruited
by media firms. Future areas of digital specialization with high expected growt
h rates include: behavioural planning specialists, ad network marketing speciali
sts, social media specialists, and SEO/SEM/PPC experts. The extreme growth of th
e digital sector has justified the advent of online-only media planning firms, m
ost notably Avenue A/Razorfish and Centro, the latter having managed digital med
ia buying for Barack Obama's successful 2008 Presidential bid in the US.