Yesterday, in a call with an agency president she said, “media planning in Excel is a fool’s errand.” This got me thinking about all the ways a purpose-built media planning tool like Bionic’s Digital Media Planner system gives a media planner a competitive advantage over those still using Microsoft Excel.

Here’s the list of the advantages (I’m sure I missed a few!):

Advantage Microsoft
Excel
Bionic
Planner
Year built 1985 2013
Create your media plan YES YES
Purpose-built for digital media planning no YES
Built-in media-specific calculations no YES
Easy one-screen interface YES YES
Modern user interface no YES
Media planning dashboard no YES
Clone previous media plans YES YES
Clone rows in a media plan YES YES
Easily import Research from comScore and other tools no YES
Find media programs with search tool no YES
Save time with type-ahead no YES
Get media ideas via suggestion tool no YES
Supports IAB standards no YES
Perform what-if analysis no YES
Link to Publisher data including placements, rates, inventory, and sales contact no YES
Link to comScore data including audience trends, profiles, and cross-visiting no YES
Send Requests for Proposals (RFPs) no YES
Track RFP status online no YES
Receive and manage proposals online no YES
Receive Requests for Consideration (RFCs) no YES
Accept proposals into your plan with a button click no YES
Share your media plan online no YES
Lock your plan while you are working on it no YES
View a full history of changes to your plan no YES
Compare to a prior versions of your plan no YES
Revert to a prior version of your plan no YES
Export Media Authorization no YES
Export Insertion Orders no YES
Export to Google DFA and other ad servers no YES
Integrate with other media tools via APIs no YES
Streamline your media planning process no YES
Get better insights no YES
Position yourself for the future no YES

Learn more about Bionic Planner at