Media Desktop - Product Overview
Media Desktop (BMD) provides agencies and media buying houses with a comprehensive and integrated set of modules covering all aspects of the media process – from planning your campaign, to buying the schedule, reporting internally and to your client, post analysing campaign results, invoicing your client and paying the media.
Each BMD module - which includes Planning, Buying, Administration, Post Analysis and Media Finance, plus “housekeeping” modules Masterfiles and Data Loading- relates to a specific set of tasks and functionality.
User access can be granted as determined by you and access to functionality or clients can be “locked off” if required from users who either don’t need, or shouldn’t have, access to that part of the system.
Throughout BMD, basic information such as rates, surveys, markets and demographics can easily be changed, allowing you to view and compare the results of these changes immediately on the screen. Third party data is seamlessly loaded into your BMD system so you always have the most up to date buying information available.
Your media schedule can include multiple media types, media, markets and durations, with the ability to use one or more of these criteria to filter your view. Any media type – from Subscription TV to Outdoor and everything in between - can be bought in the schedule screen, and in a single schedule.
BMD helps agencies communicate with the media electronically, providing the ability to obtain core information such as rates, programs, proposals, booking requests and holdings information seamlessly.
Module Overview
Planning Module
BMD’s Planning module consists of a range of flexible analysis options to make the planning of a TV campaign easy and efficient. Some of the analysis options available in the Planning module are Grid Analysis, which allows fast zone averaging and optimal daypart/station share analysis; Concept Plan, which allows you to set budgets and goals and look at “what if” scenarios and to check the budget/efficiency results of each in order to determine the best possible placement of spots; and Trending/Comparison analysis which allow identification and tracking of trends in audience, rates and cost efficiencies across master dayparts, networks, programs and demographics.
Buying Module
BMD’s Buying Module is where the media schedule is created and edited. A media schedule can be created for multiple markets, mediums and durations, may be based on daily or w/c dates, may be in a planning or final (financial) status, may be filtered and sorted as required, and show totals including spend, spot, efficiency and rating totals by week for single or multiple demographics. Users are able to import proposals directly into the media schedule, and also export booking requests which can be emailed directly to the media. Rate, ratings and up to date program information is available, as is interactive R&F calculation and interfaces to other third party data suppliers and software. The Buying module also allows allocation of material, purchase order numbers, bulk press booking entry and the creation of composite bookings, allocation of spot type information such as bonus, top & tail, and delete & charge, and many other time saving features.
Holdings
BMD’s holdings functionality allows an agency to see the bookings “held” by a television station on behalf of their clients, and the agency is able to reconcile them back to the bookings in BMD. The user is able to see which spots are a perfect match or where there’s a discrepancy between the two - such as a rate, day, time, or programs. The user is able to then choose whether to update the booking with the held details, or to query the change with the network. This electronic interchange of data reduces data entry and minimises the overhead of adjustments to the spot after the event, as data is being monitored and reconciled right up until the date your spots go to air.
Buying Reports Module
BMD includes a range of highly flexible reports which you can use to report for your client or agency. Reports can be saved in template format allowing reports to be rerun on a regular basis without having to set the report parameters again. The Buying Reports Module include a number of flexible reporting options such as Client Booking Reports (spot/booking lists designed to be sent to your client); Expenditure reports and exports; a number of “grid” style Schedule Reports, Conflict Reports (which show where multiple spots have been booked into one program); Performance Tracking Report which provides an up to date snapshot of estimated schedule performance using the latest survey information as the on-air date draws closer; and much more.
Media Finance
The Finance module allows simple and efficient client invoicing and easy to use, flexible payment options when reconciling and paying the media. Fees and rebates can be defined at various levels, allowing you to tailor the setup for clients, products and media to reflect different financial arrangements you may have across your client base. Any financial bookings can be invoiced, and any date range – past, present or future – can be processed. A variety of additional reports and invoice summaries can be produced, either as part of an invoice run or on historical financial periods. Payments to the media can be made by cheque or EFT and a wide range of options within the payment reconciliation screens allow you to perform actions like holding an amount or spot/s from a payment run, running early payments, transferring spots to a different creditor, and more.
Masterfiles
The BMD Masterfiles module is where your client, product, and agency information is set up and maintained, as well as your media “tree” information, such as medium, network, master network, media types, markets, and more. Agency Masterfiles allows you to customise the client and product setup including such things as service fees, commission rebates, and address, details. Media Masterfiles allows you to create codes and link them to the appropriate market and media type, set up creditors and creditor address details, determine commission values, spot monitoring fees, and any fee overrides.
Data Loading
BMD’s Data Loading module is where the data which BMD uses – such as rates, ratings, dayparts, programs, booking units, and placement codes – are loaded and maintained. Rates can be loaded directly from files emailed by the media and can incorporate multiple discount levels, and can be applied to single or multiple clients or the whole agency. Rate discounts can be set up to operate of a stored ratecard with the new rate calculated “on the fly”. Program information is loaded automatically on a daily basis directly from the TV networks so you have the most up to date information in the schedule at all times. Survey data is loaded as soon as it’s made available (for agencies who subscribe to survey data). Agencies can maintain other important buying components such as daypart definitions (which can be set up at agency or client level where the client has unique buying constraints), buying and placement codes. The Data Loading module is also where Holdings are loaded.