Blog | December 2009

Ad Spending Optimism Returns To Pre-Recession Levels, Outlook Improving For Every Medium

We're seeing growth in ad budgets for all of our clients in 2010. Things are looking positive for the new year! Attitudes are much different than they were last year at this time. Check out this article from TVNEWSDAY.com By Joe Mandese.

The optimism of ad executives to boost their advertising budgets has risen to its highest point in two years, and is now at pre-recessionary levels, according to the most recent in a series of periodic surveys gauging the long-term confidence of advertisers and agency media-buying executives. The study, which is based on an index of executives who plan to boost their ad spending over the next 12-months vs. those who plan to decrease it, currently stands at a positive difference of four percentage points, the highest level since the fall of 2007, when the index stood at positive eight percentage points.

"We're ecstatic," says Ken Pearl, a partner of Advertiser Perceptions Inc., a media industry research firm that tracks the perceptions ad executives have about media. "Things are definitely showing signs of improvement," he continues, adding that when looked at the basis of advertisers and agency executives responsible for budgets in specific bellwether categories such as financial services, entertainment and pharmaceuticals, the overall trend has definitely grown more positive than it is negative.

The most recent survey, which was fielded this month, shows that ad spending sentiment is now improving for every medium tracked, even for some traditional media such as newspapers, magazines and broadcast, which continue to have an overall negative index.

"They're still negative, on balance, but they're improving. They're moving in the right direction now," says Pearl.

The outlook for most electronic media, especially digital options such as online and mobile media, is well in the positive range and also continues to improve (see table below). The positive index for all digital media - both online and mobile - went from 40 percentage points in the spring 2009 survey to 55 percentage points in the just-completed fall survey.

The positive index for cable TV jumped to 11 percentage points from one point last spring.

------

I Hate 'Creative,' and You Should Too

This is a blog post from AdAge.com. I couldn't have written this better myself. Written by a well respected agency owner in Indianapolis. -Robin

The Word Is Now Being Used to Mean 'Not Strategic' Posted by Tom Denari on 10.13.09

Now that I have your attention, I really do hate "creative." It's not that I dislike creativity or creative people. In fact, I love it, and I work closely with truly creative people that inspire me on a daily basis. It's what's kept me in this crazy business for so long. But after two decades in advertising, I've come to hate the word "creative." What was once used to describe thoughtful and novel communications, to describe what we aspire to on a daily basis, the word "creative" has somehow devolved into a pejorative hammer -- a hammer that's often used to beat the life out of an idea into something that's anything but "creative."

When my agency was a much younger, smaller upstart group, the more established old-guard agencies in our local market would often give us the backhanded, dismissive compliment of being "really creative." It was as if the other end of the spectrum was "really strategic." They would try to paint their straight-forward, sometimes even pedestrian, work as "more strategic." (Ah, "strategic," there's another painfully misused word by marketers. But that's for another day.)

Over time, the industry has fed this notion by too often producing undisciplined work that has tainted what it means to be "creative." The meaningless way we discuss creativity in the media and the boardroom has poisoned marketers' perceptions of how to engage consumers. We are continually overusing and misusing the term "creative," stretching it to represent everything from the remarkable campaigns to the soulless advertising that gets by on being visually interesting to the self-indulgent and baseless advertising created only for creative accolades and personal portfolios.

And how many times are we going to have to read stories about whether "Creativity and Effectiveness Can Coexist?" These stories simply fuel the misperception and definition of what creativity should mean to both agencies and clients.

The crux of the issue is not whether there is tension between creativity and effectiveness. In fact, it would save a lot of trouble if we simply eliminated the word "creative" from our lexicon. If we did, the discussion would shift to a more productive discussion, focusing on engagement and effectiveness. For instance, instead of the client asking, "Do we really need to be so creative on this one?" he would be forced to say, "Do we really need to engage the consumer on this one?"

Ridiculous? Maybe.The cadre of marketers that don't think the message needs to be "creative" assume that the target audience is keenly attentive to whatever they have to say next. They argue the more direct the better. Unfortunately, we all know that's just not the case. Consumers are bombarded with thousands of messages daily that ask for their attention and their disposable income. The brands that find a way to break through, engage and connect with their audiences are the ones that have the opportunity to affect their behavior.

Instead of debating whether the work is "creative," clients need to start asking:
"Is the message surprising?"
"Does it play upon consumers' life experience?"
"Is it relevant?"
"Is it consistent with the brand's voice?"
"Is it believable?"
"Does it differentiate the brand?"
If we all can begin to look at how an agency's work will (or won't) engage a consumer, and focus less on whether its work is "creative," my guess is that the advertising will end up being more effective. And likely more "creative."