Advertisers and agencies: structural change in the industry

Advertising clients are no longer satisfied with bad leads. Quality is in demand.This article refers to the article published in MK 04/2016"Customer hunt for health insurance companies: The end of the bear dinosaurs" and explores the possible reasons that could be responsible for the extinction of these bear dinosaurs. It is about the structural change in the advertising industry and the accompanying changes in the behavioral patterns of advertising clients and agencies. An almost inseparable couple who have to redefine themselves. Like in any good marriage. When you've been together for a long time. And want to stay together even longer. It's about the end of an era in Swiss advertising history that has lasted over 50 years. With lead management and online marketing as a viewing aid.Internet & Tools: More knowledge, know-how and transparency in the hands of advertising clientsThe measurability of digital media and the internet have not only changed and empowered consumers, because they are always informed and connected everywhere. The same effect applies to the relationship between advertising clients and agencies. Advertising clients are well informed, can find information at any time and find good sources on the Internet. They can make more relevant inquiries, compare offers better and demand transparency more emphatically.Online marketing is no longer a hurdle for most advertising clientsThe internet and online marketing were initially seen as one of the biggest challenges for companies. In the meantime, it has become a great opportunity, growth driver, knowledge provider, transparency creator, monitoring and controlling tool for advertising clients. This creates a completely new self-image for advertising clients and their relationship with agencies, which was perhaps not always balanced in the past. They even told advertising clients directly to their faces that only they, the advertisers, knew anything about advertising and that the customer, the advertising client, had no idea. If someone disagreed, then by golly, I for one only know this from hearsay due to my age. Can that be? Did such scenes really take place in Swiss advertising? I didn't experience it myself. Nor do I want to. I don't have to either. In any case, it seems to have been a funny time, with a lot of humanity. Professional is different today. And yet, everything must not have been so bad. And everything certainly wasn't equally bad everywhere in the past either, because after all, that's when Swiss advertising classicthat you remember very fondly.

<span is a classic.Times have changed. Good times.But times have definitely changed. Employees who have wasted the money of companies, insured persons, administrations, foundations, etc. with pointless campaigns in the name of advertising clients are increasingly becoming a thing of the past and need to make way. They must make way for employees of integrity who want to get on in life and achieve something. Marketing professionals of the new generation, with whom there is no need to discuss the effectiveness and sense of online marketing. 2016 is the year to act in the interests of the advertising client. Agencies must fulfill their fiduciary duty and use advertising money in a way that creates measurable success and added value for companies. This is the only way the Swiss advertising and economy can grow. Because as likeable, charismatic, funny and entertaining as our dinosaurs and bears were, they leave behind a lot of stagnation, backlog, confusion and incomprehension. The younger generations are now cleaning up the mess. Very matter-of-factly and quietly. For my generation, I have to say, finally.How to recognize the structural and value changes in the advertising industryThe structural change that is in full swing can best be seen, for example, in the development of lead acquisition by companies. Advertisers such as health insurance companies and other industries that rely on leads to acquire new customers and grow their business are the first to rethink. They are looking at alternatives to the dinos and the bears. They are no longer prepared to invest money in low-quality leads that have no interest in the products and services being advertised. They are already fit or are getting fit for inbound marketing, content marketing, contextual marketing, smart content and marketing automation. These are all disciplines that were barely noticed or ridiculed just three years ago and are now the focus of traditional and well-known advertising clients, and even more importantly. Advertisers are recognizing the value and sense of investing in such strategies. The advertisers who are not yet, are becoming publishers. Advertisers have understood the importance of satisfied customers, promoters, influencers and advocates and want to build their communication on fairness, coolness, good image, good live, good brand. This starts with honest products and services and continues in the way they communicate and interact with users, leads, existing and new customers. And with real dialog and not with direct marketing, which is referred to as dialog in order to appear more presentable. What does a mailing that I didn't want or order but that flutters into my mail have in common with dialog? I have never understood this and I never will. Another topic ...Posters are the dinosaurs of our timeReally? Are posters, TV, cinema, print and magazines OUT and online is simply IN? Fortunately, the world is made up of colors and not just black and white. Such a statement can only be made by someone who has never measured the convergence between offline and online or doesn't know how to do so. Experienced advertising clients have long been measuring the advertising effectiveness of TV, cinema and print with parallel online/programmatic campaigns and using them reciprocally. This allows them to maximize the performance of their campaign. Advertisers who do this gain a competitive advantage and a head start. For the time being. From my point of view at least, it is to be hoped that this power will ultimately be discovered by all advertising clients. Convergence analyses of this kind almost develop by themselves. In online campaigns, the effect of the offline media mentioned above can be demonstrated relatively easily and in many cases significantly. The marketing manager who still questions online marketing is unlikely to get that far. The agency consultant or manager who does not know how to do this is unlikely to tell his advertising client that it can be done. And yet, thanks to a change in structure and values among advertising clients and a few really good and fair agencies, such magic is happening more and more without pomp and fireworks. You don't throw parties because of it - maybe that's how it would have been done 50 years ago. You just carry on doing the job you're paid to do. Because you know that there's a lot more to convergence, inbound and programmatic marketing. That's exciting. I think that's fair.