‘The Agency of the Future’ gets a lot of attention in the press and at industry conferences. ‘The Agency of the Future’ partners with its clients, solves brand problems through enhanced creativity, provides digital/integrated solutions, attracts the best industry talent, and competes with consulting firms. It is a wonderful dream that will be realized only if ‘The Agency of Today’ is fixed. This is not happening. By Michael Farmer
Before and since COVID-19 hit, consumers loaded up on paid media subscriptions and sampled free services. As costs, competition, and subscription fatigue grow, their choices today could shape the industry for the next decade.
Corporate America has played an important role in the progress of LGBTQ+ rights over the past two decades, with many companies making public gestures of support. Hundreds of major consumer brands have become regular sponsors of annual Pride events. A record 206 major corporations signed an amicus brief in the spring advocating for the Supreme Court’s June 2020 decision protecting LGBTQ+ individuals from workplace discrimination. Companies are also increasingly making business-critical decisions about recruitment practices, employee-resource groups, and marketing that embrace LGBTQ+ rights.
For our recent McKinsey Global Survey on the topic, we approximated inclusion by combining survey respondents’ reported feelings of authenticity, belonging, and comfort participating in the workplace. Our survey research finds that respondents of all backgrounds encounter barriers to feeling included—and that women, respondents who are ethnic and racial minorities, and those who identify as LGBTQ+ encounter additional challenges.
As the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic comes into sharper focus, the position of the nation’s small businesses appears, overall, to be particularly bleak. By mid-April, according to a report from the Facebook & Small Business Roundtable, about a third had temporarily stopped operating, and by mid-May more than half had laid off or furloughed employees. Our analysis of several surveys of small businesses suggests that before accounting for intervention, 1.4 million to 2.1 million of them (25 to 36 percent) could close permanently as a result of the disruption from just the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The approaches Aetna, Anheuser-Busch, IBM, and others take to keep their teams’ marketing capabilities sharp
The June 2020 U.S. mid-year forecast is marked by declines in consumer and advertising spend across the board. The COVID pandemic sharply transformed the economic expectations from growth as recently as mid-March to the worst economic decline since the peak of the Great Depression in 1932. That’s according to consensus data as of mid-May tracked by Refinitiv that called for a 5.7% inflation-adjusted decline in economic activity.
Walton Isaacson CEO says a ‘seemingly benign idea’ has turned into ‘a brutal affront to our communities’
Four weeks ago when most America when into lockdown, marketers worried about the future of their marketing to mom campaigns. What they soon discovered however was that homebound moms searching for products, educational tools and entertainment created opportunities for sales growth. [A great blueprint for the US Hispanic advertising, marketing, media, public relatins and research Industry]
Radio provides consumers with a reassuring presence in challenging times
According to a 700 media and advertising professionals conducted just prior to Covid-19 and Black Lives Matter activism, 43% of Black, Hispanic/Latino and Asian professionals in the advertising and media business agreed that the industry is doing its best to advance diversity, equality and inclusion. By comparison, 60% of Caucasian professionals in our community agreed. Only 12% of white people in the ad/media business believed current efforts are insufficient vs. 35% of Blacks, 31% of Hispanics/Latinos and 21% of Asians. The remaining group offered no opinion.
Multicultural Excellence Award winners showcase insight and learning from the brands taking the strategic steps to ensure their engagement with multicultural consumer segments is relevant, creative and compelling.
Media owners’ advertising revenues will decrease by $42 billion in 2020, from $582 billion to $540 billion, as advertising spending shrinks due to the severe economic recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, as GDP is expected to contract between -5% and -12% across the world’s largest markets. Global advertising revenues will decrease by an estimated -7%, as the heavy, double-digit decline of linear ad sales (linear TV, print, linear radio, OOH, cinema), -16% to $238 billion, will be mitigated by the stability of digital formats: +1% to $302 billion.
Last week’s Cog Blog post, on what the agency of the post-pandemic future might look like generated some interesting feedback. This week’s post tries to provide some suggestions (answers would be presumptive) to the points raised, based purely on my own experience. I’ve grouped these around four of the most popular topic areas. By Brian Jacobs
The expansive role of the chief marketing officer is filled with possibility, but many CMOs lack the confidence to truly engage with the C-suite. How can CMOs build confidence to elevate their influence and fully realize their role’s potential?
Marketers, looking for increased productivity and transparency in their media investments, are calling for sweeping changes and improvements in the media ecosystem. This includes transformative changes to the upfront marketplace.
On April 16, the National Association of Hispanic Journalist (NAHJ) board announced, in a press release posted on NAHJ.org, that it had voted to cancel national board elections and extend, for another year, the terms of board members, including those of the president and the rest of the executive board. This move encompassed both elected and appointed board members.
The 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer Spring Update: Trust and the Covid-19 Pandemic shows a significant rise in Americans’ trust in both government and business. Since January, trust in government has risen nine points, and trust in business has risen six points.
With Women’s History Month upon us, there’s no better time to recognize that efforts to increase gender diversity in the boardroom are finally beginning to yield results.
To become more inclusive and LGBTQ+-friendly, brands need to lead with actions rather than just words. Making statements isn’t enough anymore. Instead, culture needs to change from within a brand, not just within its creative copy. How can this happen?
