Editorial: Is advertising's rallying cry falling on deaf ears?

brands. The report argues that maintaining share-of-voice is crucial in
a downturn, and if your competitors are cutting their budgets, it's a
sure way to get ahead of the pack. And for plenty of brand categories,
cutting budgets will only increase price elasticity and, therefore, the
need to cut prices to maintain volume.

The IPA's report is robustly scientific, at least in comparison to a lot
of adland's attempts at proving effectiveness. But all the charts and
stats aside, the basic message is that slashing adspend isn't a good
idea if long-term brand health is important (and when isn't it?).

One thing you don't need charts and stats to explain is that cutting
back on advertising can have a profound effect on a brand's image.

Advertising is about creating a set of values and emotions around a
brand that sets it apart from its competitors; cut back on that and
you're asking your brand to slug it out on the basis of less emotive
purchase decisions - such as price and product performance.

It's hard to imagine you'll find anyone in advertising who'll disagree
with any of this. Even marketers will be supportive of the arguments.
But where the message needs to hit home is in client boardrooms, with
chief executives and finance directors. The sad fact is that the ad
industry has less purchase on these decision-makers than ever before.