2019 has been Pepper’s toughest year yet as a business, since we started 14 years ago and from the faces of my colleagues at AAATT meetings, we’re not alone. This is so on account of what we can call the quadruple whammy.
Recession is a four-letter word
Firstly, there is old man recession who showed up with lots of energy on account of our country’s slide in energy. This economic slump has had a domino effect on clients’ sales and advertising budgets have been cut. Why? Because sales pay for advertising and for many Advertising is seen as a discretionary expense rather than an investment in brand building and sales.
Facebook not good for our bank book
Secondly, digital advertising, including Facebook and Google ads, has been embraced as a must have by most of the markets. The thing is digital budgets are much smaller than traditional budgets, so agencies have been scratching their heads to figure out how to survive in this new world of decimated traditional media and the attendant reduction in production.
Clients now opening their own agencies
Next in the foursome of woes is the rise of in-house production and direct media placement by clients. The media is getting desperate and believe that they must get directly involved in clients’ media choices and not rely on the agency to guide clients. The thing is that agencies are likely to be more objective in their choice of media for a campaign. It’s like walking up to a vendor in the market and asking them if their watermelon is sweet. They are not likely to say; “No! I suggest you buy from that other guy down the road in the yellow shirt.”
Agencies love to hate freelancers
The fourth source of pain this year has been clients use of freelancers. These are often talented copywriters and mostly artists, some of whom have worked in agencies. This practice could result in brands not looking consistent, as the new style does not always match what the brand has been doing for some time. In addition, freelancers could be down the street or across the globe.
2020 vision of better
Therefore, as an agency owner in T&T, I really want to see the back of 2019. Our team has taken our licks, applied salve to our wounds and have put our grey matter to work so that we can think more highly of 2020. Our take is that all that is described above will be around again next year and since we can’t control external forces, we must change. That means we will be leaner and more focused than ever on serving our clients better. It also means that we must move from being general practitioners to being specialist surgeons. There are too many GP’s out there and we must take the same medicine we give our clients: Be known for one thing.
