A Communications Art

Korena Keys and Molly Schenkel of Lawrence and Schiller visited SDSU on Friday, April 23. They gave an insightful presentation on the ins and outs of media buying to my media strategies class. Megan Kahler and myself were lucky enough to grab lunch with them afterwards.

Molly Schenkel, the Media Director at L&S, remarked, "If your a good communicator and problem solver, media is a really fun field." The media team deals with millions of dollars every day for clients. To be sure that they are investing their money in the right media, they have to do hours and hours of research, looking at trends, consumer demographics, psychographics, etc. Schenkel said that some weeks all your time is in front of computers putting together a plan and other weeks are all research.

The media team also dabbles in public relations by planning events and promotions for their clients. "We don't just place TV ads anymore," Keys remarked. In a campaign for South Dakota Tourism ten semi-trucks were wrapped with South Dakota graphics. It was so successful that the truck drivers began carrying South Dakota vacation guides with them to satisfy the many inquiries they received.



Another successful campaign L&S did for South Dakota Tourism was executed in Minneapolis. Four train cars were wrapped with South Dakota graphics. They also hired 6 actors to portray cowboys and walk the streets of Minneapolis and hand out fliers with coupons exclusively for Minnesotans.

One of the latest trends in the industry is the ever changing media plan. Schenkel says there is no annual plan anymore; there's not even a three month plan. "It's constantly evolving." This makes a media planner's job even more challenging.

Students that asked questions during the presentation were rewarded with free gifts from the various clients L&S has worked with. "The funnest part about media is you get stuff," Keys said. Everyone wanted a Judge Judy mouse pad.