Bravo! It's about time.
We at HQvB believe that most advertisers spend too much money having their agencies design "integrated" campaigns designed for another time. A time when you blasted your audience over and over again with the same TV spot, backed up by the traditional out of home and radio "support", with a big dollop of newspaper or magazine thrown in for good measure.
And then if the agency wants to get creative, they throw in a small non-traditional, ambient or online stunt. It rarely has any effect, but it makes people feel like they're thinking out of the box.
In the process, the same agency that sold the client on "out thinking the competition instead of outspending them" blasts through the client's ad budget like a drunken wall sailor on 24 hour shore leave.
The problem is it's very addictive. After all, if you spend enough money everybody will get your message. In fact, like the new Bell campaign here in Canada, they won't be able to escape it even if they try. And believe me, we all try.
This current round of spending cuts may have been spurred on by the economy, but we think it's a good thing, as it forces people to rethink how they communicate with their audiences. It forces them to make hard decisions that they didn't have to make before. It forces them to get more creative.
Maybe it will finally force agencies to deal with the reality of the new 2.0 world and see that big media spends are not the be-all in advertising. The smarter, more nimble shops will see this round of cuts as an opportunity. Maybe smaller, more entrepreneurial shops look better in a climate where new thinking isn't just a "nice to have" but a necessity.
So hooray for the budget cuts! Bring on the cost consultants! And let's raise a glass to faltering stock markets.
They will force us all to be better, more cost-efficient, faster, leaner and more forward thinking. Just like every other industry in the world has had to do to survive.
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