Resetting Budgets

Per AdAge, the ad industry (as a whole) won't recover in the second half of this year. Budgets are slowing coming back, but marketers want more accountability for their spending. TV faces more challenges in this area, while digital should continue to slowly grow. Agencies will also have to adjust:

"We are seeing a paradigm shift in our industry taking place as agencies grapple with how to deal with the new realities and manage costs to revenues. The industry is in for a fundamental, enduring reset over the next 10 years," said Jim Heekin, chairman-CEO, Grey Group. "Agencies are going to have to reshape themselves and focus on the services that have the most leverage with clients: superlative creative ideas, strategic planning, multichannel communications. I'm actually optimistic that new media such as social networks will give us great opportunities to help clients build brands across platforms and be valued and paid accordingly."

It's truly a fun time to be in the business. Those who can adjust will flourish.

ClickZ Poll: 63% Won't Increase Spend on Yahoo/Microsoft

In an informal poll, ClickZ reports that advertisers won't increase their spending once Yahoo search is powered by Bing. Out of 267 respondents, 169 responded no to the question if they'd increase their spend.

What I find fascinating about this is how can you possibly know? Ten years ago, Yahoo was the rage. Things change quickly and you really don't know what the future holds. I would certainly not automatically assume a bigger budget/share for a new entity, but there are too many unknows involved to make those decisions now.

Isn't that what makes advertising fun?

Southern Comfort Goes 100% Digital

Southern Comfort has changed its entire media budget to digital, per AdAge. Due to network restrictions, liquor can only be advertised during evening cable shows on TV. Because the space is so crowded with competitors, SoCo could not garner pod exclusivity. The funds they spent on cable and magazines is now going online.

What's fascinating is they are able to partner with the national TV network sites with some of their key prime programming. Why do the networks accept these ads and not broadcast versions?

This strategy also speaks to the trends of the recession. A lot of twenty-somethings are cancelling their cable/satellite subscriptions to watch TV online. And they're drinking at home more often. When the economy recovers, SoCo may have gained share, but also may need to rethink this. Or not. It will be interesting to watch.