We Can Eliminate Bad Advertising, But It Will Cost Many People Their Jobs

Clients the world over are preparing to throw more money at their communications problems.

According to 1,000 marketing chiefs surveyed in 10 countries by the Dentsu Aegis Network, fifty-four percent expect to spend more on digital platforms in the next two to three years.

It’s hard to say if this is good news or not. Many of their expenditures will most likely be wasted on bad planning and even worse creative.

It’s like Bob Hoffman said in 2010:

With all the amazing advances in technology and communication, you would think there might be some concomitant blossoming of creativity. But there hasn’t been. Not in advertising, not in music, not in art, not in literature, not in movies.

Maybe that’s why our industry has become obsessed with technology and media. There have been impressive, sometimes startling, leaps of innovation and inspiration in these areas.

But, sadly, the ‘content’ is just as crappy as ever.

Yet, advertisers persist, sometimes to their own detriment.

The Dentsu research also shows that people’s intolerance of advertising is a primary concern: 46 percent said this is a key barrier. “One of the most challenging trends facing marketers within global brands is the creeping realization that often consumers don’t really want to see advertising — at least, not in its traditional form.”

Creeping realization? Ads have been highly offensive for more than a century. With digital proliferation, the onslaught of meaninglessness is simply too much for most people to take.

IN RELATED NEWS, P&G, under pressure from slow sales and activist investors, is cutting $400m from agency fees over the next three years. Anything on which the return cannot be measured is vulnerable, reports FT.

Procter & Gamble’s Chief Financial Officer Jon Moeller said that P&G currently works with 2,500 agencies and plans to reduce this to 1,250.

“We need the contribution of creative talent and are prepared to pay for that. We don’t need some of the other components of the cost. We will move to more ‘fixed and flow’ arrangements with more open sourcing of creative talent and production capability, driving greater local relevance, speed, and quality at lower costs.”