Blogging for food

Alastair Duncan

I was very small indeed when the three day week was a legitimate concept to bring the nation's economy back into line. It's a curious concept now to think that working less would help.

Back then, the manufacturing and industrial heart of the nation was all about production, and increasing supply without so much thought for demand, until the orders for ships stopped coming. Britain now is far more oriented to service than industrial businesses, and working harder seems to be the general idea all round. We talk of a demand economy, and to be successful we have to know how create demand as well as desire for brands.

Advertising then was about differentiating products from each other, sometimes with a benefit, sometimes with glamour, and outspending the competition was too often the strategy. Advertising (which isn’t advertising any more, of course) is now about experience and brands are diversified services rather than just things you buy off a shelf. Outspending a competitor remains possible. Outspending the competition (just think how many brands were launched last year) just isn’t.

Admittedly there was significant shrinkage in advertising work force in the 1990s, (just post shoulder pads, red Porsches and personal cab accounts). But there was no digital, sales promotion was in the basement and direct marketing was direct mail. Now, there is a real issue about the true nature of talent in the industry, as all of these previous departments have formed their own mini industries, claim each other’s space, and don’t always operate efficiently together. It is less easy to decide how to recalibrate budgets now as it was then.
The good news imho is that there is definitely room for clever people who can bring new ideas for how to take brands to market in new ways, and insight remains valuable. The less good news is that clients expect so much more knowledge, especially about digital complexity, that everyone has to work twice as hard just to keep up. (Just one look at the upcoming Ad:tech London agenda gives us a veritable smorgasbord of clues).

In a harsher economic climate, more questions will be asked about the efficient use of clients’ budgets, and the big question we’re being asked is about how digital will fill the gap. I don’t believe that running TV ads as online video is the answer. Although I’ve commented on the Orange campaign execution, I do think the brand should be applauded for its commitment to new endeavour. The online experience will become, for Orange, the main touchpoint for the consumer. (Read the interview in Revolution). This is already true for many B2B brands, and is really only beginning to kick in mass consumer oriented brands. Amongst the doom and gloom in the national press, this can only be good news for (digital) economists.