Five decisions that shape media effectiveness long before the first ad runs
Five decisions that shape media effectiveness long before the first ad runs
Natalie McCollin
Senior Client Partner
When media performance is reviewed, attention often goes straight to what ran: the channels, the formats, the creative. But, in reality, the effectiveness of any campaign is shaped far earlier, often months before the first ad appears. The uncomfortable truth is that the effectiveness of a campaign doesn’t come directly from last minute optimisation or clever tactics in flight, but from a series of strategic decisions made weeks or months before launch. Get those decisions right and the media will work harder. Get them wrong and no amount of targeting precision or creative craft will fully rescue what follows. As a marketing agency, our role isn’t just to activate media. It’s to guide clients through these early choices with clarity and evidence, asking honest questions and challenging thinking when required. These are five of the key decisions that influence media effectiveness well before a campaign goes live:
When media performance is reviewed, attention often goes straight to what ran: the channels, the formats, the creative. But, in reality, the effectiveness of any campaign is shaped far earlier, often months before the first ad appears. The uncomfortable truth is that the effectiveness of a campaign doesn’t come directly from last minute optimisation or clever tactics in flight, but from a series of strategic decisions made weeks or months before launch. Get those decisions right and the media will work harder. Get them wrong and no amount of targeting precision or creative craft will fully rescue what follows. As a marketing agency, our role isn’t just to activate media. It’s to guide clients through these early choices with clarity and evidence, asking honest questions and challenging thinking when required. These are five of the key decisions that influence media effectiveness well before a campaign goes live:
When media performance is reviewed, attention often goes straight to what ran: the channels, the formats, the creative. But, in reality, the effectiveness of any campaign is shaped far earlier, often months before the first ad appears. The uncomfortable truth is that the effectiveness of a campaign doesn’t come directly from last minute optimisation or clever tactics in flight, but from a series of strategic decisions made weeks or months before launch. Get those decisions right and the media will work harder. Get them wrong and no amount of targeting precision or creative craft will fully rescue what follows. As a marketing agency, our role isn’t just to activate media. It’s to guide clients through these early choices with clarity and evidence, asking honest questions and challenging thinking when required. These are five of the key decisions that influence media effectiveness well before a campaign goes live:
1. The value of research: assume nothing
Before a single media or creative brief is written, there's a question that deserves an honest answer: what do we actually know, versus what we think we know?
Untested assumptions are some of the costliest mistakes in marketing. A brand assumes its audience skews younger than it does, a business assumes its key barrier is awareness when it's actually consideration, or a marketing manager assumes customers like to purchase online, when in reality they prefer to speak to someone and purchase through a call centre. Each of these assumptions, if left unchallenged, quietly shapes strategy in the wrong direction - and the media plans that follow.
Good research doesn't have to be slow or costly. Audience segmentation, creative testing, and competitor benchmarking can surface the reality behind the assumption quickly. Tools such as TGI, Mintel and Nielsen Ad Intel provide a solid foundation for readily available insight. Any investment almost always pays back, with the IPA stating that campaigns informed by research are around twice as likely to deliver against objectives than those that are not.
At Accord, we use research to give media teams stronger signals to optimise towards, provide creative teams with clearer direction, and give clients the confidence that budgets are being placed behind ideas that are more likely to work.
The brief that begins with ‘we know’ is always stronger than the brief that begins with ‘we assume’, and our goal is to ensure that strategy is built on what is true and not just what feels familiar.
Before a single media or creative brief is written, there's a question that deserves an honest answer: what do we actually know, versus what we think we know?
Untested assumptions are some of the costliest mistakes in marketing. A brand assumes its audience skews younger than it does, a business assumes its key barrier is awareness when it's actually consideration, or a marketing manager assumes customers like to purchase online, when in reality they prefer to speak to someone and purchase through a call centre. Each of these assumptions, if left unchallenged, quietly shapes strategy in the wrong direction - and the media plans that follow.
Good research doesn't have to be slow or costly. Audience segmentation, creative testing, and competitor benchmarking can surface the reality behind the assumption quickly. Tools such as TGI, Mintel and Nielsen Ad Intel provide a solid foundation for readily available insight. Any investment almost always pays back, with the IPA stating that campaigns informed by research are around twice as likely to deliver against objectives than those that are not.
At Accord, we use research to give media teams stronger signals to optimise towards, provide creative teams with clearer direction, and give clients the confidence that budgets are being placed behind ideas that are more likely to work.
The brief that begins with ‘we know’ is always stronger than the brief that begins with ‘we assume’, and our goal is to ensure that strategy is built on what is true and not just what feels familiar.
Before a single media or creative brief is written, there's a question that deserves an honest answer: what do we actually know, versus what we think we know?
Untested assumptions are some of the costliest mistakes in marketing. A brand assumes its audience skews younger than it does, a business assumes its key barrier is awareness when it's actually consideration, or a marketing manager assumes customers like to purchase online, when in reality they prefer to speak to someone and purchase through a call centre. Each of these assumptions, if left unchallenged, quietly shapes strategy in the wrong direction - and the media plans that follow.
Good research doesn't have to be slow or costly. Audience segmentation, creative testing, and competitor benchmarking can surface the reality behind the assumption quickly. Tools such as TGI, Mintel and Nielsen Ad Intel provide a solid foundation for readily available insight. Any investment almost always pays back, with the IPA stating that campaigns informed by research are around twice as likely to deliver against objectives than those that are not.
At Accord, we use research to give media teams stronger signals to optimise towards, provide creative teams with clearer direction, and give clients the confidence that budgets are being placed behind ideas that are more likely to work.
The brief that begins with ‘we know’ is always stronger than the brief that begins with ‘we assume’, and our goal is to ensure that strategy is built on what is true and not just what feels familiar.
2. Objective setting: turning ambition into direction
Ambitious targets are healthy. Vague ones are dangerous.
We often see briefs that ask a single campaign to deliver awareness, consideration and sales all at once. These are valid business goals, but as marketing objectives, they rarely coexist comfortably. Each objective pulls planning in a different direction, relies on different channels and formats, and demands different measures of success. When everything is prioritised equally, impact is usually diluted.
Effective objective setting is about converting commercial ambition into marketing objectives that genuinely guide decisions. That means being clear on what the campaign is truly trying to achieve, explicit about how success will be defined, and realistic about what media can deliver within a given budget and timeframe.
Once that clarity exists, everything else starts to fall into place. Objectives shape the formats we invest in, the channels we prioritise, and how we flight investment and selected channels.
Marketing objectives need to be SMART: specific enough to focus decisions, measurable so progress can be judged, ambitious enough to drive growth, realistic given the context, and time‑bound to ensure accountability.
When objectives are clearly articulated in this way, planning becomes sharper and more decisive, trade‑offs are easier to make, and evaluation becomes far more meaningful - and not just at the end of the campaign, but throughout.
Ambitious targets are healthy. Vague ones are dangerous.
We often see briefs that ask a single campaign to deliver awareness, consideration and sales all at once. These are valid business goals, but as marketing objectives, they rarely coexist comfortably. Each objective pulls planning in a different direction, relies on different channels and formats, and demands different measures of success. When everything is prioritised equally, impact is usually diluted.
Effective objective setting is about converting commercial ambition into marketing objectives that genuinely guide decisions. That means being clear on what the campaign is truly trying to achieve, explicit about how success will be defined, and realistic about what media can deliver within a given budget and timeframe.
Once that clarity exists, everything else starts to fall into place. Objectives shape the formats we invest in, the channels we prioritise, and how we flight investment and selected channels.
Marketing objectives need to be SMART: specific enough to focus decisions, measurable so progress can be judged, ambitious enough to drive growth, realistic given the context, and time‑bound to ensure accountability.
When objectives are clearly articulated in this way, planning becomes sharper and more decisive, trade‑offs are easier to make, and evaluation becomes far more meaningful - and not just at the end of the campaign, but throughout.
Ambitious targets are healthy. Vague ones are dangerous.
We often see briefs that ask a single campaign to deliver awareness, consideration and sales all at once. These are valid business goals, but as marketing objectives, they rarely coexist comfortably. Each objective pulls planning in a different direction, relies on different channels and formats, and demands different measures of success. When everything is prioritised equally, impact is usually diluted.
Effective objective setting is about converting commercial ambition into marketing objectives that genuinely guide decisions. That means being clear on what the campaign is truly trying to achieve, explicit about how success will be defined, and realistic about what media can deliver within a given budget and timeframe.
Once that clarity exists, everything else starts to fall into place. Objectives shape the formats we invest in, the channels we prioritise, and how we flight investment and selected channels.
Marketing objectives need to be SMART: specific enough to focus decisions, measurable so progress can be judged, ambitious enough to drive growth, realistic given the context, and time‑bound to ensure accountability.
When objectives are clearly articulated in this way, planning becomes sharper and more decisive, trade‑offs are easier to make, and evaluation becomes far more meaningful - and not just at the end of the campaign, but throughout.
3. Reach and frequency: the trade-off we can’t ignore
Reach and frequency discussions are often reduced to numbers: how many people, how often, and at what cost? But the real decision is strategic: when is it right to go broader, and when does repetition actually add value?
The honest conversation about reach and frequency is one we actively seek out with clients, because the instinct to go broader is often at odds with the evidence about what actually works.
For some brands, growth is limited by their familiarity, with too few people thinking of them when they’re ready to buy. For others, the challenge is salience and reinforcement, being remembered at the right moment consistently enough to influence choice.
Reach matters most at specific moments: when a brand is genuinely trying to enter new memory structures, when a category is growing and there are unconverted audiences worth acquiring, or when competitive pressure demands visibility at scale. In those cases, casting wider is the right call.
But there are many situations where reach is the wrong priority, such as if a brand's audience is concentrated, if the purchase cycle is long, or if the product requires understanding before it creates desire. In those contexts, the value of repetition often outweighs the value of breadth.
Ultimately, the right balance between reach and frequency depends on things such as category dynamics, brand maturity, budget levels and objectives. Our role is to move clients away from simplistic rules of thumb and towards informed decision making, using evidence to determine when scale will unlock growth and when frequency is doing the heavier lifting. Getting that balance right is what shapes campaign effectiveness and efficiency long before anything goes live.
Reach and frequency discussions are often reduced to numbers: how many people, how often, and at what cost? But the real decision is strategic: when is it right to go broader, and when does repetition actually add value?
The honest conversation about reach and frequency is one we actively seek out with clients, because the instinct to go broader is often at odds with the evidence about what actually works.
For some brands, growth is limited by their familiarity, with too few people thinking of them when they’re ready to buy. For others, the challenge is salience and reinforcement, being remembered at the right moment consistently enough to influence choice.
Reach matters most at specific moments: when a brand is genuinely trying to enter new memory structures, when a category is growing and there are unconverted audiences worth acquiring, or when competitive pressure demands visibility at scale. In those cases, casting wider is the right call.
But there are many situations where reach is the wrong priority, such as if a brand's audience is concentrated, if the purchase cycle is long, or if the product requires understanding before it creates desire. In those contexts, the value of repetition often outweighs the value of breadth.
Ultimately, the right balance between reach and frequency depends on things such as category dynamics, brand maturity, budget levels and objectives. Our role is to move clients away from simplistic rules of thumb and towards informed decision making, using evidence to determine when scale will unlock growth and when frequency is doing the heavier lifting. Getting that balance right is what shapes campaign effectiveness and efficiency long before anything goes live.
Reach and frequency discussions are often reduced to numbers: how many people, how often, and at what cost? But the real decision is strategic: when is it right to go broader, and when does repetition actually add value?
The honest conversation about reach and frequency is one we actively seek out with clients, because the instinct to go broader is often at odds with the evidence about what actually works.
For some brands, growth is limited by their familiarity, with too few people thinking of them when they’re ready to buy. For others, the challenge is salience and reinforcement, being remembered at the right moment consistently enough to influence choice.
Reach matters most at specific moments: when a brand is genuinely trying to enter new memory structures, when a category is growing and there are unconverted audiences worth acquiring, or when competitive pressure demands visibility at scale. In those cases, casting wider is the right call.
But there are many situations where reach is the wrong priority, such as if a brand's audience is concentrated, if the purchase cycle is long, or if the product requires understanding before it creates desire. In those contexts, the value of repetition often outweighs the value of breadth.
Ultimately, the right balance between reach and frequency depends on things such as category dynamics, brand maturity, budget levels and objectives. Our role is to move clients away from simplistic rules of thumb and towards informed decision making, using evidence to determine when scale will unlock growth and when frequency is doing the heavier lifting. Getting that balance right is what shapes campaign effectiveness and efficiency long before anything goes live.
4. Brand tracking: knowing whether you're moving the needle
Media can run perfectly - delivered on target, on budget and on time - but still fail to shift brand perception in any meaningful way. You won't know that without tracking - and if you don't know it, you can't fix it.
Brand tracking is sometimes treated as a luxury, something larger budgets do and something that can wait until the campaign is proven, but it’s really the opposite. When the campaign budget is lean, this is precisely when you need an evidence base for course correction.
At its core, brand tracking measures the metrics that sit upstream of commercial outcomes: awareness, consideration, preference, brand attributes, and perceptions relative to competitors. These don't move as fast as click-through rates or cost-per-acquisition figures, and that's exactly the point. They represent how a brand is actually landing in the minds of real people over time, and they're the best leading indicators of whether your investment is building something durable or just generating short-term activity.
Used properly, brand tracking allows you to make decisions with confidence rather than instinct, guiding smarter decisions before and after a campaign.
Media can run perfectly - delivered on target, on budget and on time - but still fail to shift brand perception in any meaningful way. You won't know that without tracking - and if you don't know it, you can't fix it.
Brand tracking is sometimes treated as a luxury, something larger budgets do and something that can wait until the campaign is proven, but it’s really the opposite. When the campaign budget is lean, this is precisely when you need an evidence base for course correction.
At its core, brand tracking measures the metrics that sit upstream of commercial outcomes: awareness, consideration, preference, brand attributes, and perceptions relative to competitors. These don't move as fast as click-through rates or cost-per-acquisition figures, and that's exactly the point. They represent how a brand is actually landing in the minds of real people over time, and they're the best leading indicators of whether your investment is building something durable or just generating short-term activity.
Used properly, brand tracking allows you to make decisions with confidence rather than instinct, guiding smarter decisions before and after a campaign.
Media can run perfectly - delivered on target, on budget and on time - but still fail to shift brand perception in any meaningful way. You won't know that without tracking - and if you don't know it, you can't fix it.
Brand tracking is sometimes treated as a luxury, something larger budgets do and something that can wait until the campaign is proven, but it’s really the opposite. When the campaign budget is lean, this is precisely when you need an evidence base for course correction.
At its core, brand tracking measures the metrics that sit upstream of commercial outcomes: awareness, consideration, preference, brand attributes, and perceptions relative to competitors. These don't move as fast as click-through rates or cost-per-acquisition figures, and that's exactly the point. They represent how a brand is actually landing in the minds of real people over time, and they're the best leading indicators of whether your investment is building something durable or just generating short-term activity.
Used properly, brand tracking allows you to make decisions with confidence rather than instinct, guiding smarter decisions before and after a campaign.
5. Measurement and econometrics: understanding what's really driving growth
Finally, none of this works without a clear measurement framework in place. If success is poorly defined or inconsistently measured, learning is lost, and debate becomes subjective. Effective measurement starts with clarity from day one, agreeing on how performance will be judged, over what timescales, and using which signals. It also means recognising that not all impact is immediate or visible in last‑click metrics.
This is where econometrics plays a vital role. By looking at performance over time and isolating the contribution of different factors such as base level demand, the effect of pricing, seasonality, and channel contribution, it helps brands understand what’s really driving growth and where incremental investment will have the greatest effect. Done well, it doesn't just tell you what worked, it tells you the optimal shape of your investment going forward, and at what point additional spend in each channel starts to deliver diminishing returns.
We're honest with clients that econometrics is an investment - in time, data, and cost. But the alternative is making financial media decisions based on incomplete information.
The measurement framework and econometric approach should be put in place at the start to shape how every future budget decision gets made. It's genuinely one of the most valuable things we can help a client build.
Finally, none of this works without a clear measurement framework in place. If success is poorly defined or inconsistently measured, learning is lost, and debate becomes subjective. Effective measurement starts with clarity from day one, agreeing on how performance will be judged, over what timescales, and using which signals. It also means recognising that not all impact is immediate or visible in last‑click metrics.
This is where econometrics plays a vital role. By looking at performance over time and isolating the contribution of different factors such as base level demand, the effect of pricing, seasonality, and channel contribution, it helps brands understand what’s really driving growth and where incremental investment will have the greatest effect. Done well, it doesn't just tell you what worked, it tells you the optimal shape of your investment going forward, and at what point additional spend in each channel starts to deliver diminishing returns.
We're honest with clients that econometrics is an investment - in time, data, and cost. But the alternative is making financial media decisions based on incomplete information.
The measurement framework and econometric approach should be put in place at the start to shape how every future budget decision gets made. It's genuinely one of the most valuable things we can help a client build.
Finally, none of this works without a clear measurement framework in place. If success is poorly defined or inconsistently measured, learning is lost, and debate becomes subjective. Effective measurement starts with clarity from day one, agreeing on how performance will be judged, over what timescales, and using which signals. It also means recognising that not all impact is immediate or visible in last‑click metrics.
This is where econometrics plays a vital role. By looking at performance over time and isolating the contribution of different factors such as base level demand, the effect of pricing, seasonality, and channel contribution, it helps brands understand what’s really driving growth and where incremental investment will have the greatest effect. Done well, it doesn't just tell you what worked, it tells you the optimal shape of your investment going forward, and at what point additional spend in each channel starts to deliver diminishing returns.
We're honest with clients that econometrics is an investment - in time, data, and cost. But the alternative is making financial media decisions based on incomplete information.
The measurement framework and econometric approach should be put in place at the start to shape how every future budget decision gets made. It's genuinely one of the most valuable things we can help a client build.
Before the first ad runs
None of these five decisions are glamorous. They don't always make it into awards submissions or generate case study reels. But they are the architecture upon which effective media is built, and the absence of any one of them creates a weakness that execution can never fully compensate for.
Our job at Accord is not just to plan and buy media well; it's to make sure the conditions for media to work are genuinely in place before we spend a pound of budget. That means asking harder questions earlier, challenging assumptions before they become strategy, and bringing evidence into decisions where instinct has historically dominated, ensuring that when the first ad finally runs, it’s already set up to succeed.
None of these five decisions are glamorous. They don't always make it into awards submissions or generate case study reels. But they are the architecture upon which effective media is built, and the absence of any one of them creates a weakness that execution can never fully compensate for.
Our job at Accord is not just to plan and buy media well; it's to make sure the conditions for media to work are genuinely in place before we spend a pound of budget. That means asking harder questions earlier, challenging assumptions before they become strategy, and bringing evidence into decisions where instinct has historically dominated, ensuring that when the first ad finally runs, it’s already set up to succeed.
None of these five decisions are glamorous. They don't always make it into awards submissions or generate case study reels. But they are the architecture upon which effective media is built, and the absence of any one of them creates a weakness that execution can never fully compensate for.
Our job at Accord is not just to plan and buy media well; it's to make sure the conditions for media to work are genuinely in place before we spend a pound of budget. That means asking harder questions earlier, challenging assumptions before they become strategy, and bringing evidence into decisions where instinct has historically dominated, ensuring that when the first ad finally runs, it’s already set up to succeed.
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Discuss your next project with us...
To learn more about what we can offer and how we can work together, we’d love to hear from you.
London
Accord Marketing,
1 Waterhouse Square, London EC1N 2ST.
South-West
The Node, 1 Enterprise Road,
Roundswell, Barnstaple,
Devon EX31 3YB.
All enquiries
02072 712 481
Assume nothing.
Discuss your next project with us...
To learn more about what we can offer and how we can work together, we’d love to hear from you.
London
Accord Marketing,
1 Waterhouse Square, London EC1N 2ST.
South-West
The Node, 1 Enterprise Road,
Roundswell, Barnstaple,
Devon EX31 3YB.
All enquiries
Discuss your next project with us...
To learn more about what we can offer and how we can work together, we’d love to hear from you.
London
Accord Marketing,
1 Waterhouse Square, London EC1N 2ST
South-West
The Node, 1 Enterprise Road,
Roundswell Barnstaple,
Devon EX31 3YB
All enquiries
020 72712481