2022. It’s a wrap...

We came out of the gates in January with renewed vigour and excitement for the year ahead. The tumultuous pandemic times were behind us and there was genuine excitement in the air. Budgets, brand ambitions and challenging briefs were plentiful as we looked to permanently adapt to a different customer buying cycle; the role of digital in purchase funnels were here to stay. And let’s not forget the dire shortage of marketing and media talent in the market.

But that feels like a decade ago as now the big challenge at this time of the year is universally around one topic: justifying marketing investments moving into 2023. Forget the need to focus on brand vs performance, the focus is more on marketing as a cost vs marketing as an investment. What a fundamental shift in such a short period of time.

There is certainly a degree of nervousness across the spectrum – agencies, media owners and clients. How we do we get the right balance between cost cutting and investing in the future. It's well documented that investing in brand in tough times is a prudent future proof investment. But that must be balanced against the short-term business realities that marketing teams need to stare into every day.

Clients, agencies and media owners have a very clear role to play in working through these uncertain times. It’s not the time for agencies to protect their own patch and go for that increase in retainers/fees. It's not the time to increase media and production costs to protect your own bottom line. And it’s certainly not the time for clients to screw their agencies and demand more for less.

It all starts with the client. Clients can drive significant cost savings by simply being better and smarter. Here are our five tips:

1. Look hard at your operating model – internally and externally. Where it makes sense, consider releasing hard costs and moving towards project-based working arrangements. Work with your agency partners to determine how this option could work across different functions.

2. Get the brief right first time, every time. There is no greater time suck than incomplete briefs that require reworks and back and forth from the agency to get the level of information that will help the agency succeed.

3. Audit or review your inhouse functions regularly. We tend not to judge our internal studio or media functions with the same lens as we do work from an external provider. What may have started as an “adaptation” studio can very quickly morph into a “creative resource” or a digital buying capability that is taking a disproportionate allocation of funds without the same measurement rigour applied by an agency.

4. Collaborative forward planning. Bring your partners into the tent. Work with your agency partners and trusted media partners to scenario plan different options for different budget levels and different outcomes. A problem shared…

5. Hold fire on the pitch front. Don’t run a pitch to save money. There is a time/people cost to the business of moving an account. Your own people will bear the brunt of change. If it is time to pitch or move your business, consider carefully how you go to market and who you engage. Hire slowly.

Merry Christmas. Rest up and buckle up for the roller coaster ride of 2023.