Should the design of an advertising campaign be led by media strategy or creative strategy?
An issue that keeps appearing when designing advertising campaigns is whether the design should be led by media or creative strategy. There are, of course, good reasons to choose both and I'll write about some of them here but please feel free to comment as I'd love to hear other opinions on this topic.
The case for a media-led strategy
One argument that marketers will make for a media-led campaign design is that it almost guarantees you stay within budget before you even hear ideas; the media space has been purchased and that's that. The creative agency will have to work around it.
The main argument, however, is that a media-led campaign is one which goes to the consumer. Media space is bought according to your target market, where they spend their time and when they're there. This makes sense. You create a campaign with a definite destination in mind. Unfortunately, this can be a little prescriptive and restrict the creative side of things...
The case for a creative-led strategy
The most prominent argument for designing an advertising campaign around the creative content is that there are no constraints; the best idea wins. With this strategy, an engaging idea is presented along with suggestions regarding the media to carry it. This is generally the case in pitch-type scenarios. However good the pitch-winning idea though, there's always a chance that the client's first request is to produce the idea for a certain medium. If it's the right medium to carry the idea to your target market, the idea will more than likely have been created with it in mind. In addition, having the creative concept allows the media agency to add an extra layer to their targeting strategy.
Implemented by marketers from the onset, this strategy means the best ideas can shine and don't have to be warped and adapted to fit certain criteria. Why book radio space just because it fits the budget when the concept is entirely visual in nature? Why prescript the medium when the idea could surpass it?
So...the chicken or the egg?
This, like many such topics, is completely subjective. In my (slightly biased) opinion, it comes down to finding and engaging your target audience versus compelling them to find and engage you.
As I've written before, sometimes creativity beats all the metrics in the world. You just have to ask: is it worth the risk?