Brighter future seen for the Puertorican advertising industry in 2011.

Brands are thrown at consumers every day. This is why it is essential for companies to not only create awareness of the brand, but also build a relationship between the brand and the consumer. For businesses to grab the attention of potential buyers, they must market to their target audience in an effective way.

That is why marketing decisions are currently being made more carefully and with more attention to budget and to what the consumer wants and needs. In 2011, the advertising industry is not only offering great campaign ideas, but more long-term business-marketing solutions as well. In 2011, the numbers look even brighter than last year, when advertising investments increased to $1.2 billion. This year, they are expected to reach $1.5 billion.

Of course, these numbers are based on rate-card rates. In actuality, after volume and frequency discounts, those total advertising-industryinvestment numbers are about 30% to 40% lower.

“The economic downturn impacted everybody, forcing all of us to look both ‘outside’ and ‘inside,’ thus becoming more aware and conscious of our choices and our decisions,” Luis F. Rodríguez, president of 29 de febrero advertising agency, told CARIBBEAN BUSINESS. “However, for these same reasons, brands and products need more than ever to further differentiate and distinguish themselves. In order to stand out from the rest and succeed, brands and products must be more than just a priced commodity. The need for a strong emotional connection paired with a strong value offer is more relevant than ever. Thus, there are lots of opportunities to grow.” Marketing trends are changing and making history. For the fi rst time, the consumer is shaping the way advertising agencies do business and how they market their clients. In 2011, consumers will continue to be the prime decisionmakers regarding what brands will be “the next big thing.”

“Consumers continue to dictate to the industry with their demands and the way they see brands,” said Andrés Claudio, president of Grey Puerto Rico. “This lets brands that care about successfully reaching their target audience know that to achieve this goal, they have to listen carefully to consumers and react accordingly.” José Luis Álvarez, president of Lopito, Ileana & Howie, said there is a learning curve as the ad
industry adjusts to the consumer’s heightened role as manifested through social media.

“Now the consumer generates and shares his or her own content through social media, becoming the message and the medium. For the industry, this is a major change that has to be understood, since we no longer create the medium and the message for a passive receiver,” Álvarez said. “Now we interact and relate with the consumer, sharing opinions, information, experiences and more. This represents a great opportunity, since we no longer have to stick to one media vehicle just because it has a great reach.”

Advertising gurus such as Badillo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi President Erasto Freytes, said that media investments are on the rise and this will continue throughout 2011. He explained that important trends like Internet applications will continue to grow, and communication and advertising will be accessed through a variety of screens.

“We are living in the screen age,” Freytes said. “TV screens, computer screens, cellphone screens, screens at shopping malls, at the stores, on billboards, in the car, in stadiums, on the sides of buildings, integrated into our household appliances. Screens for informing, entertaining, communicating, connecting, transacting, controlling.

There will be screens for every need and purpose. As these screens spread everywhere in our lives, it is becoming clear that using them with skill and creativity is the solution to the key communications and marketing challenges of our time.” Advertising-industry experts concur that social media will continue to be an important part of marketing. They have given brands the opportunity to get closer to their audience and interact with them through media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. “Now we can have a true dialogue with the

consumer with this new technology,” Álvarez said. “Even more, we can exchange valuable information about the brands we represent for consumers to become ‘fans’ of them.” John Raevis, president of de la Cruz advertising agency, told CARIBBEAN BUSINESS that the reinvigoration of the industry indeed has to do a lot with changing tendencies related to the use of social media.

“Public relations is an industry that has taken back the reins and changed completely because of social media,” he explained. “Social media, at a corporate level, is an important area nowadays, and it is an area, at least in our case, that is integrated and part of our public relations in the agency. We have to maintain the reputation of our clients within these networks.”

The Internet has changed the way marketers plan campaigns, since an array of alternatives can be added to the traditional marketing mix. Its use on the island has increased 45% and is expected to hit 60% by 2015.

“Traditional media can now be used to provoke dialogues between consumers and clients that can be followed on the Internet and turned into action with the mobile technology at the point of sale,” Álvarez said. “This is fascinating, exciting and endless, representing a great opportunity for growth.”

Rodríguez explained that clients are “breaking molds” by trying unconventional things to a much greater extent than ever before. He added that ad agencies, as well as marketing departments, are “shrinking” and “condensing” to become more effi cient, agile and responsive.

Regarding current trends, the executive said that in addition there are: “random acts of kindness” that involve monitoring consumers’ public moods and acting upon them; “pricing pandemonium,” or extremely aggressive pricing, as well as the offering of dynamic deals right at the point of sale; “everything eco,” which involves the pursuit of being not only ecofriendly, but also superior to “polluting incumbents” in every possible way; “nowism,” which stresses delivering everything now, quicker than ever; and “bang for the buck,” which entails ever more strategic and targeted budget utilization.

“The ad industry will keep reinventing itself. The last few years provided for a ‘re-evaluation,’ and from now on it will be more toward ‘reevolution,’” Rodríguez said. “Since the clients’ marketing-department resources are constrained,
agencies will become a stronger and closer partner. Clients need strong, strategic ideas that provide for better business solutions. They want agencies that provide not just electronic commercials and print ads, but also smart businessmarketing solutions.”

BY CYNTHIA COLÓN

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