Monday, November 24, 2008
The alarm bells from the United States and European Union echo the fact that hard times are coming sooner. This year Christmas songs and New Year songs will not bring much joy to a lot of businesses, particularly the advertising business.
I think the Thai mood and mode of moving from 2008-2009 will not be hard. But 2009 will not be the same with no growth and probably, even a contraction.
Perhaps it will be worse than this year and the last two years when we did not see any real growth.
Politically, we are behaving like novices and not waking up to the reality because of our Thai-style democracy. But in the advertising business of managing changes, particularly during crises, the god of reality (yes god) will not allow you to play it the Thai way that long anymore!
Strategically, we should look at not only surviving but also growing.
Companies need to be restructured to be very compact and highly competitive and productive with minimum waste. Lay-offs may be inevitable, but then again do not do it for short-term tactical reasons. If growth is planned, the structure needs to be strong enough to accommodate growth in the future.
Our people, particularly our seniors, must shape up or ship out.
The demand for our brands from consumers will see shifting patterns that meed to be micro-analysed and focused on what we offer them and promise them.
Industry spending will be cut and re-utilised to minimise waste because our consumers are having less disposable income to spend.
My predictions are that this time the effects will do collateral damage vertically from high-end brands like fashion, cosmetics, cars, mobiles, jewels, tourism to name a few, down to detergents and toothpaste.
Clients need partners for growth and not an agency to help them spend. Accountability will be the key performance index measurement for return on investment.
Campaigns, if loosely structured, will never work successfully in the long term. Concept words like brand owner idea must come from both sides, clients and agency teams.
Don't treat brand building, brand team, brand owner, as fancy words coined by clever marketers.
Believe in it, for they have one thing in common -"it's our brand" if we adopt it well, so will our consumers.
Our people, our creativity and our media must also be accountable and with insightful knowledge of the mind of consumers. Speak to them first, court them, understand them first, make an offer to them first, let our brands stay on top their minds during this crises period.
Thais are resilient. We can beat the odds.
Kitti Chambudabongse
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