Samuel Brealey on Media Planning, Zero-Based Budgeting and Long & Short [#21]

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If you’ve ever set a marketing budget by just rolling over last year’s number, this one’s worth a read. Samuel Brealey is a UK-based marketing consultant and chartered marketer who helps businesses think properly about where – and why – they spend their media budget.


Timestamps

  • [00:01] Why most media plans default to habit, not strategy
  • [00:03] Signs of a bad media plan – and what a good one looks like
  • [00:07] Using category entry points to understand where customers actually are
  • [00:10] Brand awareness vs. sales activation – how media choice changes by objective
  • [00:15] Zero-based budgeting – how to set a media budget from first principles
  • [00:21] Why 6-12 month planning horizons matter
  • [00:23] Measuring brand awareness vs. conversion metrics
  • [00:37] The shift away from third-party data and the return of traditional media

Key links

  • Samuel Brealey’s website – samuelbrealey.co.uk
  • Samuel on LinkedIn
  • How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp – Ehrenberg-Bass Institute