s the recession bites, we can be sure the email inboxes of advertising executives across the land will be inundated with enthusiastic compositions from troubled publishers trying desperately to impart a straightforward and timely piece of information - advertising should be maintained, dare they say increased, during these tough times.
The tales of Kellogg, Nike, Apple Corp and countless others which stole market share during leaner days will no longer be the advertising tales of yore, but distilled instead into a modern elixir, a failsafe plan to guide brands through the confusion of the marketplace - and straight onto the pages of the newspapers and magazines that these very same publishers produce.
Much of the information will be entirely accurate and verifiable. Historically, recession has indeed been a time when the boldest of companies have been able to gain significant advantage over their competitors. It's a sound method, but - given the scale of this economic downturn, as well as a rapidly evolving marketplace - is this enough now?
Since our last meaningful foray into a fiscal squeeze, advertising methodology has become much more sophisticated in its approach. It's had to. The explosion in media platforms over the past decade - the 'data noise' that has grown to permeate most of
our waking lives - has given rise to an increasingly 'media savvy' audience that demands more and more on its own terms. Many of you who position your brands online may well appreciate the bleeding edge of this phenomenon more than most.At the same time, it has been some while since any serious business has classified advertising as a luxury and, although budgets will no doubt be cut by some more conservative businesses, it is doubtful that we will return to the landscape of old, where consumers are ripe for the picking by clever advertising execs who merely increase their clients visibility whilst all
others recede from view.
we must find smarter ways of Positioning brands in the market place
It would be easy to dismiss the fall in global advertising spend in 'big media' as purely driven by the tight economic climate. That's at play, of course, but there is also a shift away from the scattergun approach that's been employed for so long. (Internet advertising has also taken a slice for sure, and continues to grow rapidly, although it is outwith the scope of this article to discuss how people are finding or losing their feet there.)
What many advertisers are discovering is that specialist publications are offering the best of both worlds - a traditional advertising vehicle that can put their brand across to a prime, targeted audience. This shift to narrowcasting (as opposed to broadcasting) seems inevitable.
Robert Price, Chief Executive of Future UK, is quoted as saying: "Specialist magazines remain much more resilient than generalist titles to what is happening in the broader economy. People don't give up their hobbies and passions easily, even in a downturn. They stick to what they know and love."
Smaller advertisers, who are far more sensitive to the return on their investment, have known for some time that niche titles have provided good ROI, whilst other, more general advertising approaches have failed. The massive growth in this sector implies that even larger players in the industry are beginning to catch on.
To illustrate my point let me briefly explain one of my own titles, Able magazine.
Able is the most widely distributed disability lifestyle magazine in the UK, with an ABC verified circulation of slightly less that 32,000. That's small beer by most national titles' standards, but when we delve a little deeper we find some interesting facts.
Firstly, our readers are almost exclusively disabled themselves or care for a disabled family member, friend or neighbour. Able obviously offers advertisers in this market unparalleled access to their core audience.
Secondly, over and above our strong (and growing) subscriber base, our controlled distribution network targets purely the disability sector. Shopmobility schemes, disability organisations, wheelchair service centres, disabled living centres, disabled resource centres, MS therapy centres, occupation therapy departments, spinal units, limb fitting centres, independent living centres and disability offices throughout the Jobcentre Plus network all receive copies. This offers our advertisers a focused market penetration that simply cannot be matched by the general media, or indeed a local branch of WHSmith. If you have a product or service you want to take to the disability marketplace you would be hard pressed to find another platform as relevant or influential.
Advertising executives who continue to be tied to the 'price per readership thousand' that has traditionally dominated the industry are therefore running the risk of falling behind their competitors when it comes to capitalising on this market penetration. Where once executives and agencies saw just smaller print runs and narrower distrib-ution, they should now see minimal wastage, loyal subscribers and focused delivery. Where they see cost per reader they should ask: "What's the quality of those readers?"
I have a vested interest in all this, of course, but a quick glance at the state of the global industry and the way that specialist magazines are bucking the trend certainly seems to confirm my beliefs. At a time when most advertising markets are seeing a marked contraction in their sales, niche publications are growing faster than ever.
This is not my attempt to furnish you with a recession-busting plan. I believe that longer-term shifts in the marketplace will develop in the coming months and years, recession or not, and that these will require new ways of thinking. What the current economic downturn shares with its predecessors though, is that if you fail to embrace the opportunities it brings, others may well come along and steal your market share from right under your nose.
