Times are certainly tough. The word ‘unprecedented’ is being used at an unprecedented rate, and businesses are looking to cut expenses at worst, or heavily prune at best.
Advertising and media budgets are ripe for reduction; they can in theory at least, be paused at short notice and re-activated later. Marketers around the globe are all grappling with the same question “what happens if I stop advertising?”
When it comes to sustained long-term business performance, cutting fat is not the same as cutting muscle. If the wrong parts of brand spend are pruned, or brands go dark for too long, re-starting ad spend is a costly exercise. This damage is exacerbated when savvy competitors continue advertising and enjoy significant gains in market share.
As Dr Simon Broadbent, renown global media researcher, once wrote: “The sales of a brand are like the height at which an airplane flies. Advertising spend is like its engines: while the engines are running, everything is fine, but, when the engines stop, the descent eventually starts.”
This publication helps to answer the following questions:
What are the consequences, in both the short and long run, of a brand going dark?
What is the trade-off between maintaining versus regaining brand equity/market share?
What happens if I cut my budget in a recession versus keep advertising in a recession?
Deep Dives / Finance
As Australia emerges from the pandemic, the need to advertise is paramount. But when, where, what and, most importantly, how can you be certain your investment will work?
Deep Dives / Finance
Discover the changing marketing & media rules for finance marketers in 2021, amid ongoing changing consumer behaviour.
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How do Australian marketers connect with audiences effectively to drive positive business outcomes and, ultimately, growth?
Deep Dives / Retail
How the e-comm phenom has turned TV into the new retail shopfront
Deep Dives / Retail
Why TV is the new retail shopfront and how to put it to work for your business.
Deep Dives / Effectiveness
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Deep Dives
Throughout CV-19, Australia’s commercial broadcasters have kept audiences entertained with a plethora of locally produced content and they’re just getting started. Find out what’s yet to come in 2020.
Deep Dives
As people start to slowly emerge from lockdown taking tentative steps towards recovery, what does this mean for businesses and brands? Should pre-CV strategies be turned on their head or […]
Deep Dives
Analysis of marketing spend in difficult economic times shows brands that maintain or increase advertising, relative to competitors, gain market share compared to those who reduce or stop advertising.
Deep Dives / Travel
Travel is an industry that is always looking forwards. Yes, towards future bookings, but also towards greater innovation. Today’s customers demand ever more personalised, efficient and frictionless services. And, with […]