Economic impact of the current situation on advertising agencies

The advertising departments of all companies in all sectors have been challenged by the pandemic to  look for  imaginative and inventive new campaign tactics and activities or strategies that will navigate the organisation through this new standard that calls for new ways of advertising products to meet the current situation and it’s needs. 

For brands, this means coping with the market shifts due to the economic effects on all areas of the industry all the while facing intensified competition given the new normal buying habit of customers and society, addressing sustainability, determining organisational options and challenges faced by strategic planning in process of adjusting to the  “new normal”.

Businesses have diverted their investment to more purpose-driven marketing, mission-driven marketing and cause-related marketing to help meet customers’ inflated advertising use especially now when they are operating from home. This in turn has led many brands to optimise their marketing practises to best match the rise in internet sales, interactions and time with customers.

Now advertising content has had to be adapted as well. The brands that continue to advertise, need to reorient their messages to give them meaning in a particular context corresponding to the new situation that the people are in since COVID19 hit the world. 

A lot of advertisers have stopped their advertisement investments owing to the huge loss that revenue from ads suffered especially in print media. While several campaigns have been delayed, others have been suspended to use that fund for more important and immediate things. The agencies saw their billing shrink sharply, leading to some serious cost-cutting measures. Hopes were rekindled by the unlock process and the summer time that signalled towards holidays and vacation which would inevitably use advertisements. 

However the cultural shifts triggered by the crisis could lead brands to revisit their copies of promotional messages. The priorities of customers are changing: the need for reinsurance, refocusing on critical components such as the family and the home. In the end, to return meaning to ads and display a consistent dialogue in terms of principles, in-depth analysis would have to be undertaken.