Campaign planning · Warsaw office
Brief → plan → flight → report
How EC APPS plans a campaign
Campaign planning is where most of the outcome is decided. This page walks through how we move from a brief to a live campaign and then to a report you can act on, including the choices we make about channel mix and targeting.
Where the outcome is decided
Starting from the brief, not the channel
A brief that says "we want to be on TikTok" is a channel decision wearing a strategy costume. We ask what the business needs first: more enquiries, a launch, a seasonal peak, or defence against a competitor. Then we look at who buys, where they decide, and how long the decision takes. A considered purchase and an impulse purchase need different channel mixes and different creative. Getting this order right saves budget later.
The first four questions we ask
- What has to change in the business, and by when?
- Who buys, and how long does that decision usually take?
- Where does the decision actually get made — search, retail shelf, city street, feed?
- What is the budget, and what would make this campaign a failure?
Building the channel mix
The mix follows from the goal and the budget. Search advertising takes the intent layer and usually sits at the base, since it captures demand that already exists. Programmatic display and video add reach and retargeting above that. Retail media sits close to the point of purchase for ecommerce clients. Digital out-of-home covers city-level reach when the message suits a public setting. We set a budget split with a reason for each line, and we note which channels are being tested rather than assumed to work.
Pressure on an audience
Setting reach and frequency targets
Reach and frequency are the two numbers that describe pressure on an audience. Too little frequency and the message does not register; too much and it becomes noise that people learn to ignore. We set a target range based on campaign length, budget and audience size, then monitor delivery against it. In digital this comes from platform and analytics data. In outdoor it comes from traffic counts, mobility data and panel studies. Neither is exact, which is why we treat the target as a range and adjust.
Digital read
Platform and analytics data, checked against the target range.
Outdoor read
Traffic counts, mobility data and panel studies — a range, not a promise.
Who is in, who is out
Defining who is in and who is out
Targeting decisions come before creative decisions, because they determine what the creative has to say. We combine geography, device, time of day, search behaviour, platform interests and first-party CRM segments. Exclusions matter as much as inclusions: current customers, recent purchasers, employees and irrelevant geographies. For retail clients, retail media audiences built from purchase behaviour often outperform interest-based segments, though they usually cost more per impression.
Signals we combine
- Geography and city-level reach
- Device and time of day
- Search behaviour and query themes
- Platform interests
- First-party CRM segments
What we exclude by default
- Current customers, where the goal is acquisition
- Recent purchasers inside the repurchase window
- Employees and internal traffic
- Geographies outside the service area
The media plan document
The plan lists channels, formats, budget split, flight dates, targeting summary, creative assets required, and the measurement setup. It also lists assumptions and risks, including seasonality, competitor activity and any regulatory constraint that could affect inventory. If a channel depends on a permit or a booking window, that appears in the timeline. The document is written to be reviewed and challenged, because a plan nobody questions is usually a plan nobody checked.
What the plan always states
- Channels and formats
- Which lines are in, in which format, for how long.
- Budget split and flight dates
- A reason per line, and the window each line runs inside.
- Targeting summary
- Inclusions and exclusions written out, not implied.
- Assumptions and risks
- Seasonality, competitor activity, permits and booking windows.
- Measurement setup
- What we will read, and how often we will read it.
Production handover
Creative briefs that production can actually use
A creative brief that says "make it engaging" produces three weeks of revision. Ours states the audience, the single message, the proof or reason to believe, the format and size list, the mandatory legal text, and the deadline tied to the media schedule. For search, it specifies the query themes the copy must match. For video, it specifies whether sound is guaranteed or whether the first frame must work muted. That level of detail is what keeps production on schedule.
For search
The query themes the copy has to match, spelled out.
For video
Whether sound is guaranteed, or the first frame must work muted.
Local rules that affect outdoor planning
Outdoor and digital out-of-home planning in Poland is shaped by municipal landscape resolutions, which control signage, billboards and visual clutter. Kraków is among the major cities that had adopted a resolution by July 2026, and its central districts are among the more regulated areas for outdoor inventory. Warsaw is the live case to watch: its earlier resolution was annulled, and a new draft entered the statutory consultation and opinion process on 31 July 2026, with public consultations planned as the next step. For planners this means site availability can shift, so we confirm status with operators before committing.
| City | Current status | What it means for planning |
|---|---|---|
| Kraków | Resolution adopted by July 2026 | Central districts are among the more regulated areas for outdoor inventory. |
| Warsaw | Earlier resolution annulled; new draft entered consultation on 31 July 2026 | Site availability can shift, so we confirm status with operators before committing. |
Launch checklist and the first two weeks
Before launch we confirm tracking fires correctly, landing pages load quickly on mobile, audiences and exclusions are applied, creative meets platform specs, and budget pacing is set. In the first two weeks we watch delivery closely rather than optimising immediately, because early data is noisy and reacting to it too fast usually makes things worse. We check cost per click, impression share on search, frequency on display, and conversion volume. Adjustments start once there is enough data to distinguish a trend from a wobble.
Confirmed before launch
- Tracking fires correctly across channels
- Landing pages load quickly on mobile
- Audiences and exclusions are applied
- Creative meets platform specs
- Budget pacing is set
Watched in the first two weeks
- Cost per click
- Impression share on search
- Frequency on display
- Conversion volume
- Delivery against the planned pacing
Scheduled, not reflexive
Optimisation across the flight
Optimisation is a scheduled activity, not a reflex. We review weekly for performance campaigns and less often for brand-led work, moving budget toward what delivers and pausing what does not. Creative rotation happens on a plan so the audience does not fatigue. On search we prune search terms, adjust bids and test ad copy. On programmatic we refine placements and frequency. Every change is logged with the reason, which makes the end-of-campaign review an evidence file rather than a memory exercise.
Reporting and what happens after the campaign
The final report covers delivery against the plan, cost metrics, reach and frequency, and what the data suggests for next time. If the client can share CRM outcomes, we look at lead quality and repeat purchase rather than stopping at form submissions. We also record what we would change: which channel deserved more budget, which creative variant held up, which audience underdelivered. That record is the main asset a client keeps after the campaign ends.
Questions we get before planning starts
Short answers to the three things clients ask most often before a media plan is written.
How long does planning take? Open Close
A straightforward plan can be ready in about a week. Campaigns with video production or outdoor bookings usually need several weeks.
Do you run tests within the main campaign? Open Close
Yes, where the budget supports it. We usually isolate tests in their own campaign so they do not distort the main delivery data.
Can we approve the media plan before anything is booked? Open Close
Yes. Nothing is booked or produced until the plan and the budget split are approved in writing.
Next step
Send a brief and we will come back with a plan you can challenge
Tell us the goal, the market and the budget. We will come back with a media plan that states its assumptions, its channel split and how the campaign will be measured, and you can approve it before anything is booked or produced.
Warsaw office
EC APPS SPÓŁKA Z OGRANICZONĄ ODPOWIEDZIALNOŚCIĄul. Hoża 86, lok. 410
00-682 Warszawa, Poland
Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM