Essentially, the comprehensive outdoor media plan is twofold, consisting firstly of the planning 'input', which takes the form of a detailed campaign brief, and results in the generation of 'output' in the form of the campaign plan.
When preparing an outdoor brief, the following questions should assist in ensuring that all aspects of the outdoor plan have been addressed:
As far as possible, the campaign brief should incorporate the following information:
A comprehensive outdoor brief should yield a detailed campaign plan, or 'output' incorporating the following elements:
The proposed strategy provides an accurate translation of the brand's communication and media objectives into an 'on the ground' outdoor plan, which is then used to determine the optimal media type selection for the campaign.
The selection of the optimal Outdoor media format is dependent on the population density of the target site catchment area. In principle, fewer, higher-impact sites are required to reach a densely populated area, whereas a greater number of smaller formats are required in sparsely populated areas. This is illustrated in the diagram below:
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Primedia Outdoor Marketing Services provides a complete "Outdoor campaign planning" service, capable of generating an optimal site distribution or market profile plan. Structured on 'Mapinfo', a computerised mapping program, PrimePlan allows media planners to determine the demographic composition and Living Standards Measure of a local area, or store, to estimate market potential.
Added benefits of PrimePlan are:
Examples of types of information available through PrimePlan are illustrated in the following images:
 Regional market classification using MapInfo's demographic analysis tool. |  Identification of key primary and secondary areas by sub-planning region. |
 Target market identification against specific brand profiles. |  Thermatic target market representation at national level. |
PrimePlan provides outdoor advertisers with a comprehensive link combining all elements of outdoor advertising to ensure the correct outdoor media mix, site distribution and development is matched to the target market profile.
The final stage of an effective outdoor plan is a quantitative evaluation whereby the audience reach, frequency and cost per thousand opportunities to see can be evaluated. This enables the measurement of the probable audience to be exposed to a given campaign. Within each sub-planning region each town and commuter convergent point is evaluated in terms of population density, infrastructure and levels of economic activity.
As shown below, this table provides an effective tool for measuring the strengths and weaknesses of a given campaign in each posted area.
The above planning system thus provides an effective way to ensure that the campaign is targeted to the right target audience, in the right areas with the correct weighting, thereby optimising cost-effectiveness of outdoor with minimum wastage.
