It’s sink or swim time

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Your article on the Bellwether survey (MW 20 January) highlights that the majority of consumers have had to remodel their spending, and this will deepen as austerity measures sink in.

Yet there have been some increases in marketing spend linked to these developments. Retailers and brands have had to redesign their products with new price points, smaller formats and so on. As a result there has been a significant repositioning of brands in 2010, which has required new marketing activity to promote these initiatives. This activity has in turn driven an accelerated client need for the sort of effectiveness and accountability that they can get from newer marketing tools.

To what extent are established agencies adapting their skill-sets and investing in digital training? As panic sets in, a likely scenario for the more progressive will be to go out and acquire such skills.

Will the ad industry in particular be capable of adapting to these realities? Certainly a lot will get bent out of shape trying.

Graham Beckett, founding partner
Results International

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