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Where’s the silver lining?

Posted in Advertising, Media, Branwell Johnson, Latest reporters' blogs October 14th, 2008 by Branwell Johnson

Woe, woe and thrice woe, if there’s anyone out there old enough to remember Frankie Howerd’s 70s comedy Up Pompeii, that was the catchphrase of the prophetess Cassandra. It seems like it should now be adopted by industry forecasters from the IPA to Billetts.

The IPA Bellwether Report this week did not make for cheery reading by highlighting the largest cuts to marketing budgets in nine years. Billetts Media Monitoring followed up with another demoralising punch today when it said that television was at its lowest cost for 15 years, which is a blow if you are an already struggling ITV
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At least the industry is confronting the bad news head on and not burying its head in the sand – or spinning it to try to put a positive gloss on figures and forecasts (although the online trade bodies do protesteth  a little too much that all is fine in their unsinkable marketing vessel).

Useful advice is proffered from many quarters, although I wager that if marketers had a tenner for every article they read that they should keep investing in advertising throughout a recession, they wouldn’t have any financial headaches! If a marketer has not read the relevant IPA case studies by now one may wonder about their professional application.

Falling TV ad rates are obviously good news for any client that has spare budget they can divert into the medium. Thinkbox, the marketing body for commercial TV, has case studies showing no matter how small a brand, there are opportunities to leverage TV, and maybe it’s worth contacting the organisation.

Any advice you’d like to share to help through the tough times – whether serious or to raise a smile – do post it here.

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