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Traditional Media Plan, Maxxim

Traditional Media Plan

How to read this plan, and the honest headline

This is the Traditional Media Plan for Maxxim, produced in the Deploy phase against Master Briefing v2.1, the Gate 1 decisions of 27 June 2026, and the 1 July refresh that folded in the 29 June product mechanics and the live Jewell partner. Traditional media means broadcast and physical channels: television, radio, print, out-of-home (OOH), and cinema, plus the near-neighbour of audio (podcast and streaming reads) where a considered B2B audience actually listens. The brief for this specialist is to be candid about relevance and timing before being useful, and that is what this document does.

The honest headline first. Broadcast and physical traditional media is not a near-term priority for Maxxim, and this plan recommends spending nothing on mass channels now. Maxxim's near-term motion is founder-led, partner-recruitment, and digital, exactly as Marketing Plan sets out. Maxxim's job in the current window is almost entirely Layer 1: recruiting a small founding cohort of 5 to 8 trusted operators through demonstration, a live partner, and relationship. The model is proof-led and partner-led, not spend-led. None of the conditions that make television, a radio flight, or a billboard campaign worthwhile are present for a pre-scale B2B platform recruiting a named handful of operators. Recommending them would waste money and pull focus off the 3 July session and the proof surface.

So this plan does three things. First, it explains plainly why mass traditional media is deferred, channel by channel. Second, it takes an honest position on the one narrow slice of traditional media that could earn a small place for Maxxim's own brand even now: highly targeted trade and industry print, and podcast or business-radio reads on the shows this exact operator audience already listens to. That slice is a considered option for Clent, framed as illustrative and optional, never a recommended buy at scale. Third, and this is where the bulk of the plan earns its place, it equips the real future application: partner-led end-client campaigns in local markets, where local radio leads, supported by local print and a few OOH faces, every exposure handed off to the owned digital asset the 3D run produced. The channel mechanics in Sections 3 to 6 are written as a reference a partner can pick up the day a local end client needs them, not as a buy for Maxxim itself.

The same discipline as every upstream document applies. All spend in this plan is illustrative, pending pilots, and would require Clent sign-off before being treated as a number. Real pricing anchors are stated as real: the Growth Diagnostic at $4,950 credited forward, the premium engagement band of $25,000 to $250,000 with a recent run near $80,000, the specialist module near $1,500. Proof respects clearance: Pottsville Acupuncture is the only cleared public Maxxim proof, OTR Earthmover is internal only, Hidrive is percentages only, and Jewell's own named results stay under Jewell's banner. Maxxim's own category lead word is OPEN and is not invented here; Jewell's external lead word is growth. Ownership is Clent and Raef only, and Paul Clancy is a Client Partner, not a co-founder. Australian English throughout, no em dashes, no exclamation marks.

1. Traditional Media Objectives

The first and most important objective is a negative one, and naming it is the point of this section. A media planner's discipline is to protect the client from spending where reach is wasted, and for Maxxim right now that means holding the line on the whole broadcast category.

Objective 0: Spend nothing on mass traditional media in the current window

Objective statement. Recommend zero television, mass radio, OOH, or cinema spend for Maxxim itself through the founding-cohort window (now to 30 September 2026), and direct every available dollar to the 3 July session, the partner hub, cleared proof, and the maxxim.ai proof surface, as the marketing plan directs.
Why this is an objective, not an omission. Maxxim recruits a named pipeline of operators (Alex and 3P with around 36 opportunities, Arran Aitken, Greg Johnson, Christy Kilmartin) through direct founder conversation and a live look at Max, Sal, and Pip running the method. Broadcast reach buys almost nothing against a five-to-eight-person target. The objective is to hold the line so the budget stays where it moves the motion.

Where traditional media does become relevant, it becomes relevant for two distinct buyers, and the objectives differ for each. These are stated as the targets the plan would adopt later, not as commitments now.

The one narrow near-term option, for Maxxim's own brand: targeted trade audio and print

Objective statement. If, and only if, Clent chooses to plant a small category flag beyond digital during the founding window, do it through a tightly targeted B2B trade placement or a sponsored read on a business or marketing podcast that the operator audience already listens to. Aim for credibility and category presence among decision-makers, not reach numbers.
Frequency and quality goal. A small number of high-quality, well-matched placements beats broad, thin coverage every time. Three quality exposures in the right ear beat ten forgettable ones in the wrong one. This is the minimum-effective-frequency discipline applied to a considered audience.
Status. Optional, illustrative, and Clent's call. It is not a recommended buy at scale, and it must not displace the session, the hub, or proof. It is included because being honest means naming the one slice of traditional media that fits a considered B2B audience even at this stage.

Later, for a partner-led end-client campaign (a local SME or tradie client, delivered through a partner)

Reach target. For a single-town or single-LGA end client, reach 50 to 60 percent of the resident adult population in the trade catchment across a flight, because a local business needs saturation in a small area, not thin national coverage.
Frequency goal. 3 or more quality exposures per person across a four-to-six-week flight. Below three, a local brand message does not stick; minimum effective frequency matters more than maximum reach.
Geographic coverage. Tightly local: one regional radio licence area, one local newspaper circulation zone, or a cluster of OOH faces on the routes the catchment actually drives.
Digital handoff target. Every exposure carries one trackable action (a vanity URL, a QR code, or a search prompt) landing on the owned Astro site the 3D run produced, so the partner can measure lift, because traditional media measurement is otherwise imprecise.

Later still, for a Maxxim or Jewell brand-awareness phase (only once the model is proven)

Reach target. Build prompted awareness of the category and the brand among business operators and decision-makers in a chosen region or vertical, not the general public. This is a considered B2B audience, so reach is narrow and quality matters more than gross numbers.
Brand-lift target. A measurable pre-and-post lift in prompted awareness and consideration among the target operator audience, validated by a brand-lift study, not assumed from a media schedule.
Trigger. This objective only activates once the founding cohort has proven the economics and at least two additional cleared case studies exist beyond Pottsville. See Section 7 for the trigger conditions.

2. Channel Recommendations

The relevance-and-timing map below is the heart of this plan. It places each traditional channel against two questions: is it relevant to Maxxim now, and when (if ever) might it become relevant. Read it before the channel detail, because it explains why nothing mass is recommended for purchase today, and where the one narrow near-term option sits.

Relevance and timing map: every traditional channel against now versus later, for Maxxim and for partner-led end clients.


      TRADITIONAL MEDIA: RELEVANCE x TIMING

                 NOW (Jul-Sep 2026)      LATER (proven model / partner client)
                 founder-led, digital,    +------------------------------------+
                 partner recruitment      |                                    |
   --------------+----------------------+ |                                    |
   TV (FTA/sub)  |  NOT RELEVANT        | |  Maxxim: NO (wrong audience/cost)  |
                 |  no mass audience,   | |  Partner client: RARELY (only a    |
                 |  B2B niche, no $$    -+->  large regional SME, big budget)   |
   --------------+----------------------+ +------------------------------------+
   RADIO         |  NOT RELEVANT (mass) | |  Partner client: YES, local/regional|
   (metro/reg.)  |  no consumer motion -+->  radio is the strongest traditional |
                 |                      | |  fit for a local end client         |
   --------------+----------------------+ +------------------------------------+
   AUDIO         |  NARROW OPTION only  | |  Maxxim: YES if a proven-model      |
   (B2B podcast /|  a matched B2B show  -+->  awareness phase runs; the operator |
   biz-radio read|  read, if Clent opts | |  audience genuinely listens here    |
   --------------+----------------------+ +------------------------------------+
   PRINT (local  |  NARROW OPTION only  | |  Partner client: YES, local paper / |
   + trade)      |  a matched trade    -+->  trade press for a tradie or SME;    |
                 |  title, if Clent opts| |  Maxxim: trade press later          |
   --------------+----------------------+ +------------------------------------+
   OOH (billboard|  NOT RELEVANT        | |  Partner client: YES, local static/ |
   transit, etc) |  no place-based need -+->  digital faces on catchment routes  |
   --------------+----------------------+ +------------------------------------+
   CINEMA        |  NOT RELEVANT        | |  Partner client: RARELY (a local    |
                 |  wrong audience     -+->  cinema slot for a consumer brand)   |
                 |                      | |  Maxxim: NO                          |
   --------------+----------------------+ +------------------------------------+

   THE RULE RUNNING UNDER EVERY ROW:
   Maxxim recruits operators 1:1 through the founder, the 3 July session,
   and a live look at Max, Sal, and Pip. Broadcast reach cannot find a
   named pipeline of 5 to 8 people. The only traditional media that fits
   Maxxim now is a MATCHED B2B placement in the exact ear of the operator
   audience, and that is optional. Otherwise traditional media earns its
   place only when a PARTNER needs to reach a LOCAL CONSUMER or
   LOCAL-BUSINESS audience for an END CLIENT.

What is recommended now

No mass traditional media. No television, mass radio, OOH, or cinema spend for Maxxim in the founding-cohort window. The recommendation is to defer the whole broadcast category and revisit against the trigger conditions in Section 7. The single permitted near-term consideration, entirely at Clent's discretion, is a small, tightly matched trade-print placement or a B2B podcast or business-radio read, treated as an optional category-flag experiment, not a media buy at scale.

What is explicitly NOT recommended, and why

The skill requires that channels not recommended are stated with rationale, not simply omitted. For Maxxim, in the current window, that is every mass traditional channel.

Channel	Not recommended for Maxxim now because
Television (free-to-air and subscription)	Television buys mass reach. Maxxim's near-term audience is a named pipeline of a handful of operators, reached by the founder directly. The minimum effective TV spend in any Australian market runs to tens of thousands of dollars for a usable schedule, which would consume the entire illustrative marketing budget to reach almost no one who matters. Wrong audience, wrong cost, wrong stage.
Mass radio (metro and regional broadcast)	Broadcast radio is a consumer and local-business medium. Maxxim is not running consumer demand generation now; that is the partner's job at Layer 2. There is no Maxxim-level consumer motion to support, so mass radio has nothing to carry in the current window. A tightly matched B2B or business-programming read is a different, narrow thing, handled in Section 4.
Mass print (display advertising in general newspapers and consumer magazines)	Operators are reached person to person and on LinkedIn, not through general-press display. A matched trade-press placement could have a narrow role for B2B credibility (see Section 5), but broad print display is not how the founding cohort is recruited, so it is deferred.
Out-of-home (billboards, transit, street furniture)	OOH is place-based reach for a broad local audience. Maxxim has no place-based need and no broad audience to reach now. A billboard cannot recruit a trusted operator. Deferred entirely until a partner needs it for a local end client.
Cinema	Cinema delivers a captive, young, consumer audience in a local catchment. It is the furthest of all the channels from Maxxim's B2B operator audience. Not recommended now and unlikely ever for Maxxim itself.

Where traditional media genuinely could apply

The deferral is not a dismissal. There are three real applications, one available now as an option and two later, and the rest of this plan equips them.

Now, as an option: a matched B2B trade or audio placement for Maxxim's own brand. A single, well-chosen trade-press insertion, or a sponsored read on a business or marketing podcast the operator audience already listens to, can lend third-party category credibility during the founding window. It complements the PR and earned-media work the marketing plan prioritises, and it is the one traditional touchpoint that reaches a considered B2B audience without waste. Optional, illustrative, Clent's call.
Later: partner-led end-client campaigns in local markets. A tradie or local SME client, delivered through a partner, may well benefit from local radio, the local paper, or a handful of OOH faces. This is the strongest and most likely application, and it is an end-client deliverable a partner runs, not a Maxxim buy. The local-market channel mix in the next diagram is built for exactly this.
Later: regional and community media for vertical pods, and a future Maxxim or Jewell awareness phase. As the network forms vertical pods (trades, local business, not for profit, government), community media (regional radio, local press, council and community noticeboards) becomes a low-cost, high-trust surface for a pod's end clients. And once the model is proven and the proof base is deeper, a narrow B2B awareness push could plant the category flag beyond digital. Both are gated by the conditions in Section 7.

Local-market channel mix for a partner-delivered end-client campaign (illustrative: a tradie or local SME in a regional town). This is the reference a partner uses, not a Maxxim buy.


      LOCAL-MARKET CHANNEL MIX  (end-client, partner-delivered)

      A local SME / tradie client in one town or LGA.
      Goal: 50-60% catchment reach, 3+ frequency, the phone rings.

      +-----------------------------------------------------------+
      |  CORE: LOCAL / REGIONAL RADIO                             |
      |  breakfast + drive dayparts on the licence area station;  |
      |  produced 30s + live reads. The workhorse of local reach. |
      |  -> drives a memorable phone number + "search for ..."    |
      +-----------------------------------------------------------+
                 |                              |
      +--------------------------+   +-----------------------------+
      |  SUPPORT: LOCAL PRINT    |   |  SUPPORT: LOCAL OOH         |
      |  the town newspaper /    |   |  1-3 static or digital faces|
      |  trade directory; strip  |   |  on the catchment's main    |
      |  or quarter-page, repeat |   |  drive routes; QR to site   |
      |  -> editorial trust      |   |  -> top-of-mind on the road |
      +--------------------------+   +-----------------------------+
                 |                              |
                 +-------------+----------------+
                               v
      +-----------------------------------------------------------+
      |  DIGITAL HANDOFF (always): vanity URL + QR + search prompt |
      |  the launched, OWNED Astro site the 3D run produced (on    |
      |  Cloudflare Pages, custom domain, contact form live) is    |
      |  where every traditional exposure lands. Traditional       |
      |  drives; the owned site converts and is measured.          |
      +-----------------------------------------------------------+

      WHAT IS DELIBERATELY ABSENT: TV and cinema. A single-town
      local client almost never has the budget or the need.

3. TV Plan

Not recommended for Maxxim, now or in the foreseeable plan horizon. Television is the wrong tool for a B2B platform recruiting a named handful of operators, and the minimum effective spend cannot be justified against the founder-led, digital, proof-led motion. This section is therefore a brief reference for the one narrow future case where a partner's end client might consider it, with all figures illustrative.

The only plausible later case: a large regional SME end client

If a partner ever delivers for a sizeable regional business with a genuine mass-consumer audience and a real budget, regional free-to-air television (the aggregated regional networks) can deliver town-and-district reach. Subscription television is not relevant for a local advertiser. Even then, radio and OOH usually deliver the same local reach for a fraction of the cost, so television would be a considered exception, not a default.

Element	Reference guidance (illustrative, end-client only)
FTA vs subscription	Regional FTA only, for genuine local mass reach. Subscription TV not relevant for a local advertiser.
Daypart	News and early-evening peak in the regional market, where the older local-business-owning audience concentrates.
Spot length	30s as the brand-building default; a 15s cutdown for frequency in later weeks. The 30s can be built from a Sal-directed still animated to video via the engine's video path, keeping production lean.
Reach and frequency	Plan to a regional TARP schedule only if budget supports 3 or more frequency across the flight; below that, do not buy TV at all.
Budget	Illustrative and end-client-specific. Only viable for a high-budget regional client; redirect to radio and OOH otherwise.

4. Radio and Audio Plan

This section splits in two, because radio is the one traditional channel with both a real near-term option for Maxxim and the strongest future fit for a partner's end client.

4a. For Maxxim now: a narrow, matched B2B audio read (optional)

Not a mass-radio buy, and entirely optional. Mass broadcast radio has no Maxxim-level consumer motion to carry. But a considered B2B audience does listen to something: business and marketing podcasts, and business-programming segments on talk radio. A single sponsored read on a well-matched show that the operator audience already listens to can lend category credibility in the exact ear that matters, with none of the waste of a broadcast schedule. This is the audio equivalent of a trade-press placement, and it sits alongside the PR and earned-media work rather than competing with it. It is optional, illustrative, and Clent's call, and it must not displace the session, the hub, or proof.

Element	Reference guidance (illustrative, Maxxim-brand, optional)
Show selection	An Australian business or marketing podcast, or a business-programming radio segment, with a genuine audience of operators, agency owners, and SME decision-makers. Fit of audience beats size of audience.
Format	A host-read sponsorship or a founder guest appearance, not a produced spot. The credibility is in the host's voice and a real conversation, which suits the Sage, operator-to-operator brand.
Message	The category story: a proven method, run by a human, at AI speed, the engine behind the partner. Lead with Pottsville as the cleared public proof. Jewell as a live partner illustrates the model; its named results stay under Jewell's banner.
Handoff	A short, spoken vanity URL and a clean "search for Maxxim" prompt, landing on maxxim.ai so the read is measurable through branded search and direct traffic.
Budget	Illustrative and small. A single-figure share of the brand budget at most, framed as an experiment, not a channel commitment.

4b. For a partner's local end client: local and regional radio, the workhorse

Local and regional radio is the single strongest traditional-media fit for a partner's local end client, so this is the most useful reference in the plan for the partner channel. Regional radio is dramatically underpriced relative to metro, and for a business with a tight geographic focus it is often the best value in all of traditional media. A local tradie or SME (the Time-Poor Tradie or Local SME persona in Marketing Plan, reached through a partner) needs saturation in a small catchment, and a regional breakfast-and-drive schedule delivers exactly that, with the bonus of live-read credibility from a trusted local announcer.

Element	Reference guidance (illustrative, end-client, partner-delivered)
Station selection	The dominant commercial station in the client's licence area, matched to the catchment, not the nearest metro signal. Format aligned to the end client's customer age and the brand personality.
Daypart strategy	Breakfast and afternoon drive as the core, where local listening peaks; weekend mornings for trades and home-services clients.
Spot length and format	A produced 30s as the brand spot, plus live reads by the local announcer for credibility and reach. A 15s cutdown for frequency. Scripts can be drafted by Max and signed off by the partner, keeping production fast.
Sponsorship and integration	Breakfast-show mentions, local weather or community-noticeboard sponsorship, and competition partnerships are cheap, high-trust, and well suited to a community brand.
Estimated reach	Plan to 50 to 60 percent of the catchment adult population across a four-to-six-week flight at 3 or more frequency. Regional cume builds fast in a small market.
Budget allocation	Illustrative and end-client-specific. As the core of a local mix, radio typically carries the largest single share of a small local traditional budget.

5. Print Plan

Mass print display is not recommended for Maxxim now. Operators are not recruited through general-press advertising. Two narrow roles exist: one optional now, one deferred, plus the partner's local role.

Role one, optional now: a matched trade or B2B title for Maxxim's own brand

A single placement or a sponsored editorial in a credible marketing, agency, or small-business trade title could lend third-party category credibility during the founding window, in the same spirit as the audio read in Section 4a. It is optional, illustrative, and Clent's call. Advertorial or sponsored content built around the cleared Pottsville case study carries more weight than a display ad, and it complements PR rather than duplicating it. It must not displace the session, the hub, or proof.

Role two, deferred: local print for a partner's end client

The town newspaper, a regional masthead, or a local trade directory carries genuine editorial trust for a local audience, and a repeating strip or quarter-page can support a local radio and OOH mix well. This is an end-client deliverable a partner runs.

Element	Reference guidance (illustrative)
Publication selection	Maxxim now (optional): a credible marketing or small-business trade title read by operators. End client later: the local masthead with real circulation in the catchment, plus any sector trade directory.
Ad size and positioning	Strip or quarter-page for a repeating local presence; right-hand page and editorial adjacency where available.
Frequency	Local: repeating insertions across the flight, because one insertion in print is forgettable. Trade: tied to a specific proof or category moment.
Editorial alignment	Advertorial or sponsored content built around a cleared case study (Pottsville is the only cleared public one today) carries more weight than a display ad. Design supplied by Sal to the locked identity.
Budget allocation	Illustrative. A small, optional, event-tied spend for any near-term Maxxim trade presence; a support line in a partner's local mix.

6. Out-of-Home Plan

Not recommended for Maxxim now. Maxxim has no place-based audience to reach. OOH has a real future role for a partner's local end client and effectively none for Maxxim itself.

Future role: local OOH for a partner's end client

A handful of static or digital faces on the main drive routes through a catchment keeps a local brand top of mind on the road, and digital OOH allows cheap creative rotation and day-parting. The discipline is to buy the faces the catchment actually passes, tied to audience movement, not the cheapest available inventory.

Element	Reference guidance (illustrative, end-client, partner-delivered)
Format selection	One to three static or small-format digital roadside faces on the catchment's arterial routes; bus shelters or street furniture near the client's trade area. Transit and airport are usually overkill for a single-town client.
Location strategy	Tied to audience movement: the routes residents drive to work, shops, and home, and the approaches to the client's premises.
Duration and rotation	A four-to-eight-week presence to build frequency; digital faces rotate two or three creative executions to hold attention.
Digital OOH and programmatic	Programmatic digital OOH allows low-commitment, day-parted buys, useful for a small client testing the channel before a longer commitment.
Digital handoff	A QR code and a short vanity URL on every face, landing on the owned Astro site the 3D run produced, so scans are measurable.
Budget allocation	Illustrative. A support line behind radio in a local mix.

7. Media Schedule

Because no mass traditional media is recommended for purchase now, the schedule is not a flight plan; it is a phasing timeline showing when traditional media could enter the picture, and the trigger conditions that must be met before it does. This is the most useful scheduling artefact for a deferred channel: it tells the partner and Clent what has to be true before a dollar is spent.

Phasing timeline: mass traditional media stays dark for Maxxim through the founding window; a matched B2B audio or trade placement is an optional near-term experiment; local media enters later at the end-client level, gated by triggers.


   TRADITIONAL MEDIA PHASING  (2026 -> beyond)

   NOW            | FOUNDING COHORT      | ONCE PROVEN        | LATER STILL
   (to 3 Jul)     | (Jul - Sep 2026)     | (model + proof)    | (scaled network)
   ---------------+----------------------+--------------------+------------------
   MAXXIM         | mass channels DARK   | mass DARK          | narrow B2B
   brand media    | (all $ -> session,   | (still digital +   | trade press /
                  |  hub, proof, site).  |  proof-led). A     | podcast / biz-
                  |  OPTIONAL: 1 matched |  matched B2B read  | radio read at a
                  |  B2B podcast/trade   |  or trade piece as |  proven-model
                  |  read [Clent's call] |  earned support    |  awareness phase
                  |                      |                    |  [trigger]
   ---------------+----------------------+--------------------+------------------
   PARTNER end-   | DARK                 | radio + local      | regional/community
   client local   | (no partners live   -| print + OOH        | media for VERTICAL
   campaigns      |  delivering yet)     | available as an    | PODS, per region
                  |                      | end-client option  | [as pods form]
                  |                      | [per client]       |
   ---------------+----------------------+--------------------+------------------

   TRIGGER CONDITIONS (all illustrative; Clent sign-off required):

   For the OPTIONAL Maxxim B2B read / trade placement now:
     * the show or title genuinely reaches the operator audience
     * it does not displace the session, hub, or proof spend
     * a trackable handoff (vanity URL / "search for Maxxim") is set
     * lead with Pottsville; Jewell's own results stay under Jewell

   For a PARTNER end-client local buy to be worthwhile:
     * the end client has a LOCAL CONSUMER or local-business audience
     * the client's budget supports 3+ frequency across a real flight
     * the owned Astro site (the 3D site) is live to receive traffic
     * a trackable handoff (vanity URL / QR / search prompt) is in place

   For any full MAXXIM brand traditional buy to be worthwhile:
     * founding-cohort economics are LOCKED (margin, cost-to-serve, LTV,
       break-even partner count)
     * at least two cleared case studies exist beyond Pottsville
     * a specific region or vertical is chosen (narrow, not national)
     * a brand-lift measurement is funded BEFORE the buy
     * digital has been saturated and a reach ceiling is genuinely hit

The reading is simple. Mass traditional media stays dark for Maxxim across the whole near-term window. The only thing that can run now is a single, matched B2B audio or trade placement, and only if Clent chooses it and it does not pull spend off the session, the hub, or proof. Local media enters first, at the end-client level through a partner, once partners are live and delivering and an individual client has a local audience and a budget. A full Maxxim-brand traditional buy sits furthest out and is gated by hard conditions, the most important of which is that the economics are locked and the digital channels have genuinely hit a ceiling. Spending on broadcast before digital is exhausted, at this stage, would be putting the expensive channel before the cheap one.

8. Creative Requirements

No mass-media creative is required now, because nothing mass is being bought. This section is a production-ready reference: for the optional Maxxim B2B placement now, and for the partner who later runs a local end-client campaign, so assets can be specified without re-briefing when the day comes. Where creative is needed, Sal produces the visuals and Max the scripts, to the locked identity, and a human signs off, which keeps production fast and cheap. All specifications follow standard Australian traditional-media norms.

Channel	Specifications and lead time (reference)
B2B audio read (Maxxim, optional)	A host-read brief or a