Media Fragmentation - an Opportunity.

It is the era of choices for the consumer in every sphere of their lives. And, as the consumer exercises these choices - the consumers life is becoming more and more fragmented. And, it is this fragmentation of the consumers life that is the cause of the phenomenon called media fragmentation.

For each role that the consumer plays in life, for every community that the consumer is engaged with, for every mood that the consumer feels daily, for every task that the consumer needs to complete - there is a different set of media that the consumer interacts with. In each of the above scenarios not just the set of media but also the manner of interaction with the media changes. The expectations from the media are different, the affinity that the consumer feels for different media changes and the effect that each media has on the consumer also varies.

Thus, the term media fragmentation doesnt encompass just the multiplicity of media but also the complexity of its relationship with the consumer. And, in such a scenario the task of the brand manager remains the same as ever - to create an affinity for the brand in the mind of the consumer.

For a mind addicted to the limited means of communication using conventional TV and Print - this scenario is a certain threat but to one who looks at the consumer and media landscape afresh everyday this is a great opportunity. Differentiation is key to brand building and in yester years it was only the creative that offered the key to differentiation in communication while now the choice of media and the manner of use of the media to communuicate with the consumer play as much a role in creating this differentiation for a brand.

In the era of limited media - basis the reach of media first the media to be used for communication was identified and the creative was developed specific to the media. Of course!! Reach of the media is critical but the first step now is to develop an 'idea' for the consumer and then layer this idea with media that best suits the idea. Communication Planning has turned inside-out.

It is this 'idea' that strings together the activity done with each media. In the absence of the connecting idea - the consumer just sees a set of dis-connected exposures/ activities at different times. But, if all the fragmented media activites have the idea at the core then these together form a beautiful collage with each media working in tandem - and to the consumer it is all 'one story'.

Brand managers today interact with so many partners each bringing to them capabilities of working on specific media and in this 'variety' of partners the connnecting idea is very vulnerable to getting diluted. Companies, cannnot afford that this conecting idea gets diluted as it would impact the communication ROI. While, on reach and cost metrics the individual media plans may perform brilliantly - the overall communication effectiveness could be adversley affected.  And, this is where 'media strategists' have a key role to play in organizations. While, the brand managers are best equipped to decide on the 'connecting idea'; it is the media strategists who can best work on its execution along with the multitude of media/ agency  partners.

So, to conclude - media fragmentation is here and only increasing. For brands to utilize it as a opportunity rather than to see it as a threat there is need for an increased focus on communication design vis-vis media planning. To the consumer, only an ill-designed campaign appears fragmented.