Archive for July, 2009
Hurry Up and Wait
Following on from my bullet pointed rant about the pitch process, it now seems clear to me that the entire attitude of the UK marketing industry could be summed up as Hurry Up and Wait.
From fast turnaround pitches that result in weeks of client indecision, to urgent meetings cancelled at the last minute and amazing opportunities that seem to fizzle away, as an industry (both client and agency side) we really are rubbish at time and resource management.
I don’t know what the answer is, but it does feel like the problem has been getting worse during the eleven years I’ve been in the industry.
Perhaps its that as email, text, skype, ftp, messenger, videoconferencing and so on make communications and data exchange faster, more accessible and cheaper, changing the plot has become easier to do.
On the other hand, the inability of many agency types to say ‘no’ to client demands can’t have helped, creating the impression that in the average agency 50% of the head count is sitting around twiddling their fingers and waiting for an exciting brief to come in. And conversely, that should the exciting brief be delayed for some reason, everyone will find themselves something else to do until it appears.
A very cynical view of both sides of the pitch process (written by someone who probably needs a holiday)
The agency:
- I’m sure they hid the brief somewhere in this 82 page document
- Did you know that pizza is a major food group?
- Find what we did last time and change the client logo
- There is a Hell and it’s name is Powerpoint
- Yes, they do run trains at 5am
- Time waits for no pitch
- Hurry Up and Wait…and wait…and wait
The client:
- Behold, I am an all-powerful beauty content judge. You may bow.
- If I make the wrong decision, I may lose my job, so I’ll go for a tram smash of all three pitches to cover my back.
- You’re on the roster! No, I don’t actually want you to do any work for me right now…
- Why can’t I use your Big Idea but get my cheaper agencies to execute it?
- We already had that idea, honest, and were just about to run it…
the New Normal #3 – shifting values
In my last (at least for now) series of observations about the New Normal, we come to consumer values.
Yes, I know there’s an online movement to eradicate the term ‘consumer’, but to be honest I’ve yet to hear a better alternative – ‘commonalities among people generally, who aren’t customers, but then again might be vaguely interested in what you have to say’ is a bit of a mouthful, ‘target audience’ too specific and ‘people’ too generic.
Obviously in terms of how people spend money, what they spend it on and why, the ballpark has shifted considerably in the last 12 months. I’ve already blogged about how ‘value’ means far more than just cheap prices, but I’m increasingly interested in the shift in values that has accompanied this.
It used to be socially acceptable to talk about what a great bargain you got – the cheapie Primark dress or knockoff designer bag. Now it’s OK to talk about how your finances are tight, what you are cutting back on to address this and even to boast about how surprisingly great the food offer is at Aldi. It’s almost got to the point where we can boast about our savvyness, with new consumer (see?) tribes No Frills Affluents, the Aldirati and Recessionistas all almost enjoying the new status quo.
Then we have the New Normal of haggling for big ticket items, deciding a restaurant for dinner or day out destination based on who is offering the best vouchers and never ordering online without checking for a discount code first.
Add to this the rise of simplicity and home crafts, a backlash against conspicuous consumption and being urged to shop responsibly (care of Gok Wan, Mary Portas and co) and it all seems to be about Considered Consumption. Even Provenance is inching its way back into decision making, except perhaps its now more about Buying British or supporting local producers than paying a premium for happy chickens.
Go ahead, its OK to buy something, but make sure you have a justifiable reason behind your purchase, get a discount, recycle whatever you’re replacing and don’t make a song and dance about it (unless it was a real bargain).
Part two – if it moves, research it
Part one – measuring how far client’s bravery (and budget) will stretch
The New Normal #2 – if it moves, research it
So, after looking at the New Normal of measuring client’s bravery and budget we move on to part two – attitudes towards market research.
Desk research tools like TGI and Mintel are becoming increasingly unhelpful as we slide deeper into this recession. Data that was collected twelve or eighteen months ago in happier economic times about spending patterns or consumer attitudes is at best unreliable and at worst downright misleading.
Which means that the role of primary research is becoming increasingly important. I’m not basing this on any hard data, but it seems to me that research as a specialism does seem to be surviving the recession rather nicely. Want to prove your campaign worked? Measure awareness pre and post. Want to understand how your target audience are defining value right now? Do some groups. Need to understand how the fixture is being browsed? Accompanied shops.
In other words, want to prove to your boss that you made a rational, thought through decision based on robust data and intelligent analysis and that the resulting communication was entirely effective? Call in the quallies and quanties.
The multinational clients and big brands who traditionally threw research at everything might be cutting back a bit, but the medium and smaller research buyers seem to be actually upping their spend when it comes to comms and NPD research in an effort to be sure they’re making the right decisions.
To be honest, I’m rather pleased about all this new-found ‘if it moves, research it’ attitude. There’s a great quote in Jon Steel’s Truth, Lies, and Advertising
“Without research, we are flying in the dark. Not only are we in the dark, but we have no radio, no compass and no fuel gauge. I don’t know about you, but I would hate to fly on that plane.”
photo by flyforfun via flickr, CC applies
Part three, consumer values to follow soon…
the New Normal – measuring how far client’s bravery (and budget) will stretch
Firstly, apologies for the lack of activity here in the last week or two, the result of being manically busy at work combined with a horse-so-lame-it-has-to-go-to-the-horse-hospital crisis.
Anyway.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what is the New Normal, by which I mean what has shifted as a resulted of the downturn economy, but isn’t likely to shift back in a hurry.
I think there are three key areas that have seriously shifted and affect what I do for a living – clients and their marketing budgets, attitudes towards market research and consumer values.
So let’s start today with Part One – clients and their marketing budgets:
For clients (and especially FMCG clients), it now seems to be all about not just measurability and ROI, but the need for instant results. The idea of investing in marketing activity in order to build a brand that might pay back in terms of brand affinity, loyalty, value or listings several years down the line is being laughed out of boardrooms at the kind of challenger brands I work with.
It seems that activity has to be not only measurable, but predictable. Quite how you’re supposed to be able to accurately predict what short term effect a packaging redesign or PR campaign is going to have on rate of sale is still beyond me.
I suppose it comes down to the fact that FMCG clients in particular are scared – for their results, for the job and very scared of their stockists. I sat in a challenger brand boardroom on Friday presenting the thinking behind an on-pack campaign for 2010, only to be told by Sales that the only three things the mults will currently respond to are TV exposure, supplier funded price promotions or a big fat listings cheque. And without your listing, you have no sales at all…
In Challenger Brand Land, serious TV exposure (with the through the line support that it merits and deserves) is usually out of reach. So what do you spend the year’s low to medium six figure budget on then? A coupon campaign?
Oh no, silly me. Digital of course. The only predictable, measurable, responsive option clients seem to have left. Which is probably why we currently spend so much as an agency with google that they even turn up to lecture at our in-house training courses…
by Russell via flickr, CC applies
Part two attitudes towards market research and part three consumer values to follow soon…
Green shoots, or are we looking at a W shape recession?
A couple of the other owners at the yard where I keep my horse are lawyers and on Friday evening they were talking about how busy their case load suddenly was. It’s the same for me – some big and lucrative projects seem to have just appeared out of thin air.
But I’m not prepared to herald this as an indication of The Beginning of The End of The Recession.
I’m starting to think we must be in a ‘W’ shaped recession, where we could expect to see a brief economic uplift, swiftly followed by sinking back down before the promised economic recovery finally arrives.
Consumer and even trade confidence might be returning, but business (in particular the manufacturing sector) has cut back so far and so fast that it almost precludes sustained growth and the danger is that if the Powers That Be think the worst is over, they will stop focusing on limiting the impact of recession. Which would send us back down the slope from V to W…
But who should you believe?
The National Institute of Economic and social research say that the recession is already over
The British Chambers of Commerce say we’re not out of it yet and today’s letter is ‘W’
and
tone of everyday
Just gorgeous. Fan-crowdsourced webcamed music video from Japanese band Sour’s ‘Hibi no Neiro’ (Tone of everyday). Via crackunit.
Dirt busters through the decades
Evolution of the vacuum cleaner, 1975ish – 2009
Evolution of the Dyson, DC01 – DC14
note my family’s ‘when in doubt, bodge the handle with gaffer tape’ approach to vacuum cleaner repair…
a shelved history of packaging design
I was standing in my dad’s garage this week, staring at his Shelves of Stuff which (since he hasn’t moved house for 35 years) offer a great history of design in DIY and car care product packaging.
The Mobil de icer and Holts tyrewall black packaging are so retro that they actually look fresh, clean and modern:
then we have this of-it’s-time packaging for Shell’s Damp Start:
and finally, it would be fair to say that this design has not really stood the test of time:
keep on moving
We had another office move-around this past week. I struck lucky just in time for the heatwave as I am now situated next to a window which actually opens and I managed to hold on to my electric fan in the move, so the temperature at my desk only hit a high of 30C this week…
I find office moves quite therapeutic, if only for the opportunity to have a really good clear out and bin/archive tons of stuff. It always feels like starting afresh, especially as you usually end up with a different set of desk-mates to boot.
The agency’s well-oiled moving machine geared into action on Monday afternoon, with the movers arriving and the computer network switched off at 5.01pm. As a bonus, since I no longer had access to my computer, phone, files or desk, my evening started 29 minutes early :)
