BUSINESSES are tightening their belts and with talk of a recession looming, advertising budgets are being looked on by some as the first place to make cutbacks.
For that reason, the Financial Times launched a campaign in London at the end of last month to highlight the strong evidence which shows that reducing or cutting back on advertising during lean times can be very harmful to the long-term success of an organisation.
The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising also held a conference in March to look at the most successful ways to handle an economic downturn.
Its conclusion was that reducing advertising could be extremely damaging to a company in the long term.
In the short term, profits might seem higher as costs are cut, but the downside is that the product and brand become less well-known.
Managing director of The Partnership Tony Tostevin (pictured) agreed. ‘Advertising is an investment into the brand of your company. Results may not be immediately obvious, but statistics overwhelmingly show that organisations which remove themselves from the public eye during difficult times take a long time to recover.
‘If your competitors are still seen to
be advertising, then you can appear to be the poor relation – or worse, not be seen at all.’
As part of the FT campaign, 100 poster sites across London have appeared stripped back to bare boards with only a small copy panel posing the question, ‘Global downturn. What’s the first mistake businesses make?’
That will be supported by a website with a discussion board to encourage professionals to discuss advertising during an economic downturn.
Article posted on 6th November, 2008 - 2.30pm
One Article Comment
Tony Tostevin
You wish to come across as you are in the know whilst at the same time are fearing the unknown. Let us know about cut backs that don’t benefit your interests before you adsress us further? We are all suffering, in 1 way or another, but we do not wish to bull**** others to bail us out of exactly the same ship with sieves!
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