The future for ad agencies
Howard Lake | 29 September 2009 | Blogs
I was at a one day conference exploring the future for advertising and media agencies yesterday.
What might have been an upbeat and extravagant affair in the past was a decidedly downbeat occasion with gloomy talk of the impact of recession, technology, social media and a shift in power away from brands to the consumer. More than one presenter talked of the industry being at an armageddon moment and much of the day was spent on how agencies need to transfer their over-capacity in production and existing skillsets to the world of social media and the multi-channel environment.
For me, there was much to be optimistic about for charities. Apart from being able to negotiate with weakened agencies to get good deals at the moment, the general focus of the day was how to tap into social networks to enable consumers to spread the word about their preferred brands and products they get excited about. The emphasis was on understanding consumer culture, producing relevant content and stimulating conversations.
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I don’t know about you but I think that’s a big ask of marketeers to get people excited about products and commercial brands in a social media context. Much commercial advertising has been successful precisely because the consumer hasn’t been able to comment when the real experience of a product doesn’t match up to the advertising. In a world where the consumer is able to say exactly what they think, brands have got to work very hard to stimulate positive conversation about their products.
Despite this, I’m sure brands will be very successful in doing so given the talent and budgets which are being thrown at it and because of the power of word of mouth. But how much closer are charities to what really excites people. Whether it’s helping achieve change, helping people in need, being helped or doing fundraising events, social media is the natural place for charities to excite people and stimulate conversations.
We may feel at times that we have only a fraction of the talent and budgets being spent by the likes of telecoms and chocolate brands but if we pay close attention to what the big brands are doing we can make a massive impact building on the natural goodwill towards charities which flows through social networks.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.