Advertising in tough times – Keep fighting

The current issue of BRW Magazine has a cover story 10 Ways to Guard Against the Downturn – Bulletproof Your Business.

Point 2 of the feature says “Keep Fighting” with smart marketing and advertising. Here are some of the key messages:

Research by PriceWaterhouseCoopers shows that survivors of the last downturn kept advertising and marketing through the bad times.

Advertising will be a less cluttered environment during the downturn which means that advertisers have a better chance of standing out.

Online ads are expected to increase by 15% next year, while newspaper ad may fall by 12.2% and capital city free-to-air TV ads by 8%.

Blogging is becoming increasingly relevant due to the blogosphere’s power to influence.

Companies at greatest risk are those in the middle of the market. In a recession customers want either bargains or luxury.

Generate positive media stories. Communicate something positive that will cut through the doom and gloom.

Later in the same issue of BRW, marketing and media writer Neil Shoebridge discusses the theory that a recession or downturn is the best time for companies to increase, not cut, their advertising budgets.

Peter Fader from Wharton University says that companies that slash advertising leave “empty space in consumers minds for aggressive marketers to make strong inroads.”

Research from the early 1980′s that tracked the performance of 600 companies in the United States found that the companies that decided to hold or increase their ad budgets during the 1981-82 recession had significantly higher sales after the US economy recovered. Companies that advertisied aggressively during the recession had sales 256% higher than companies that did not continue to advertise.

What is Sticky’s take on this?

We’re an ad agency, of course we’ll tell you to advertise. But what we really want to discuss is how differently you should advertise.

This is a period of great change in the media and economy. Advertisers need to adapt to the changing environment. This means creating advertising that cuts through more. It means looking at different media options. It means creating more measurable results.

Doing the same old thing won’t work. We believe its the right time to change the rules of advertising, to Zag when everyone else Zigs, to talk to your customers more.

If you’d like to discuss an new approach to your advertising to maximise your results from the current economic climate, give us a call.