How Ad Executives Cope With an Industry Recession
Written on July 27, 2009 at 12:57 pm, by Intake StudioThe largest advertising agencies had already cut more than 18,000 jobs by April of this year. And as the ranks of Madison Avenue’s unemployed swell, the job of finding relevant work has become a big challenge for ad executives.
“People are getting desperate,” says Amy Hoover, a vice president at Talent Zoo, an executive-recruiting firm that specializes in ad-industry placements. “Job candidates are asking me to submit them for jobs that offer less pay and less responsibility — just so they can be employed again.”
Ad people are used to jobs being eliminated when accounts shift from one agency to another. But rarely has the industry’s foundation seemed so shaky. Even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, agencies of all sizes and shapes were already facing a bleak environment because of the slowing economy. The attacks have only exacerbated the problem. On Oct. 19, Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners let go 10 of its 50 employees at its West Cost office. On the same day, Omnicom Group’s TBWA\Chiat\Day disclosed that it had laid off 15 people from its work force of about 800. Other ad firms that have also issued pink slips recently include Interpublic Group’s Mullen/LHC, and Wieden & Kennedy.
Category Advertising, Economy | Tags: Ad,Agency,Economy,Execs,Executives,Industry,Job,Market,Recession
Survey Shows Some Agency Optimism
Written on June 24, 2009 at 2:19 pm, by Intake StudioThe responses to a survey of 200 marketing and 100 advertising agency executives, conducted by RSW/US, a lead generation and business development firm, showed ad agencies to be slightly more optimistic than clients about the prospects for the economy and the advertising business over the rest of 2009.
Agencies participating in the survey, released in mid-May, included Leo Burnett, Mindshare and Bailey Lauerman. Clients included Ford, GE, Kraft, Lego and Lenox.
While 51% of each group said that the second half of the year would see at least some continued falls in ad spending, more agency respondents (42%) felt the economy had already hit rock bottom and would therefore start to improve over the rest of the year than clients (35%).
Mark Sneider, owner, managing director of RSW/US, said, “While it appears some of the worst might be over, it’s probably best if agencies try to do more with less in the short term.”
Category Advertising, Economy | Tags: Advertising,Agency,Budget,Economy,Industry,Recession,Survey
Being Revolutionary is Relentless
Written on May 13, 2009 at 1:30 pm, by Intake StudioThe genesis of the tech boom of the past decades began during the recession of the early 1980s. Microsoft was born during the recession of 1974. Semi-conductors first came to market in the recession of 1957. Even during the Great Depression we saw the founding of Hewlett Packard, Texas Instruments and United Technologies.
-Jeff Cornwall
Innovating through the Recession
Written on May 6, 2009 at 1:31 pm, by Intake StudioWhen the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Innovate
Moments of economic turbulence provide the unique opportunity to start new businesses, launch disruptive new products, and strengthen customer loyalty - often at a discount. During these challenging time, here are a few pointers on what to do, why to do it, and what to avoid.
- Listen to the market. It’s quieter when it’s less crowded. Unmet needs abound.
- Invest in your customers. Now they need you most. Loyalty hangs in the balance.
- Rather than reduce price, offer more value to your customers and demand greater value from vendors.
- Increase communication with your customers.
The Economy Sucks. Now Adapt.
Written on April 27, 2009 at 1:49 pm, by Intake StudioThere’s one good thing about a bad economy that many marketers forget about, since 99.999% of the news is doom and gloom playing with our brains — in a really bad economy, people are more apt to change their buying habits.
Yes, that may mean buying less of a product or service in your category. And this is where some corporate types with lack of imagination will see cutting back on marketing as the band-aid solution to their problems until they ride out the recession. But the question isn’t really whether to cut back on marketing or even spend more on it. You have to start with the very product or service you offer and ask yourself how you are going to adapt that product in order to give it increased versatility and in turn, value.
Category Advertising, Economy, Marketing | Tags: Advertising,Budget,Economy,Marketing,Recession,Spending,Tips
Recession Marketing Success Requires Boldness
Written on April 22, 2009 at 1:08 pm, by Intake StudioOver the years hundreds of studies have been conducted to prove companies should maintain advertising during a recession.
In the 1920’s advertising executive Roland S. Vaile tracked 200 companies through the recession of 1923. He reported in the April 1927 issue of the Harvard Business Review that the biggest sales increases throughout the period were rung up by companies that advertised the most.
After World War II, Buchen Advertising, Inc. decided to plot the sales of a large number of advertisers through successive recessions. In 1947, it began measuring the annual advertising expenditures of each company. When they correlated the figures with sales and profit trends before, during and after the recessions of 1949, 1954, 1958 and 1961, they found that almost without exception sales and profits dropped off at companies that cut back on advertising.
Category Advertising, Economy, Marketing | Tags: Advertising,Business,Companies,Down,Economy,Marketing,Recession,Sales,Strategy
Why Clients are Turning to Smaller Companies
Written on April 13, 2009 at 1:34 pm, by Intake StudioCity Talent, Close to Home
In most small or mid-sized companies you are working with talent from the bigger agencies that either left for a better work/life balance or to get the opportunity to be more creative. Clients are getting the same level of thought and creativity found from larger creative firms, without the larger overhead and costs.
Senior Management Supervision
At Intake Studio, the principals are involved in the daily activities on each project. Quite often, at larger firms, a junior account staff is responsible for important decisions about a client’s vision. Navigating today’s economic climate is too important to be left to a less-seasoned staff.
Can I Have That Yesterday?
A boutique company is used to being more nimble and responsive, and can adapt to the changes that need to happen quickly in times like these. In larger firms, they are just not equipped to turn new ideas around as quickly.
Category Advertising, Marketing | Tags: Advertising,Boutique,Budget,Intake Studio,Small Biz
Fearlessly Keep Your Small Biz Sailing
Written on April 10, 2009 at 12:04 pm, by Intake StudioAs a small business owner in the murky waters of a bad economy, you may be scrambling for solutions on how to keep your company afloat. Letting the fear take over, and not being true to yourself and your company’s mission, can be a recipe for recession-related disaster.
If you own a small business, you’ve probably been losing sleep at night lately. With the economy in trouble, businesses everywhere are feeling the crunch, but no one is more worried than small business owners. While fear may drive you to go into survival mode and compromise your values, you may be making a huge mistake that in the long run can hurt your business far worse than the recession.
You can’t let yourself, or your business be paralyzed by fear. In times like these it’s more important than ever to maintain your brand identity and focus on what makes your company stand out, what makes it great. You have to be a ‘fearless fish out of water’—shining a light on those qualities that make your company different and more desirable than the other businesses in your industry. Playing up what makes you special could be the very thing that keeps you in business.
So, what should small business owners do at a time like this? It’s time to refocus on your company’s core values, to remind yourself and your employees what it is that sets your company apart from all the rest, and most importantly, to be fearless. Now more than ever is when you should be staying true to your company’s brand by sticking to projects where you can excel.
7 steps to being fearless in the small business world, and how they will help you survive and thrive in this economy:
Go fishing for the real you
It’s time to focus on what your business does better than your competition and put that out there to your clients and prospects. Maybe you’re a boutique ad agency that can create any kind of campaign, but your best work is in B2B advertising.
You have to peel away all the layers that have made you a jack-of-all-trades and focus on the area that you are truly passionate about so you can excel. That’s your vein of gold. Sure, some things are a guaranteed sale, but your clients can get that at any agency. Get back to being creative. That’s where you can show your clients your value, and impressing your customers is how you can ensure you keep bringing in the revenue.