It's that time again...
To dust off that presentation that says "When in a recession, do not stop advertising".
When I was working in an ad-agency a few eons ago, somebody would always come up with reasons on why stopping advertising during a recession - or "challenging times" - would be detrimental to the brand. The slew of charts that showed brands that did not stop advertising during a recession tended to be recalled more, bougt more, and bucked the trend would be flying (digitally) aboutin the office. I was tasked - once - to "localize" the presentation and present it to a host of clients.
(I think I vaguely recall making the analogy that "the Chinese character for danger is the same as opportunity" - I am not sure now if that indeed is the case. In spite of years of attempts, I cannot - for the life of me - read Chinese characters.)
I was amongst those usual suspects.
But I guess, this time around, I would do something else: I wouls say, "if there is no reason for you to advertise and continue advertising, then don't - and don't let anybody tell you otherwise".
Why?
Simple: There is no single rule that holds across all kinds of brands and categories. Just because Brand A suvived the downtrend "because they advertised" doesn't mean another brand will fare similarly - even if they had the same message, even if they had the same media plan, even if they had the same marketing considerations.
I am going to go out on a limb here and say that it is the culture of tenacity that pervades throughout the organization - marketing, sales, operations, supply chain, procurement, talent management, etc. - that determines whether a brand or a company survives the economic slowdown.
Not advertising - its presence or its absence.
My suggestion to those who are being lured and tempted to advertise because "the great big, brands - according to my agency - survived the last recession by advertising": Take a look at you own history.
How did your brand - and your company - survive the last slowdown? Look at all the shallow - and the deep - metrics. Don't stop at awareness or image - look at sales.
Determine what the other departments did - what did the Sales team do? How did the Sales Director feel and reacted to the gloom and doom? What did the sales managers - the frontliners - notice amongst customers and how did they respond? What were the results of their response?
If you can, quantify the impact of each of the actions done by each of the business stakeholders. Sure, it will be hard work - but that's marketing - it is hard work making decisions.
Create scenarios. In the same way that financial strategists have buy/sell limits, set your own by creating scenarios. There is such a thing as "short-term advertising effects" which could guide you. If you keep on advertising, and well, recall stays the same, but sales are not picking up - then decide: is this a scenario that demands pulling out of advertising? Or should you pump in more?
I believe that saying - and believing - that "advertising during a recession is the best way to keep your business growing" is irresponsible.
Businesses are systems - and marketing, and definitely advertising, are one part of that system. And it is the entire system that will determine the probability of a company weathering a downturn.
Not advertising.
