Myne

My 2009 Crystal Ball

My little prognostication tool is cloudier this year than I can ever remember.  In many ways, looking ahead feels like a deer looking into headlights.  However, being an eternal optimist (and why shouldn’t I be since the world hasn’t ended yet), I do see some shining lights other than headlights.

The shining lights come from innovative, customer-centric brands, growing capabilities in mobile phones, and from consumers themselves. A recent quote from Ian Schafer in Ad Age is a great preface to what I see happening in the year ahead.  Ian was commenting on agencies and clients relegating digital marketing to an “experimental” category.

He said, “But don't forget a big reason these tactics are ‘experimental’: most advertisers have been late to a party that consumers have been hosting for quite some time -- and consumers' usage of digital media is outpacing that of marketers.”

Marketing in these uncertain times.

Image thanks: http://www.flickr.com/photos/your_teacher/2319678688/

Research indicates many brands will run and hide.
It also suggests that’s not a good plan.

The world is experiencing a serious economic downturn, some might even say a meltdown.  The ripple effect has already begun as many marketing budgets get reduced and new initiatives get put on indefinite hold. In fact in recent interviews with fifty senior marketing managers in the Asia-Pacific region conducted by Beijing-based R3,  a majority expect their ad budgets to decline in 2009, with a quarter expecting shrinkage of more than 20% from this year. It is a bit remarkable, really, that this cause and effect relationship seems to be viewed as part of the natural order of things and is certainly not to be challenged.

The fact is there isn’t anything natural about it at all and smart marketers are the ones who do challenge that traditional reaction to the economy.  Unlike any previous period of economic turmoil in history, the tools marketers can work with today to maintain productive communications and customer relationships are not only exciting and robust, but also remarkably efficient.

What's Taking So Long?

 

We’ve all heard the predictions of the expected size of the mobile advertising market, which in itself is a staggering number according to many experts.  But then we look around and don’t see a host of examples of great mobile advertising campaigns or remarkable success stories. 

So, the questions naturally arise: “When is it going to happen?  And why is it taking so long?”  For many marketers, the longer it takes the less believable are the predictions and the longer they’ll wait to give mobile advertising a go themselves.

Image Credit

Just Imagine

How many people out there would like to be able to creatively decorate a birthday cake?  One major brand determined there are enough of them to warrant the production of a “how to” video it put online.  The next step is to make it available from your mobile phone with a link to “Everything you need to decorate a birthday cake” so your shopping list is handy right there on your phone when you’re at the grocery store.