ANA Study Shows Marketers Prepared for Continuing Economic Hardships

New York -- If there's any good news to be gleaned from the Association of National Advertisers' recent survey of marketers about the economy, it's that people are prepared even if things get worse."I wish I could say I was hopeful. And I tend to be an optimistic guy," says ANA president and CEO Bob Liodice. The best news is perhaps that everyone knows how bad the economy is and has been preparing for it. "If you've already gone through a panic scenario, you probably don't need to go through another one," he says.The online survey, conducted six months after a similar survey from July 2008, showed marketers at every level, from CMO down, are increasingly pessimistic about the economy and are reacting accordingly. Liodice says the survey received 141 responses from marketers at about 100 companies, ranging from packaged goods and financial services to pharmaceutical. While that sample might seem small -- the ANA has about 360 member companies -- Liodice feels the size is representative enough to give a picture of how marketers are reacting to the economy. "We have to be as realistic and pragmatic as possible. We're all hunkering down together," he says.In the summer 2008 survey, 53% of respondents expected their marketing budgets to decrease within the next six months. By February 2009, 71% said they had experienced trimmed budgets. Similarly, while 38% of the respondents expected their budgets to remain the same over six months, only 23% had their budgets untouched by February 2009. And even more companies are looking for cost savings: 93% of respondents were looking for ways to cut their budgets (compared with 87% last summer), and 37% plan to cut their budgets by more than 20%, compared with the 21% of respondents in the first survey. Among the places marketers are looking to cut costs: travel (87%); reduced media budgets (77%); reduced production budgets (72%); and challenging vendor agencies to reduce their own costs (68%).Past recessions have indicated that media trends lag behind economic trends by six months. The recent survey bears that out, with nearly half of the respondents (49%) saying they expected their budgets to be reduced again over the next six months. "We've got another nine to 12 months of downturn," Liodice says. "Marketers are going to be back on their heels and presenting cautious budgets through 2010."Even Liodice admits the ANA's most recent survey doesn't add or detract from the economic data pouring in saying the American economy is in a deep trench. But events changed so rapidly between July 2008 and January 2009 that a new look was warranted, he says. "[The previous survey] was taken at a point in time before Lehman Brothers [filed for bankruptcy] and the collapse of the stock markets," Liodice says. "The purpose of this survey was to understand the perception of the economy in response to the previous survey."While no sector of the industry is going to make it through the recession unscathed, those that have proven ROI and are more tactical (like shopper marketing) may come out less injured than other sectors as budgets get cut. "There may be a short-term rebalancing of the [marketing] mix as we try to glide by in 2009," he says. "Shopper marketing has broken through the clutter and has a higher degree of interest than I've seen."Much of that interest has been buoyed by new technologies in the shopper marketing arena. Advances such as digital signage and more interactive in-store displays have made the area more enticing and eye catching. "Shopper marketing has a rosier future than in the past because of these new technologies," he says.The potential good news is that once recovery sets in, the industry will be stronger than it was before. "The level of metrics and accountability that exists today is far ahead of 2001-02 [when the last recession occurred]," Liodice says. "As we evaluate the results that we have for 2009, we will have a better idea of how everything worked."

ANA Study Shows Marketers Prepared for Continuing Economic Hardships

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