Next chapter in MarComm - Media Training

It has become almost impossible for media practitioners to keep a finger on the pulse of the media industry to gauge the efficacy of media. Young media planners are finding that their science is not enough. Yet, there are few courses dedicated to Media in PG programmes

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | January 6, 2016

It is estimated that more than 30,000 freshers graduate from post-graduate schools with a marketing PG qualification every year into the mainstream of Marketing Communications. Most post-graduate institutes offer courses on Marketing and Advertising / Communications. PR and Event Management are also a part of such courses. Some of them have separate programmes on Digital marketing.

However, there are but a few courses that are dedicated to other branches of the Communications business – for example, Creativity, Market Research or even Media. These facets of the business of communication are treated merely as subjects in any such Marketing / Communications course.

Evidently enough, the sheer number of media options have just spiralled out of control. Media, therefore, seems to have become the crux of a marketing plan for any brand. The sheer width of available media coupled with the constant pressure on ad budgets can only accentuate the need for accurate and advanced media selection. Indeed, the spread of media, and the economies of media usage by brands can be a critical question for any brand / consumer company's priorities. For example, the rollout of a brand across markets in the country could be determined by the cost-benefit equations and the economies of scale that can be derived from available media in those markets. So, Media as such, can be the starting point of any marketing plan.

Interestingly enough, while the number of media options has grown exponentially (especially, digital), there has also been a converse effect. Advertising time and space across media are seen to be bought and sold, more like commodities, wherein there are hardly any product differentiators, and the only criterion for decision-making seems to be price. Although this appears contradictory in nature, it is the reality in modern business.

So, these days, it has become almost impossible for media practitioners to keep a finger on the pulse of the media industry to gauge the efficacy of media.

What's more, media planners are finding that their science is not enough. They now have to understand creativity, if not be able to develop it. Media sellers are being asked for cross-media solutions. And of course, the majority of advertisers are still trying to get a grip on the various forms of digital media, their purpose and the optimal approach.

And yet, there is hardly any course on media that disseminates the required knowledge and skill for the buying & selling of media space and time in any structured manner.

Sundeep Nagpal

“We realized that most media practitioners (planners / buyers, sellers as well as brand custodians) have never really been through a sustained and sequential learning experience. They've had to learn on the job, pick up the pieces of the jig-saw and are probably still forming the big picture,” says Sundeep Nagpal, Director of Stratagem Media Pvt Ltd, a company that has just announced a first-of-its-kind course on Media – especially designed for media professionals.

It's a part-time, short-term course scheduled to commence in January.

Stratagem Media has had extensive experience in media training – mostly in the form of two or three-day workshops. But Nagpal feels that such programmes only create a ripple. He believes that learnings can be effective only when they are applied. So, a short-term course is most suited for that.

Stratagem's programme attempts to fulfil a contemporary need. It's on “Integrated Media” and dwells on “Concepts, Analytics and Practices” – in the modern day media business, for traditional as well as digital media. Nagpal also believes in the contiguity of content that is to be disseminated. Against a bevy of guest lecturers, the IM-CAP course is anchored by four senior media professionals (each an expert in a specific discipline), who bring in more than a century of collective experience!

While such a course, may appear to be the need of the hour, its real success can only come from its sustenance. To this Nagpal says, “For now, we are confident of our product and are concentrating on the first batch.”

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com