Ad Agency

Agencies and our trade press have been busy opining on what it all means for this or that sector, whilst, one hopes, diligently planning for their own futures. Agencies are due to hit the reset button, but just before they agree to ‘restore factory settings’ it might be an idea to ask whether the old model is any longer fit for purpose.  By Brian Jacobs

BOTTOM LINE: While its likely not totally shocking at this point, we think that April increasingly feels like the bottom, and the linearity of the quarter appears to be much better in May, with expectations for continued rebound into June. Our and the Street’s 2Q20 estimates are largely in the range of where the companies indicated they were pacing for the quarter in April/early May, and our expectations are that there is likely upside to revenue numbers of at least 4-7%. We will be waiting to see how June shapes up, as well as color around 2H outlook before refining our estimates, but numbers are likely going higher.

As the dust begins to settle and we get a clearer view of what the future might look like, one thing is certain: it won’t look like it did pre-COVID.  Agencies aren’t headed back to the office en masse anytime soon. Many aren’t bringing their entire teams back. And many won’t occupy the same physical spaces.  By Mark Duval – The Duval Partnership

Marina Filippelli, who previously served in a double capacity at Orci as COO and Director of Client Services, has been named CEO.

There’s no rest for the weary. With the 2020 scope season in the rearview mirror, it’s already time to look ahead to 2021.

Agency Mania Solutions shared advice regarding to role of metrics in managing agencies. The article examined how answering strategic leadership questions can help determine the proper metrics to use.

People talk about coming out “on the other side” of this crisis, but that’s an ambiguous destination that we may not recognize until we’ve already been there for some time. What if the other side is months out, years even? What do we do until then? When we get there, what will your agency look like?  by Mark Duval / The Duval Partnership

COVID-19 may have put the kibosh on in-person Cinco de Mayo gatherings, but the folks at d expósito & Partners didn’t let our stay-at-home reality put a damper on their quinceañera plans. The agency hosted a virtual celebration via Zoom, marking 15 years since the company’s founding. The program consisted of a retrospective of the last 15 years, highlighting milestones and accolades, followed by a heartfelt dialogue where everyone commented on their personal experiences and ideas for the future.

As I’ve commented in the past, there are plenty of opinions, articles and webinars on how marketers should go about weathering the coming economic recession. Many of these come from agencies, trade bodies, media owners, academics and marketing consultants; most peddle the line that the smartest plan is to keep spending at a time when the competition slows or stops, thus raising share-of-voice. By Brian Jacobs / The Cog Blog

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has forced immediate, far-reaching lifestyle shifts for American consumers. In fact, it’s unlikely that consumers’ lives will return to normal in the near future.

Class of 2020, created by students at the University of Texas at Austin, is the newest platform supporting brands since stay-at-home guidelines were placed. The students, expected to graduate this year, were met with commencement ceremony cancellations and a lack of jobs and internship options due to agency cutbacks. The unpromising job market has led them to create an agency offering research, strategic planning, experiential and creative ideation, public relations and creative execution.

During the 2008-09 recession, agency organic growth fell by -1,500 bps from +4% in 3Q 2008 to a low of -11% in 2Q 2009. It took seven quarters in the end for organic growth to recover back to +6% in 2Q 2010, reflecting the prolonged economic weakness over this period.

As MMM of Florida’s agency of record, WOW MKTG will create comprehensive advertising campaigns for the healthcare brand in the South Florida market.

Technology will lead to dramatic changes in the agency model, but experts say the effects could be good for clients and agencies alike

It has been 16 years since Facebook’s founding and Google’s IPO in 2004. Marketing, media, and creative players rushed in to master the new digital and social innovations across all viewing platforms. Complexity replaced simplicity and has grown without bounds. Excess complexity is a disaster. It’s time to eliminate it.

Many industry sectors may decrease marketing and advertising spending this year as a result of slower sales and profits. MAGNA expects the impact on revenues to be severe for the Travel and Restaurant industries, moderate for Retail and Automotive, mild for Consumer PackagedGoods (CPG/FMCG) and potentially positive for Ecommerce and Home Entertainment (SVOD).

While solutions exist, myriad problems continue to erode the trust between clients and their agencies

IThe current crisis is a far cry from the Great Recession but there are things we have learned that are applicable when trying to figure out how to protect brands, businesses and livelihoods. In this post I have listed a few things that brands should do during the crisis and which will help preserve the brand’s standing for the longer-term..  by Nigel Hollis

Total marketing communications and advertising investments will decline more than $50 billion annually between 2019 and 2025, from $589.8 billion to $538.3 billion, according to The Myers Report’s new Marketing & Media Economic Data and Forecast 2000–2025. Yet advertising’s share will grow a projected 7.9%, from $214.5 billion in 2019 to $231.4 billion in 2025.

In recent weeks, there has been some talk about an economic recession. When it comes is still anybody’s guess, but another business slowdown is inevitable. It would be the first since the “great recession” ended more than ten years ago. Often times when a recession happens, businesses, fearful of declining revenue, begin to cut back in various areas, including their ad spending.  By Brad Adgate