Page 21 - AdNews Magazine Nov-Dec 2020

influenced by consumer sentiment, unemployment and house prices. All are more reliable barometers than the next CMO survey of intentions or the pundits talking up media spend. Much of the latter is self-serving. History tells us (or at least a study by Tellis & Tellis does) that there is high elasticity between GDP and advertising expenditure. But with GDP growth not expected to turn positive until well into next year, the boom times may take a little while to arrive.
But what about the industry itself? Let’s hope the hardest hit channels, particularly cinema and outdoor get a golden run, but digital will still lead growth in absolute terms. Marketers must resist the temptation to focus heavily on a couple of channels. All the empirical studies show that marketers need a range to meet their business goals. Reaching all poten- tial buyers and driving active attention across as many channels as you can afford still applies. Will we see an explosion in marketers combining their first-party data with media vendors’ data? I hope so. Subject to privacy and security, “mass targeting” will be a major industry development assuming it all makes sense commercially. However, transparency and data access will be critical for marketers to build con- fidence and trust, and agencies and intermediaries who genuinely provide this will gain advantage over those who do not.
Finally, what will matter for the AANA next year? 2021 will be a big year. Firstly, we will be broadening our membership to include small and medium advertisers as well as individuals. We are keen to broaden our industry representation and to build a professional marketing community. Secondly, we have been very encouraged by our first year of offering marketing capa- bility and training “by marketers for marketers”. We will expand our
Jens Monsees, CEO, WPP AUNZ
program offering next year in response to what members are tell- ing us they want. Thirdly, global advances in cross media measure- ment and transparency in the ad tech supply chain will present options for us to pursue in Australia. Fourthly, we will be publishing best practice guidelines in agency pitch- ing in partnership with the MFA. Our aim is to make it a fair and effec- tive process for all participants. Last, but certainly not least, we have been working hard to make sure our advertising self-regulation system is recession proofed by optimising its operations and encouraging more advertisers to participate. Protecting our rights and freedoms to market our brands responsibly is important for all of us and I encourage you to get involved. Do not assume it will continue to exist without your sup- port. It will not. It needs you. Sign up or risk losing it.
Dominic Pearman, chairman, IMAA
Although 2020 has been a tragic year for all sorts of reasons, surpris- ingly it has been a successful launch year for the IMAA. We launched on 19 February 2020, just prior to the world shutting down. With 20 members and grand plans for a packed calendar year of confer- ences and meetings, no-one could have predicted what lay ahead. However, the support and positive feedback the IMAA has received from independent agencies, media vendors and the industry trade media has been remarkable.
When COVID-19 hit, the biggest challenge was the uncertainty of what would happen next.
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