Ira Tenowitz from Ad Age published a provocative story today. The morning after the historic election of our first black president, Tenowitz’s topic of the day is regulation anxiety for the ad industry, opening with this thought provoking line: “Now that the election’s over and Sen. Barack Obama is the president-elect, the real fighting can begin.”

Tenowitz raises legitimate issues that were already controversial long before Obama even announced that he would run for president; for example, the consumer backlash against direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads from pharmaceutical companies. Consumer advocacy groups have long been pushing for tighter regulation of many pharmaceutical ads that they deem misleading. Tenowitz’s main theme seems to be that a Democrat president and Congress will likely tip the scales toward tighter government control and regulation, which could hamper advertisers and marketers.

The article goes in-depth on a number of other hot-button issues relevant to anyone in the media and advertising industries. Whether or not you agree with Tenowitz’s portentous tone, it’s definitely worth reading.

Please share your views and comments.

In my view, Tenowitz is jumping the gun and feeding the fear mongers out there. He’s also doing his job by putting together a provocative headline and story to engage readers to react and respond.

Technorati Tags: Advertising, Advertising Age, Congress, direct-to-consumer, DTC, Marketing, Obama, pharmaceutical, regulation

Most of us by now have FCFS – Financial Crisis Fatigue Syndrome. You can hear it all around you – moans and groans on a daily basis from office doorways and cubicles as the stock market goes on another terrifying roller coaster ride and ‘breaking news’ alerts detail the latest round of company closings and lay offs.

So, yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to see my BtoB Magazine news alert pop into my inbox with the subject line that some marketers plan to increase spending in 2009. Yes, I said increase. Let me repeat – increase.

Joe Biden-speak aside, this is refreshing news. The story by Kate Maddox looks into a recent survey of 1,200 marketers and agency executives that was conducted by the Association of National Advertiser’s during the organization’s annual conference held in Orlando, Florida last week.

The top level findings:
• 26% of respondents said they planned to increase marketing spending in 2009 by more than 10%
• 28% said they planned to hold their spending stable
• 14% said they planned to decrease spending by less than 10%
• 19% said they planned to decrease spending more than 10%

Also interesting to note is the study’s findings regarding the marketing vehicles marketers expect to offer their brand the greatest opportunities for growth in 2009.

Social media integration was the top response (28%), with grassroots, viral public relations taking the second position at 19%, followed by these other marketing channels:

• Traditional 30-second TV spots (17%)
• Web advertising (16%)
• One-page advertisements in a newspaper/magazine (7%)
• Direct marketing (7%)
• Radio (5%)

Topaz Partners has always had a core group of clients providing technologies and services for the advertising and marketing industries, so we’re heartened by this news.

And if you’re following Ad Age, Brandweek, iMedia Connection and Mediapost, you’ve seen all of the articles published this year urging companies not to react to the economic downturn by taking a scalpel to marketing and PR programs, but instead buck the trend and make the bold move to market more aggressively during these challenging times.

A number of Topaz’s client executives have published insightful articles on the importance of marketing during a downturn, including Huw Griffiths, marketing director for email marketing service, Campaigner, and Jere Doyle, CEO for Prospectiv, a provider of online lead generation services and solutions for consumer brands.

I’m sure that as I’m writing, more gloom and doom news is breaking. I bet another study has already come out that provides a much grimmer outlook. But for now, I’ll take the ANA study as a sign that better days are coming and that some marketers are even taking the advice of all of the experts out there.

Now is not the time to cut and run, but to get the word out about your brand value – loud and clear.

Technorati Tags: Ad Age, Add new tag, Brandweek, BtoB Magazine, Campaigner, downturn, economy, iMedia Connection, Marketing, Mediapost, PR, Prospectiv, Social Media, spending

The Mass Technology Leadership Council pulled off a fantastic awards ceremony at the Sheraton Hotel in Boston last night. Especially illuminating was the acceptance speech given by Paul Maeder co-founder of Highland Capital Partners who won the Commonwealth Award in the individual category.

Maeder acknowledged the realities of the current economic crisis, but overall had a positive outlook also grounded in reality, especially for the technology sector. Maeder pointed out that the convergence of current economic, environmental and U.S. infrastructure crises will create opportunities for technology innovation in 2009 and beyond regardless of who becomes our next president.

Basically the U.S. infrastructure, including highways, bridges and transportation systems will have to be updated and rebuilt. Maeder sees technology innovators playing an important role, creating new tools, processes and systems as these great projects get underway. And green technology will be a big part of that, helping to fuel another major period of technology innovation in the U.S. Wondering what others think about this perspective? Does this ring true? Or is Maeder still looking at the world through rose colored glasses despite the financial meltdown?

Technorati Tags: awards, green technology, Highland Capital Partners, innovation, Mass Technology Leadership Council, Paula Maeder