The Response Surface Process for Optimal Allocation of Media Budgets

The budgeting for, and allocation of, resources among various media alternatives is an increasing difficult communication task. The explosion of media forms (e.g. print, TV, websites, mobile, social networks) and the fragmentation of advertising vehicles based on a media form (e.g. programs, websites, magazines, etc.) challenge most traditional media planning approaches (Winer 2009). Advertising researchers recognize that media interact and produce “synergies,” requiring even more complex models of media effects (e.g. Naik and Peters 2009; Schultz, Block and Raman, 2009a, Schultz, Block and Raman b, Schultz, Block and Raman in press, Naik, Raman and Winer 2005; Naik and Raman 2003; Naik, Schultz and Srinivasan 2007; Chang and Thorson 2004; Stafford, et al. 2003; Havlena et al. 2007).