Advertising message still matters in these tough times

Never before has the spotlight been so firmly focused on the role of marketing as a strategic and vital revenue driver. With the spread of Covid and the corresponding economic slump, the microscope is focused on how brands position themselves for growth.

In the eight years I’ve been covering media, marketing and advertising, things have changed so fast that it’s hard to keep up.

From the role of creativity and fears over the diminishing ‘‘big idea’’, to data privacy concerns, media budget pressures, the automation of buying and selling ads and fundamentals such as ensuring diversity across ad campaigns, there is a long list of things that marketers and ad agencies need to be across.

Pippa Chambers

But what about the CEO and the senior leaders and board members beyond the chief marketing officer? What do they need to be across? Why? And what role does creativity have when it comes to business growth?

The Growth Agenda aims to dig into this in order to elevate the conversation around creativity within marketing and advertising. Never before has the spotlight been so firmly focused on the role of marketing as a strategic and vital revenue driver.

With the advent of Covid and the corresponding economic slump, the microscope soon turned to the positioning and reaction from brands. While some were quick to pause messaging and delay campaigns, others jumped in with gusto, smarts and bold ideas.

Those brands that maintained share of voice will stand out by ensuring they stayed front of mind for consumers. While time will tell the fate of brands that sat back and slashed ad spend, those that did invest and maintained media budgets were quick to see the benefits.

We’ll be exploring these stories in this weekly series. What brands do during times of crisis matters, but there’s no time for complacency. Winning in a recession is one thing, but winning long-term and consistently is another.

Globally, it’s a saturated market where consumers are drowning in messages. Those that can get cut through are few and far between, but those that do use the most powerful weapon: creativity.

Australia has world-class brands, world-class creatives and ideas and The Growth Agenda will delve into this.

From finding and conveying brand purpose to being authentic and building human connection via creative, The Growth Agenda will not only highlight the critical function that marketing serves, but it will also reveal campaign success stories and industry opinions from some of the smartest minds in advertising.