Opportunity in a Crisis

Creativity doesn’t have stock price, and its value doesn’t fluctuate with the market. We’re not more creative during bull markets and less creative during bear ones. We don’t care who’s buying long or selling short because we’re not hedging our bets.We know that creativity is as important during upticks as it is during downturns, which is why our approach doesn’t change.

No matter what the economic climate, we strive for excellence, for ideas that are simple and powerful, for engagement, connection and (trans)action.Today — in the midst of the biggest global recession of our lifetime — we are as focused on solving clients’ problems, on building brands,and on selling stuff,as we were at the peak of the market.

What does change during recessionary times is the nature of the challenges we face: overcoming the debilitating loss of trust in business and government; restoring consumer confidence and bringing it back from its lowest point in 40 years; and mitigating the impact of shrinking marketing budgets.

Our approach to creativity transcends economic indicators,but there are some insights and aphorisms that inspire us during times like this. We offer a few to you here.

Get a perspective
Decades ago, when Winston Churchill quipped, “We have no money. We shall have to think,” he couldn’t have known how his words would resonate with us today. With marketing budgets at rock bottom levels and clients asking us to do much more with much less,we have a whole lot of creative thinking to do. In particular, we think long and hard about how we can reframe challenges as opportunities. The IBM ‘Smarter planet’ campaign does just that.By illuminating some of the world’s biggest problems and demonstrating how IBM can help solve them, the company is projecting hope while it builds the market for its services.

Become a black belt.
It’s not enough to understand the dynamics of the downturn; we strive to take the energy and momentum behind the recession and turn it to our advantage.We think of it as a kind of marketing martial art, a gentle jujitsu that helps to neutralise the negativity of the recession by absorbing the force and redirecting it to positive brand values. American Express has done this beautifully with the new ‘Take charge’ campaign, contrasting the unchecked excesses of the banking industry,with a charge card for responsible people who don’t overextend themselves and pay off their balances every month.

Go steady
Most companies invest heavily in marketing when the economy is going strong and reduce spending during difficult times. When you’re building relationships, cutbacks can mean ending conversations, separating, and even breaking up.We make sure that our clients’ media presence is giving them the greatest possible “face time” with close customers. When competitors cut back, we look to “meet” those customers where there’s less noise in the channel. Where there’s less noise, we have greater share of voice and don’t have to shout.Where no one is shouting,we can whisper softly in our customers’ ears. In severe recessions, retaining the most profitable customers (who spend as much as 20 times more than the average customer) has to be our highest priority. Losing them is very costly, and getting them back — if they’ll come — can be even more so. The key is to continually engage them,to constantly renew vows,to listen closely to their concerns, and to address their every whim.

Try it at home!
It’s been said that smart, brave, farseeing marketers put more behind their brands at times like these, and it’s not just agency people who are saying this! It’s said because it’s been proven to be a very successful strategy. The really, really smart marketers — whether they can hold the line on spending or not — take it a step further; they don’t just spend,they spend in new ways. They take risks on new channels and untested ideas, and make experimentation standard operating procedure. We goad them on by introducing new tools, new technologies, new channels, new devices, new partners, new ideas. And we stand by them as we test, measure, iterate, refine, optimise… and do it all over again.

Lead the leaders
The campaigns that are breaking new ground and having the greatest success are those that are going straight to the people with universal and enduring messages and aspirations to change the world. At Ogilvy, we are honoured to be the global creative lead for the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference being held in Copenhagen this December. The campaign issues a platform for citizens around the world to come together to raise their voices about sustainability, and “lead the leaders”who are gathering to take action for the good of all.The central idea is about moving from “coping” with escalating  impacts of climate change, to “hoping” for the future of our plane — about changing “Copenhagen” to ‘Hopenhagen’. It is truly a campaign of the people,using all forms of media to raise awareness with special attention to social and interactive media to enable participation by the greatest number of citizens from every corner of the earth.

Creativity — in all its forms and manifestations — doesn’t have a price tag, but it does have enormous value. And today, it is needed more than ever, and it is needed across a much broader spectrum than ever before. It is needed to revive commerce, to lift spirits, and build our beloved brands.

It’s a time of enormous challenges, but we believe the opportunities are even bigger to show the true value of our good work. It’s up to every one of us in our industry to apply our talents to restoring confidence and inspiring people to make the world a better place today and for the future.