Create a New Plan Shell

Creating a new plan involves a set of steps, based on your organization's Plan settings. You can either create a new plan from scratch or copy an existing plan.

To create a new media plan you need to first navigate to the subsidiary where you would like to add this plan. Then you click on the option Create Plan at the bottom of your left-hand menu. A step-by-step guide will pop up, and before you start, you need to choose whether you would like to create a new plan or copy an existing one.

Option 1: Create a New Plan from Scratch

To create a brand new plan you need to go through the following steps:

General Settings
1. Set Plan Dates: Define the timeframe for your plan. Choose from custom dates or select from pre-defined options on the right to best suit your needs.
2. Media Type Selection: Specify which media types to include in your plan. Leaving this field blank defaults to including all existing media types in your organization.
3. Color Coding: Assign a color to your plan. This helps to distinguish it in various views such as Calendar view, Sheet view, and Reports.
4. Conventional Name Usage: If enabled, the name generated during the first four steps will automatically be assigned as your plan name.
Tags
1. Predefined Tags: Select tags that will be prefilled in your plan. This feature is designed to reduce manual input, especially when a tag category requires limited options per plan. However, these can still be changed in the sheet view.
2. Custom fields: These fields will appear if there are active plan fields associated with your account.
Brief
This step appears only if set to 'Required' in your settings. Use a brief template if available. When the Brief option is disabled, this step will not be shown. Read more about briefs here.
Set Permissions
Decide on the visibility of your plan:
- Public: Accessible to everyone in the organization and can be included in reports.
- Private: Restricted to specific individuals you select and will not appear in reports.
Finalize the Plan Shell
Click 'Create' at the bottom-right corner to complete the initial setup of your plan. This action directs you to the Plan Setup view, allowing you to review, modify, and enhance the details of your plan.

⚠️ A plan must be set to 'Public' when working with approvals. Once a plan enters any approval status, it cannot be reverted to private.

Option 2: Copy an Existing Plan

To duplicate the settings and data from the existing media plan, follow these steps:

Copy Existing Plan: Select the 'Copy existing plan' option and click 'Next'.
Select Plan to Copy: Choose the existing media plan you wish to copy from the dropdown menu.
New Start Date: Set a new start date for the copied plan. The duration will align with the original plan's timeframe.
Confirm Copy: Click on 'Copy' located in the bottom-right corner to proceed.

After these steps, you will be directed to the Plan Setup page, where you can modify the settings for the new plan as needed.

Plan Set Up Page

The Plan Setup Page is located at the bottom of your plan menu on the right side of your screen. This is the page you'll be directed to after creating a plan shell.

On the Plan Setup Page, you can edit sections such as Main Info, Targets, Brief, Tracking and Users & Sharing. Detailed information on each of these sections can be found below.

Main Info

In the Main Info section, you can adjust the details you initially provided when creating the plan shell. If you created your plan by copying an existing one, this section will replicate the structure of the original plan. Here, you can make necessary updates or corrections to ensure the information aligns with your current planning needs.

Targets

The Targets section under Plan Setup allows you to set numerical targets for specific aspects of your plan, such as budget allocation. These targets are displayed in the calendar view and sheet view of the plan, enabling planners to monitor the allocated amount against the "ideal" number, such as the remaining budget for this plan.

Setting a Plan Target:

Navigate to Targets: Go to the Targets section within the Plan Setup.
Select a Measure: Choose a measure under 'Target'. You can select from numerical fields that have been added to your Media Types.
Enter Your Target: Input the numerical target you aim to achieve.
Save Changes: Click on 'Save Changes' located at the bottom right of your screen.

Once saved, your target will be visible in both the Calendar and Sheet views and can be aggregated to the Targets sections of your subsidiary and parent accounts.

Brief

Briefs are added in the Plan Setup or during the plan creation and made viewable to all users within the Media Plan section so that they can be viewed in context with media planning work.

Create and view a brief

Navigate to the brief section on the Plan setup.
Use the rich text editor to create a brief.
Remember to click save at the bottom of the page before navigating away.

💡 Tip! You can also create a template for briefs if you want all team members to enter the same information. Just add your text in the rich text editor and click Create New Template at the top.

View a brief

To view a brief after it has been created, follow these steps:

Access the Conversations Icon: click on the Conversations icon (pink button) from any page within the Media Plan section (such as Calendar View, Sheet View, or Delivery Plan).
Navigate to the Brief Tab: Once the conversations panel is open, click on the Brief icon (orange button) to view the brief.

Save a Template

To save a brief as a template in Mediatool, follow these steps:

Outline the Brief: Ensure that the brief includes all necessary section headers and prompts. This helps guide users who will be creating plans, making the process clear and instructive.
Save as Template: Once you are satisfied with the brief's structure and content, click on the 'Save as Template' button, located towards the top right corner of the brief section.
Name Your Template: You will be prompted to provide a name for your template. Choose a name that clearly identifies the template's purpose or content.
Access Templates: After saving, a new button labeled 'Show Templates' will appear in the brief section of the plan setup. This allows any user to view and select from existing templates, providing a useful starting point for new plans.

Tracking Section

Generated UTI

Every plan generates its own unique tracking identifier (UTI), which can be copied/pasted into other third-party platforms to associate that data with this particular plan.

Learn more about the possibilities of data tracking/matching and UTIs.

Custom Tracking Codes

If you have chosen to match results data back to a particular plan in Mediatool, enter the unique keyword(s) that will identify the corresponding results in this section. If there are multiple keywords, make sure they are entered on separate lines.

Users & Sharing

Add a user to a plan to notify them about its creation and subscribe them to all conversations taking place inside the plan. They will receive notifications within Mediatool and via email.

Delete a Plan

To delete a plan, follow these steps:

Navigate to Plan Setup: Go to the Plan Setup page of your plan.
Locate Delete Plan: Find the 'Delete Plan' section, which is located towards the middle at the bottom of the page.
Confirm Deletion: You will be asked to re-enter the plan name for verification. Once confirmed, press the "delete plan" button to finalize the deletion.

⚠️ Please note that deleting a media plan is irreversible. Ensure you are certain about your decision to delete before proceeding.

Get Support

Have questions or need help? You can reach us directly via the messenger on Mediatool.com or the contact support button located in the top right corner of the Mediatool App.