It was bound to happen. Working at MMGY, a full-service marketing agency in travel, tourism and hospitality, I figured I would eventually find myself packing for two climates at once. That day came in mid-February. I had a tourism conference in Myrtle Beach, SC, where temperatures were forecast in the 60s, followed by a flight to Breckenridge, CO, where it was well below freezing.
I stood over two piles of clothes. A full-length Aritzia Powder Parka sat on the left and open-toed sandals sat on the right. My carry-on seemed to shrink before my eyes. Then it clicked. The bag was a problem, but I was resourceful and only needed to get creative. Anything can be a suitcase.
Jessica Schultz, our EVP of Global Media and Analytics, recently wrote More Isn’t a Media Strategy. She used the very relatable habit of overpacking to make a sharp point about discipline and discernment in a crowded field of media options. It occurred to me that her analogy had a second use within my situation as well. Her piece addresses what to leave out when the options are endless. Mine looks at what to do when the choices have already been made for you and the bag is still too small.
Constraints come in more than one size
Budget cuts get most of the attention, and the attention is deserved. Many DMOs and their agencies are heading into 2027 with tighter budgets. However, money is only one of the limits that shape a media plan.
Audiences are diverse. “Target everyone” no longer holds up, so media must show up where each audience spends its time.
Production budgets are not limitless. Diverse audiences mean more creative versions, and that isn’t always sustainable. A strong proposal can stall without fresh creative assets.
Attention is crowded. People see a staggering volume of media every day, which makes a placement that stands out hard to find.
Good plans still get cut. You find the tactics that work for a client, then you are forced to trim them. What remains meets the goals but has lost some of the sparkle clients love.
The “Whoa, I haven’t seen that before” activation is the part of media that everyone remembers, and I love building those. That said, much of the creative work happens earlier and with less fanfare, in how a team solves for limits like these. Here are four moves that have worked for us.
Borrow trust your audience already has
Some audiences are reachable, but reaching them well as a brand is harder. Take families with children planning a summer trip. The audience is enormous and varied. A destination speaking alone would need a heavy media load to land and would still lack credibility with every person in the car.
A partner that the whole household already welcomes can carry the message further than added spend. There is creativity in finding someone else to tell your story better than you can. Ensure those trusted voices are armed with the information needed to push the audience to convert. Helpful content gets welcomed in ways an ad rarely does.
Get in early where others are still hesitating
New channels and formats often start out closed or unproven. Early access carries real risk, including untested performance, unclear measurement, and sometimes costs that sit outside the usual structure. But a calculated risk with the downside defined up front might appeal to the DMO that craves being on the cutting edge of media, and getting them access a year or more ahead of competitors fulfills that brief. The creative part is deciding which risk is worth taking and how to cap it.
Use relationships to open doors
A client that wants credibility in a new category, such as culinary or art, does not always need a bigger buy. Often, it needs an introduction to the right brands in that space. Cultivating relationships with your media partners can open doors you would otherwise struggle to unlock. These relationships can put a client in front of the right decision–maker faster than a cold pitch.
Make your partners do more
Much of the creative opportunity in media sits in the planning documents, including the RFP. Ask partners for more than impressions: custom content, added value, and creative support. Repurpose strong organic social or partner-made content in paid media so you get something fresh without a production crew. Negotiate usage rights up front so that creative keeps working beyond the first flight. The overlap between PR and media is also worth mining, since brand partnerships and market activations can give a campaign more legs.
Creativity depends on the team
Everything above relies on the people doing the work. A team navigates constraints more effectively when proposing unconventional solutions feels safe.
As a leader, I ask myself how to encourage people to move past the safe solution when the situation calls for it. The key is creating a space where every idea is accepted with a “yes, and?” and treated as a consideration. Nothing kills creativity media planning more than someone saying, “but, that won’t work.”
Process plays a part too. Manual work often sucks up the time the team could spend thinking, so as leaders we build processes and tools that take repetitive tasks off people’s plates. That gives them room to think strategically and creatively, which is where the good ideas come from.
The trip still happens
I stepped off the plane in Myrtle Beach in winter boots, several layers of clothes and my parka, with my oversized personal item –, sandals poking out – , slung over my shoulder. I yawned, having discovered that parkas make great pillows.
Constraints will keep showing up in media plans. That is a fact. Treat them as the starting point of the brief and make that the motivator to get creative.
