Marketers of all ilks are in rapid-response mode as the economy worsens.
Ad Age conveniently created a one-page chart of some of the deals, taglines and strategies concocted by major
retailers and casual-dining chains to lure traffic to their establishments in these worrisome times. Another column charts spending and -- surprisingly -- it's up in most cases. Could it be that
some marketers are finally paying heed to the AAAA's hoary admonition that lean times are the best times to advertise?
The
Times , meanwhile, has a roundup of reassuring advertising from financial
institutions. With good reason. A friend who recently cashed in on his partnership in a market research firm emailed Monday to say that he was canceling a month-long trip to China and would hop on the
subway to Mott Street instead. I'm not positive that he was kidding.
With things changing so rapidly, "it's hard to figure out what message to put out today that would be
relevant tomorrow morning," Matthew Harrington, U.S. CEO at Edelman public relations, tells Stuart Elliott. He goes on to say that, in his opinion, most of the messages out there are not
"hitting the right note." His advice: Be more candid; we're in uncharted waters.
Candidly, it's hard to draw reassurance from the lack of reassurance exhibited by
the marketplace as captured in the
Wall Street Journal's main headline this morning: "
Markets Fall on Doubts
Rescues Will Succeed." But evidently not as much people are losing sleep over their dwindling 401(K)s as you might imagine. The
Boston Globe reports that Sepracor is pulling
back on ads for its Lunesta sleep aid "as the insomnia market slows." Rivals are also cutting back on marketing, says the
Globe, and Sepracor is shifting its promotional budget to
products that are potentially more profitable. [Insert your own quip here.]
In the silver lining department, the
AP reports that thrift stores are thriving. Sales at Goodwill Industries and the Salvation Army, for example, are up 6% to 15%,
and private-sector thrifts claim a 35% boost.
Suzanne Vranica , meanwhile, writes that ZenithOptimedia
has slashed its projections for ad spending in the U.S. to 1.6% this year and by less than 1% in 2009. That's down from estimates of 3.4% and 2.6% in June. Prudence is rearing its head.
"We are definitely asking some clients for cash in advance of buying ad time," Geoff Robison, vp of national broadcast at Palisades Media, tells the
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