The worst is over..... So what's best now?

The general feeling in some areas of global economy believe that the dust has now settled after the latest financial crisis.

In the UK, The Chartered Institute of Marketing’s latest Marketing Trends Survey (Spring 2009) reveals that many marketers believe the worst of the recession is over.

The survey, conducted for The Institute by Ipsos MORI, reveals that “the number of marketers who believe the UK economy will worsen in the next 12 months has halved to 34 per cent (down from 70 per cent in the Autumn 2008 survey)"

This is certainly interesting and positive news, not merely because the UK is such an important European market, but also because the UK is a leading benchmark in marketing trends and practices. So while we begin to dust ourselves off, it’s interesting to see what effect this crisis has had on their choice of communications activities, and what kind of indicators these provide for the upcoming post recession.

As it looks right now, marketing spend is increasingly being focused on the activities that UK marketers believe deliver the best return on investment – Customer Relationship Management, Public Relations and email/online marketing.

In contrast, marketing spend on advertising (excluding online) is down 4.9 per cent, reflecting the fact that 23 per cent of those surveyed believed it delivers the worst return on investment.

Not a good omen for us ad-people, but is this a trend that is destined to linger? One can obviously argue that an upswing in the economy will bring more ad money and better budgets, but a gut feeling tells me that some of the smarter marketers out there will be looking at the results of their activity during a recession, seeing what worked, and probably sticking to it for some time to come.

In fact, David Thorp, director of research and information at The Chartered Institute of Marketing said;

“Despite fears over the economy and job prospects for the rest of 2009, it is clear that we are turning a corner in marketers’ confidence about the future. For now, marketers are wisely concentrating their spend in the most effective activities, and as we move into 2010, I’m convinced this more professional approach will stand them in good stead when the economy recovers....”

So where will this leave the ad-industry? What’s our next best move?

Time will tell, but one thing is for sure, this latest recession has re-dimensioned our industry, the question is just how much, and how this will affect us in the years that follow.....