« Fundamental Flaw in Social Media | Main | The U.S. has become an urban youth dominated Pan-Latin force. »
The economic crisis appears to be abating as indicators suggest the worst may be past. Yet with each new release of data, the market is subject to impacts which produce varying opinion of the health of the global economy. It is widely agreed that the recovery will be long and trying. In the fall of 2008 when the severity of the downturn was being realized, DDB published a paper called, Capturing Opportunities in Challenging Times. The response was overwhelming with the paper downloaded over 50,000 times and referenced in numerous articles online and offline.
Given the recession’s obvious impacts, we decided to produce a follow-up paper that examines how marketers and advertisers have responded to the economy in their communications. What has been the response in terms of strategy, creativity, messaging and spend? And how have consumers reacted both to the crisis and the communications they have received during this dramatic and behavioral altering downturn? It includes examples from McDonald’s, Harvey Nichols, Brita, Select Recipes, Sunpower and Volkswagen along with supporting data from Nielsen, eMarketer, comScore, and Datamonitor
Jeff Swystun, Chief Communications Officer, DDB Worldwide
This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on August 25, 2009 4:04 PM.
The previous post in this blog was Fundamental Flaw in Social Media.
The next post in this blog is The U.S. has become an urban youth dominated Pan-Latin force..
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
RSS
Feed
Comments (7)
Jessica Tsu
This is a very sound approach to current challenges. I was most impressed with the honesty conveyed in the examples cited. What consumers need now is relief from aggressive advertising. It is needs to be replaced with informative and valuable communications.
Posted by Jessica Tsu | August 26, 2009 3:30 PM
W. Taylor
How about some non-DDB examples? Overall the paper is great, especially the last page which is a great bit of writing. But how about being more credible by putting in some work other than your own?
Posted by W. Taylor | August 26, 2009 3:48 PM
Sally Good
I read a study from Ad-ology, “Advertising’s Impact in a Soft Economy,” that analyzed consumer perception about businesses that continue to advertise, and those that do not, in the current economy.
More than 48% of U.S. adults believe that a lack of advertising by a retail store, bank, or auto dealership during a recession indicates the business must be struggling. Likewise, a vast majority perceives businesses that continue to advertise are competitive or committed to doing business.
The study found that advertising plays a key role in consumers’ view of how a business is doing, and by not advertising, businesses may be sending a warning signal to current and potential customers.
This is one area your paper did not exactly hit upon - the perception of the health of a company if they significantly pull back on advertising.
Posted by Sally Good | August 26, 2009 5:02 PM
Shelley Singh
By in far the best and most informative website for ad agencies and no one else puts out free papers like these - keep them coming. Would really like to see one on consumer research and insights - the processes and measurements DDB thinks are important. Many thanks.
Posted by Shelley Singh | August 28, 2009 9:59 PM
Taylor Andresen
I believe that the best thing in this current situation to do is to do everything entirely different from the way it has been done before. I am 24 and never experienced such an economy but history has shown that it is those who take calculated risk along with boldness and audacity that become the success stories. If you look at any successful company - someone has made some pretty courageous decisions. Where are the visionaries?
Posted by Taylor Andresen | August 29, 2009 11:58 PM
Don Tapper
Messaging remains the critical component and especially now so. Consumers and other stakeholders need to feel that offers are legitimate, secure, backed up. We are all more jaded and less trusting so brands need to walk the talk.
Posted by Don Tapper | September 16, 2009 2:20 PM
Justin Liu
The two papers on the recession are really excellent. Just so you know I found out about the first one from someone else's blog and then I saw someone tweet it. I read it and spread it. Before I found the second paper, a buddy of mine sent it to me. Just goes to show that if you're good, people know and if you provide value, your stuff gets around. Personally though, I hope their is no third recession paper :)
Posted by Justin Liu | November 10, 2009 9:40 PM