In my lengthy and somewhat eclectic career in the Ad Biz I have managed to make it through at least three recessions. So I know of what I speak when I say it will pass if you are smart enough to react positively. Even though it has been a long time since I have worried about the ability to get new business in the door and despite all the negative news out there, I’m remain convinced there’s still a lot of new-business activity out there.
As is normally the case in a slow-down some companies are reacting by putting their business into review, not because they are necessarily looking for a new agency partner but because they are looking for way to cut overall marketing costs and make their marketing / advertising efforts more effective. To accomplish that they are prepared to dole out a little project here and there to save a few bucks or they are reshuffling the budget to include lower cost tactics like direct and online. But I think one could say that in tough times they more than likely just making sure they are still getting the most/best value out of their current agency.
Slow-down… yeah been there done that! Back in the early eighties when times were tough, budgets were being slashed and big advertisers began to think they needed a better way to attract customers and to track those efforts so they could have some measure of program success… I started a Direct Marketing Agency.
My first new business calls surprisingly came from the big agencies in town. The very same guys who spent a lot their time expounding on the virtues of advertising and shrugged off direct or sales promotion as a lowly “below the line” tactic they only used when pressed into it by clients apparently needed help.
As a direct result, I did very well and ultimately had a number of major advertisers knocking on my door… and sticking around. It seemed their existing Ad Agencies were not positively pre-disposed to “below the line” stuff.
So… my decision to embrace direct as a viable tool in an advertisers tool kit took me through the eighties in style. I had happy “results oriented” clients who loved to pay their bills. And, you guessed it, by 1988 I had the major ad shops knocking on my door again. But this time the conversations were all about merger or buy out.
So you ask, what’s the message? Well here it is… get you head out of your ass and try to find a way to make your agency more successful by innovating. Get off your high horse and recognize that there is more than one way to help your clients succeed when times are tough. Once they see you are more interested in their bottom line than the next round of ad awards… they’ll love you for it.
Recession, what recession?
Al Graham
About Al Graham
Al Graham has over 35 years experience in the advertising and marketing communications industry, including founding DMG, Canada’s first independent Direct Marketing Agency.