There have of course been glimmers of hope, largely caused by the kind of artificial injection that the World Cup or other major events can provide but the feeling of gloom has been palpable. How should we react to the dwindling numbers of eager consumers?
I have heard people say that Asia should not be too worried as the economic difficulties that beset the region during the mid/late 90s have put most of the economies in a better state to cope with the problem.
To some extent that may be true but a continued global meltdown could not help but affect Asian economies. Clearly our job in the communications business has become much harder as we seek a way to guide our clients through this mess at a time when, for the most part, budgets are going down in almost every category. It is more incumbent upon us than ever to seek a way to give our clients a greater share of the future by delivering big, media neutral ideas that are appropriate in whatever context they run.
This was not always the case. Conventional wisdom through some of the previous slumps held that the brands that continued to put large-scale budgets into above-the-line advertising would survive while those that did not would die. Many of us will have been regaled with the Andrex versus Kleenex Toilet Tissue story from the UK. Andrex invented a cuddly little puppy and did some great TV work while Kleenex did money-off promotions, disappeared from the market and had to try and get back at huge cost in later years.
Times have changed significantly. Our opportunities to deliver a strong brand message are now more varied and more exciting than ever before.
The solution simply does not have to be a 30-second commercial; the solution may be any of a wide variety of options that in the near future will also include an even more direct relationship with consumers via 3G.
Brands in the future are most likely to be best served by the strength of the idea rather than a slavish adherence to one particular media solution as a way to build a strong and enduring franchise. There are many brands in this region that do not seem to have grasped this message; the poor quality of much of the CRM support or the low-level of interest in their websites bear testimony to this.
If they do not start to take every aspect of the communication mix seriously then, as their ability to spend large budgets on conventional media solutions is diminished, they will not only be missing a huge opportunity but, inevitably their business will start to suffer as well. Agencies have to be at the forefront of providing the expertise to deliver this kind of thinking otherwise they are not delivering the kind of expertise that is relevant to the times and the economic situation that we find ourselves in.
