They say 2009 is the year of the credit crunch, that it is already upon us, that marketing budgets will be drastically cut and that people will be made redundant and companies will go bust.
A word of caution! While it is true that it’s the MBA bankers and PHD mathematicians that got us into this mess with their calculated greed, there is a natural order to chaos.
The pendulum of expansion and contraction swings effortlessly from one extreme to the other. Do not get caught out by the soothsayers extolling visions of doom and gloom. It’s their job to focus on extremes and make judgements based on fear and doubt.
The winners will be those companies who invest time and energy in their brand.
How does this manifest? Start within, where all golden riches are found - conduct internal communications and brand-building exercises and seminars to align and motivate your employees as brand ambassadors, galvanising them to enrol and belong to your brand or tribe. Let “efficiency” be your Mantra when it comes to external communications – does this campaign reflect my brand values/proposition?. Does it communicate my positioning and differentiation, or is it just the agency’s attempt at winning an Award, or getting me to spend lots of money?
Invest in your brand in the down times, so you are well-positioned to build market share and reduce customer acquisition costs in the uptime. Do not make the mistake of being a lemming and jumping over the cliff of budget cuts just because everyone else is doing it.
Remember the truism of one of advertising’s leading exponents of the art Bill Bernbach.
“When everyone is zigging…. Zag!”
In the most recent study published by the American Association
of Advertising Agencies, nearly 2,700 firms across three industries – consumer, industrial, and service – were
analysed on ad spending and financial performance in both expanding and receding economic
periods.
Findings demonstrate that advertising, in general, and brand building in particular contribute to financial performance
for up
to three years in the future. In addition, according to the study, increased advertising in an
economic downturn or recession has greater benefits than increased spending in a period of
economic expansion. These benefits stem both from an increased share of voice (SOV) among
consumers, as well as enhanced perceptions from stakeholders.
In fact, there may not be a better time to advertise. With the natural tendency to retract ad
spending as consumer demand retracts, smart companies looking for growth can take
advantage of the communications vacuum left behind by ramping up their
own efforts.
Increased spending for the brand, combined with decreased spending in the category, could
lead to higher SOV.
|
