The Future of Media Buying Software is Now

Early this year we decided to completely re-write our media buying software from scratch using state-of-the-art .Net 2.0 technology. We picked the brains of hundreds of media buyers and collected their ideas, suggestions, wishes and dreams; and collected a treasure-trove of ideas. They're all here in MarketingPilot. MarketingPilot is browser based - buy media anywhere, any time; with a PC or Macintosh. Buy:

Buying
MarketingPilot provides a robust set of tools to help make media buying less onerous and time consuming. Ordering Wizards enable buyers to flight repetitive/multiple advertisements effortlessly. Send orders and clearances via email. Post invoices and orders on the MarketingPilot Web Portal for online access by vendors and clients; automatic alerts notify them when a new item is waiting.

Planning
Research, plan and build cohesive, integrated media plans with minimal effort. MarketingPilot tracks all the details. With a few clicks find available media, selects, demographics, reach, GRPs, circulation, audience, options, and costs. There's more: review past, planned, and current usage, drill-down to review payments, current prices, discounts, and make-goods. One more click shows actual results:

• Search MarketingPilot's database to find outlets.
• Flowcharts help analyze reach and frequency.
• Visualize schedules with Gantt charts and calendars.
  

Create an unlimited number of plans combining any variety of media types. For each campaign, MarketingPilot tracks more than 50 variables including products, brands, locations, costs, estimated reach, frequency and circulation.

Traffic
Spend less time reacting in crisis mode to missed materials deadlines and insertion due dates. MarketingPilot tightly integrates traffic - getting the creative to the media outlet and getting the list from the broker - into the media buying process. Every spot and placement automatically creates a materials request. MarketingPilot makes it easy to track the status of materials requests, ensuring on time production and delivery of materials to the media outlets. For display advertising, every order also automatically creates insertion/order deadlines, too. Materials traffic requests roll-up to a central dashboard for a complete picture of where things stand.

Media Database
MarketingPilot's media database provides a central place to store and share media information. Use the database for:

• Research and planning.
• Storing, sharing and tracking rate and availability information.
• Storing contracts and affidavits.
• Quick access to ad rep and media outlet contact information.
• Archiving historical data including prior orders, expenses, invoices, etc.

For the ultimate in ease of use, organize media outlets in user defined folders along client, media type, geographic or product lines.

Ad Database
MarketingPilot's integrated Ad database tracks the details of every advertisement, banner, spot, commercial, direct mail package and email message. Associate phone numbers, email addresses, URLs, offers and source codes with every Ad. Response analysis shows the effectiveness of each Ad.

Billing
MarketingPilot makes it easy to sell media, too.

• Associate invoices with clients, campaigns, locations, brands, etc.
• Track sales, VAT, and GAT taxes.
• Track receivables and client payments.

Markets and Demographics
With MarketingPilot it's easy to track markets and demographics. Use Nielsen, Arbitron or custom market and demographic segmentation. MarketingPilot comes preloaded with Nielsen and Arbitron markets and demographics for U.S. radio and TV. Track gross rating points, reach, circulation, distribution, cost per point, cost per thousand across all media outlets and types. MarketingPilot makes it easy to access and retrieve the information needed to develop plans and to track the effectiveness of campaigns.

Integrated Response Analysis
MarketingPilot provides powerful and flexible functions for tracking performance and results. Say good-bye to hours spent scouring reports and keying results into spreadsheets for analysis. With MarketingPilot the up-to-date information needed to make decisions is available all the time.

• Create your own metrics (result types).
• Track an unlimited number of metrics/result types.
• Track performance and results for advertisements, keywords, mailing lists, email messages, offer, etc.
• Roll-up and tabulate results on-screen by campaign, phone number, landing page, or offer; drill down to transaction details.
• Forecast results and compare forecast versus actual results.
• Roll-up and tabulate results on-screen for each company, client, division, department, region, location or channel; drill down to transaction details.
• Easily export results to Microsoft Excel for further analysis and what-ifs.
• Track different metrics for different campaigns. For example, track response rates for direct mail, and click-throughs for banner advertising.

While it is great to be able to assess the performance of one variable, the true power of MarketingPilot is its ability to track multiple variables. For example, MarketingPilot enables you to not only track how one promotional offer is doing, but how it is doing across markets, or locations. Or, you could track how an Ad is working in different media outlets.

Reconciliation and Stewardship
MarketingPilot provides great tools to help manage proof of performance, invoice approval, and reconciliation:

• Keep a permanent record of orders and vendor invoices.
• The order variance is displayed on screen for immediate access.
• Quickly and easily adjust orders and approve expenses for payment.
• Route media orders for approval using MarketingPilot's built-in workflow tools. MarketingPilot automatically tracks sign offs and completion.
• Store Affidavits and Proofs of Performance Online: Electronic affidavits and proofs of performance can be attached to orders to create an end-to-end digital audit trail, eliminating paper files. MarketingPilot can handle a broad range of formats including pictures, photographs, tear sheets, video clips and recordings.
• Post invoices and orders on the Web Portal for online access by vendors and clients.

Full Financial Integration
MarketingPilot seamlessly integrates media buying with finance and accounting. Materials production costs are linked into media plans. Get a complete picture of a campaign's total cost. Decrease costs by leveraging economies of scale and by reducing late fees and rush charges.

Customizable Order Forms
Use our standard forms or design your own. MarketingPilot enables users to transform valuable marketing data into shared information for insightful, timely decisions. MarketingPilot provides a comprehensive reporting solution that enables the creation, management, and delivery of both traditional, paper-oriented reports and interactive, web-based reports. Marketers can create custom reports and explore MarketingPilot data. MarketingPilot enables users to interactively drill and explore data related to the content of their report. Export report data to formats such as Microsoft Excel, Adobe PDF, HTML, etc.

List Management
MarketingPilot provides a complete solution for managing mailing lists and their usage:

• Import contacts.
• Add and remove contacts from lists.
• Generate counts.
• Create queries to generate custom lists using a powerful yet easy to use query tool, or us SQL queries.
• Create dynamic query-based lists.
• Track usage.
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• Integrated invoicing and billing