Commissioned by the American Advertising Federation, an independently conducted survey of some 75 leading industry executives revealed a mix of attitudes about the state of the ad biz. On one hand, the majority of respondents (62 percent) expressed the optimistic assessment that the advertising industry is in a state of recovery. Yet at the same time, there are deep feelings of uncertainty in that traditional strategies are proving less effective with the emergence of new media and viewership habits.
Survey participants overwhelmingly agreed (80 percent) that digital video recorder (DVR) technology–the TiVo effect–will have a significant long-term impact on the mainstay :30 TV spot. And 58 percent of respondents said they have already changed or expect to change their ad buys in response to DVR penetration.
Online advertising is one beneficiary of altered media buys. According to study results, the percentage of overall media budgets allocated to online ads went from an average of 8.5 percent in 2004 to 14.1 percent in ’05. And the projected average will increase to 18.7 percent next year.
While there’s curiosity over blogs, podcasts and Web-enabled cell phone content, most survey respondents tabbed these media as relatively weak in terms of effectiveness as advertising vehicles.
The study found that the general consensus among ad execs was that the relative importance of reaching multicultural audiences has increased over the past year. Furthermore, the “priority gap” between Hispanic consumers and other segments is starting to narrow.
The top performing campaigns of the year were listed in rank order as those for clients Apple iPod, Burger King, Target, Mini Cooper and a three-way tie for fifth place among Hewlett-Packard, UPS and Verizon.
The top brands listed in order by respondents were: Coca-Cola, Apple, Nike, Google and a tie between BMW and FedEx.
Based on a comparison of survey results over the past two years, industry leaders have been cautious generally in their assessment of career opportunities in advertising, their perspective has deteriorated with respect to long-term career prospects and overall career appeal, and only marginally improved for attracting and retaining new talent.
Mentorship was identified as playing a pivotal role in helping to nurture careers. Respondents rated the mentoring they had received as singularly important (20 percent) or very important (41 percent) or important (20 percent) in positively shaping their professional success. That’s a whopping collective 81 percent who have experienced the benefits of being mentored.
In that same vein, many respondents have made efforts to return the favor. Ninety-six percent of industry leaders surveyed said they mentor young professionals on at least an occasional basis. That tally breaks down as 25 percent who sometimes mentor, 46 percent who frequently mentor and 25 percent who always mentor.
