Dentsu has created Global Media Planner, a planning tool that removes the divide between above-the-line (ATL) and below-the-line (BTL) media.
The tool, part of the Dentsu.Connect operating system, brings together paid media, retail, experiential, sponsorship and content into a single planning framework.
Launched yesterday (18 March) across 15 markets, Global Media Planner is powered by an attention dataset developed with attention measurement firm Lumen. The system combines global benchmarks with client-specific studies to measure not just exposure but outcomes, including brand recognition, affinity and purchases.
Dentsu says the tool will change how campaigns are planned by allowing agencies and clients to evaluate different media formats against a common attention-based metric.
Hamish Kinniburgh, global chief strategy officer at Dentsu, said: ‘It takes away the idea about ATL channels and BTL channels and lets us plan all those elements together.
‘By incorporating creative formats and creative types, we can plan all of that against attention, so we have a common currency that we can use to optimise the total customer experience.’
Will Swayne, global president of media at Dentsu, described the tool as a ‘structural shift in how growth gets built’.
‘For decades, marketing has been planned in fragments. While integrated planning has evolved, the separation between ATL and BTL decision-making has remained embedded,’ he said. ‘Media Planner removes those artificial divides.’
The system is already being used with a global alcohol brand, whose marketing spans traditional media, in-bar activations and retail environments.
Dentsu says early deployments suggest unified planning across touchpoints can increase brand metrics by up to 20%.
The launch comes as marketers increasingly seek more integrated approaches to media and commerce. Kinniburgh said some clients are now exploring closer alignment between media and sales functions.
‘Clients are increasingly asking for this kind of holistic perspective,’ he said. ‘Some are going as far as merging media and sales together.
‘The demise of some traditional brand building channels, and the rise of social and retail media, means clients are starting to think about whether they can build the brand from the shelf out or from the screen down.’
Kinniburgh said improvements in data and measurement have made this kind of planning approach more viable.
‘It’s the granularity of the insights we have around this now, and the depth of touchpoints we’re able to reach, as well as integrating media and content,’ he said. ‘Now we can act upon those insights with different types of content.’
Currently deployed with an initial group of global clients across several categories, the tool was launched on 18 March and is already generating interest across sectors, according to Dentsu.
‘We’re living in this multi-modal world where everything’s coming back again,’ Kinniburgh said. ‘Increasingly clients, in a world where there are so many things they could do, are looking for data-driven guidance on what they should do.’
