Optimizing an Advertising Campaign Reflection

The purpose of this lab assignment is to show how math can be used to solve problems

and find solutions in real life situations. In this lab we are tasked to find which combination of

radio and tv ads that will yield the most amount of exposure while still being within the budget.

The math techniques used in this lab are linear equations and linear inequalities.

Marketing is an area where this type of math application can be applied to often. A

different, but similar situation where this application can be used would be for example a new

restaurant that wants to advertise their grand opening. They would have a certain budget that

they can’t exceed on advertising and their advertising can be on things such as internet ads or

newspaper spots.

It would be important to be able to explain this project to clients if you were working for

an advertising agency for several reasons. First, it lays out all the numbers including budget,

reach and costs of each specific ad, and formulas to find the best combination of ads. Second, by

using math and the linear equations in this project we are able to find the definitive best

combination of ads. Finally, by being able to show and prove that you can find solutions to

problems that a client may have the more likely you are to be hired on to future projects.

The information given in this project such as the costs of ads, budget, and reach of ads

play a big role in the results. If one of the variables changes then it effects the rest of the project.

For example, if the budget was higher more ads can be purchased and vice versa. In the situation

where the vertices weren’t at integer value such as 15.5 tv ads and 22.2 radio ads then you would

have to round down to the nearest whole value.

 I believe this project only further supported my opinion on the usefulness of math. Math

is used all around us and in many different situations. A lot of the time we don’t realize we’re

using math in our real-life situations. Math is critical in situations such as this project to ensure

the best possible outcome.