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June 9, 2008
Be a Marketing Contrarian
Having now accumulated over 20 years of experience in global marketing, I have witnessed and participated in a few business cycles that have had significant impact on the efficacy of marketing. One that is unbelievably predictable occurs whenever the economy slows. The first reaction from the lionshare of companies is to cut marketing, advertising and business development budgets.
Lets think about that for a moment. Sales are down so lets reduce the spending on activities that are primarily responsible for sales! Imagine companies that actually maintain or even increase their spend in these areas during a slowdown. Their voice would be louder as many competitors would be less vocal. As well, their spend may be more efficient if suppliers and partners work with them to maximize their impact during the downturn.
So why do companies continue to cut these activities – because it is easy. What is harder is to capture the opportunity a slow down provides. Tom Peters has said, "Progress is mostly the product of rogues". Rogues or contrarians, these companies and leaders may prosper much more by making brave and intelligent decisions to invest and rise above the clutter rather than join their competitors in the same predictable and stagnant strategy.
Jeff Swystun, Chief Communications Officer, DDB Worldwide
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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on June 9, 2008 9:50 PM.
The previous post in this blog was Consumer Demand Puts Clorox in the Music Business.
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Comments (3)
Rachel
Can't agree with you more...
By nature, people just like to buy and consume things. An economic slowdown doesn't necessarily mean that consumers won't spend, but rather, they just will think twice or longer before making a purchase decision...Advertising and marketing will actually play an even more vital role...because consumers will need to be influenced and convinced more during this time.
Posted by Rachel | June 20, 2008 12:10 AM
Kaushik Sarkar
When can we have you in India?
The first that happens in India in a sales sliding mode, we stop advertising! More so throw out marketing-communication chapter out of the window.
But what about the demand supply gap, have we carpet bombed the market with more stuff than required in the previous sales cycle? Or it just that we are facing competition from another category altogether? Or may be the consumer consumption behavior needs a fresh orientation?
And how do we that without advertising? Unless companies starts hiring Jedi Knights for marketing communications!!!
Posted by Kaushik Sarkar | July 11, 2008 9:54 AM
Arne
I agree with Rachel and I think I see the point of Kaushik.
But before that, I totally agree with the overall idea of the post - especially this one "Their voice would be louder as many competitors would be less vocal."
Kaushik, I see your point but you have to consider the long term impact of your campaigns during the slump. If your timing is perfect, ROI comes faster but I'm pretty sure that with the right amount of effort you will achieve something much more important - sustainability of your business. We have to be patient during these times and plan ahead to guarantee survival.
I used to be in e-learning and trust me, our services are first to hit the back alley in times of crisis. But its all good :)
Posted by Arne | August 19, 2008 3:29 AM