In another sign that traditional television advertising is losing its appeal for major advertisers, consumer products giant Unilever said this week that television now accounts for about 65 per cent
of the company's global advertising budget, down from about 85 per cent at the start of the decade. The news came from Alan Rutherford, Unilever's global media director, who also said Unilever was
striving to develop "holistic" marketing campaigns that utilize a wide range of marketing tools. However, he indicated the process was a difficult one. "The ad industry is struggling at the moment in
pulling all the components of brand communication together," he said. "There is a struggle to have traditional media and digital and content and public relations all brought under one roof under the
agency side." Rutherford said Unilever would not create in-house agencies, but is trying to spark change in its outside agencies. He said Unilever had assigned six people to help work on devising
integrated campaigns for leading brands. Five were charged with finding new digital advertising ideas. "I think there is a disconnect between creative thinking and communications channel management at
the moment," Rutherford said. "I think this will help redress that disconnect on the agency side."
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