Testimonials On Advertising During A Recession

As I looked through the variety of articles posted recently by Ad Age on the Recession, the article "Wondering What To Do?  We Asked The Experts." caught my interest with interesting perspectives from top marketers that basically say don't cut your advertising, rethink it!.....

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"There is no more sleep shopping. All purchase decisions are mindful. I read that people are spending 20% longer in a supermarket than this time last year. And it is not because they are buying 20% more. So you have to give people the reasons they need to validate the decisions they want to make. That affects both the messaging ... and the media choices. The most useful source of information doesn't change. As Yogi Berra said, 'You can observe a lot just by watching.' In general we have to watch more and observe more -- really understand how consumers are behaving first, and then why."

-- Andrew Robertson,
president-CEO,
BBDO Worldwide

"If you are the default brand (say, AT&T), this is not necessarily a good time. But if you are a newcomer, or not usually considered, now is an opportunity to be considered. ... This is a time when people revise their habits, and then they stay with their habits. We don't revise our habits too often, but when we do, we tend to stick with them, even after a recession."

-- Dan Ariely,
James B. Duke, professor
of behavioral economics at
Duke University,
and author of "Predictably Irrational"


"Stop hiding. No one ever got ahead by hiding themselves away. The same is true for brands. Now is the time to make a statement. Be bold, be present. It's cheaper and just as many people are listening but far fewer are talking. The easy decision is to contract and hide yourself away hoping that if you as a company or marketer never lift your head up, it will never get lopped off. But if you never lift your head up, the consumer can't see you. Be smart, try new things. In this economy, you can be noticed at a fraction of the cost and be rewarded for trying new mediums and new messages."

-- Julie Roehm,
marketing consultant/
CMO for hire,
Backslash Meta

"In the Great Depression, Kellogg continued to market its cereals while rivals cut budgets. Kellogg pulled ahead of Post in sales, a change that has never been reversed. Point is, what you sacrifice now, you pay for later. Every thinking business person knows that, but few have the courage to invest. Be brave. You'll never regret it."

-- Anne Bologna,
CEO, Toy





"Upgrade the talent pool. Most companies you hear about fire people, which is fine if they get rid of the less-productive people. But it's also a great opportunity in this environment to recruit very talented people at a very reasonable price."

-- Jerry Wind,
Lauder professor
of marketing at the
Wharton School

"The goal of advertising is to engage people with a message that is to have an enduring emotional impact ... That challenge, which has never been small, has only increased [in this economy]. I want to urge you to get inside the skin of whatever emotion or set of emotions that are relevant to your product or brand. ... People want to know that they're being respected, that their plight is being felt. Whether or not you can do much about it, it has to be acknowledged [in your communications]."

-- Jerry Zaltman,
founding partner,
Olson Zaltman Associates,
and professor emeritus, Harvard Business School,
before the Advertising Research Foundation's annual convention, Re:Think 2009

"Aggressive marketing during recessions is often -- not always, but often -- a smart move. Exactly how you bring that to market is case and industry specific. [For example,] Hyundai's brilliance is to realize it's not about cutting the price, it's about removing the risk that the consumer won't be able to make the payments."

-- Mike Hanssens,
Bud Knapp professor
of marketing at UCLA Anderson School of Management"