On Wednesday the AAF-RDU chapter hosted a Principal Summit panel at McKinney in Durham. The panel, which drew a crowd of over one hundred industry peers, was comprised of five top agency professionals, including Howard, Merrell & Partners’ own COO, Donna Mercer.
Other panelists included: Joni Madison, COO, McKinney; Kathy Pepper, Senior Partner/Managing Director, Ogilvy; Karen Albritton, President, Capstrat; and Craig Jackson, President & CEO, Craig Jackson & Partners.
Moderator, News & Observer Business Reporter, David Ranii led a discussion focused on the state of the advertising industry in the current economy.
Key points included:
- In Chinese the word for crisis and the word for opportunity are the same – see each obstacle as a new challenge.
- Diversity in client base and agency services is important to keep your head above water in a down economy.
- Flat is the new growth.
- Clients are still cautious, prepare to be asked to do more with last year’s budget.
- Advertising has come full circle, back to the days of small groups of people sitting around talking, peer to peer recommendations. Advertisers can no longer shout over everyone, they need to join the conversation to gain true influence.
Full video of the discussion coming soon!
I completely agree with the key point above about diversifying your company’s client base. Taking only one client per industry has made our client base more “recession proof” in these difficult times. Additionally, we have also made a concentrated effort to bring on nonprofits and associations such as the Raleigh Regional Association of Realtors, CED, and others. This one-client-per-industry philosophy has also established a strong sense of loyalty with our existing client base. They know for certain that our goals and priorities are 100% aligned with theirs.
“Prepare to be asked to do more with last year’s budget.” –> That’s the truth. This can challenging, but what a great challenge. Forces you to be creative and think out of the box. And a true partner would work hard to do so.