Forecasting
Ad crunch ahead
Closures, mergers and falling revenues in traditional advertising are taking place — grim times seem to be waiting in 2017 for SA’s marketers. But industry experts tell us there is light at the end of this tunnel
The next 12 months will test the industry as never before, is the ominous view of one advertising executive: "Strap in for flight 2017 and make sure you know where the emergency exits are." It comes in the context of a changing customer paradigm in which product choices are increasingly made through virtual and augmented reality and sophisticated smartphone technology. Says Publicis Machine CEO Adrian Hewlett: "It will continue to get significantly harder as clients face harsher trading conditions. "The natural impact is [for them] to seek out savings and efficiencies — and advertising and sponsorships are an obvious target." Hewlett says that what this means for agencies, besides tighter budgets, is a move to a more transactional working relationship with clients. "Agencies that are viewed simply as suppliers struggle to deliver value that comes out of a trusted client-agency partnership."
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