A media planner is like a writer who creates the screen play for a film. A media buyer is like the actor who brings the film to life. A politician with a good message who fails to get out the vote loses the election. And a good media idea, modern language textbooks, might as well have been a bad idea. Sometimes execution is everything.
A media plan might be brilliant, but will it be executed with equal zeal? Will the plan be executed on budget with the right media vehicles, in the right place, at the right time and with maximum communications impact? If not, the plan might not look so brilliant any more. Media planning, media buying, and media selling are all equal communications partners in driving ROI.
Why is Buying Underestimated?
Since all of the disciplines (planning, buying, selling) are all of roughly equal in importance, I have always wondered why media textbooks dedicate only a few pages to the art and science of media buying and no pages to media selling. Clients probably place the highest importance on the cost effectiveness of the buys negotiated on their behalf. Agencies can lose clients on the basis of poor media buying performance, bu I don’t think I can ever remember an agency losing an account because of a media simulation model.

