“There are going to be lots and lots of challenges. At a macro economic level I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet. My very poor economic analysis is that there is no short-term credit liquidity in the world, so companies that don’t have regular cash flows and that need to pay suppliers and their staff on a monthly basis will all go bankrupt. Bigger companies with better cash flows will buy them. Ultimately this will mean a consolidation on a scale that we haven’t seen for a very long time. What that will lead to is fewer brands in existence, which will mean fewer clients, which will mean fewer agencies. This is very significant and scary for the whole industry.”
Faris Yakob, formerly of brand consultancy Naked Communications and now chief technology strategist at McCann Erickson, New York. He’s very good.
More here
I spent part of brunch this morning trying to encourage a couple of girlfriends to embrace new digital tools (eg Twitter, vimeo, qik). It’s possibly even easier to ignore the digital world in parts of Asia, but all of us at brunch are researchers though for different companies or freelancing. I don’t think we can continue to research and advise clients on brand communications as if it was 1999. I also don’t think it’s good for our industry to be at the back of the queue when it comes to experimenting, trying new stuff, and being prepared to have a view.
I don’t know what the future of advertising is going to be, but i’m certain that there is a significant shift going on (which does redeem all that time spent in Media Studies reading and debating Marshall McLuhan, Noam Chomsky, and even José Ortega y Gasset’s La rebelión de las masas - and i really did get a lot of grief for choosing a subject area that appeared as about as substantial as frisbee throwing). I am not sure who the equivalent thinkers are today, and as i even reread Galbraith i am starting to think maybe they are right - maybe spelling and writing is not as good as it used to be.
So here Lotta are the two presentations i mentioned today - both worth a look.
The Economist meets Powerpoint meets advertising (or on the effectiveness of using 3 colours in a presentation)
Thanks for the test - I passed it with flying colours as I’m on your blog and have checked out the links. You’ve got one convert - long may it last!
Nice post Lee. Although it’s funny to see that quote and think that an ad man is more worried about industry consolidation and its effects on agencies, than, oh say, consumers relegating advertising and most of what an agency does to the status of ‘meaningless’ (at least in a traditional sense). Loved that first presentation, very nice.
awesome. thanks you.
today’s minds on media - Henry Jenkins, Clay Shirky…
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