“People are getting desperate,” says Amy Hoover, a vice president at Talent Zoo, an executive-recruiting firm that specializes in ad-industry placements. “Job candidates are asking me to submit them for jobs that offer less pay and less responsibility — just so they can be employed again.”

Ad people are used to jobs being eliminated when accounts shift from one agency to another. But rarely has the industry’s foundation seemed so shaky. Even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, agencies of all sizes and shapes were already facing a bleak environment because of the slowing economy. The attacks have only exacerbated the problem. On Oct. 19, Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners let go 10 of its 50 employees at its West Cost office. On the same day, Omnicom Group’s TBWA\Chiat\Day disclosed that it had laid off 15 people from its work force of about 800. Other ad firms that have also issued pink slips recently include Interpublic Group’s Mullen/LHC, and Wieden & Kennedy.

Here are a few stories that highlight the difficult job environment in the ad world these days:

Linda Mueller was one month shy of her five-year anniversary as an account executive at the Chicago office of Omnicom Group’s DDB Worldwide when she was let go in June. Until then, Ms. Mueller, 34 years old, felt secure about her job because of good performance reviews. But after DDB lost its Energizer account in May, she felt vulnerable and her fears came true soon after.

Ms. Mueller decided to “play” for the first four weeks after being fired. “When else am I going to get a chance to have the summer off?,” she says. “I played golf and traveled, and then I put my nose to the ground.” She looked at a host of agencies, including Omnicom’s BBDO Worldwide; Interpublic Group’s FCB; WPP Group’s J. Walter Thompson, and WPP’s Young & Rubicam. Ms. Mueller also contacted marketing departments at several companies, including Boeing Co. “Every agency said they have a hiring and salary freeze, and that they are trying to hold on to the employees they have,” she recalls.

Ms. Mueller now spends her days at an outplacement office and still hopes to find a solid job lead. But the room is fuller than when she first started her search. And leads have been scarce. She has started taking baking and pastry-making classes, and has even considered turning that hobby into a permanent career change. “Unless you go through this experience you can’t imagine how bad it is,” she says.

* * *

Noelle Bibrowski, 28, joined the San Francisco office of Interpublic Group’s Foote, Cone & Belding in July 2000 and felt secure in having landed at a shop that had garnered the lucrative $300 million Compaq Computer account a year earlier. An account executive, Ms. Bibrowski was also relieved to land the job because her previous employer, Interpublic’s Lowe Lintas & Partners, was in trouble. That agency, also based in San Francisco, later closed.

Within six months at her new post, Ms. Bibrowski began to see that FCB, too, was having problems. Rumors of layoffs began to circulate, she recalls. Then, in February, the Amazon.com account was put up for review and eventually lost. Ms. Bibrowski, who had worked on the account, was shifted to Microsoft’s Ultimate TV business. A few months later, that business was also lost. “It was a weird feeling,” says Ms. Bibrowski. “Everyone in the city was getting laid off.”

Ms. Bibrowski was let go in May. Faced with the high cost of living in the Bay Area and little chance of landing ad work locally, Ms. Bibrowski and her husband moved to Atlanta. “We heard the market was better — but it was not,” she says.

Ms. Bibrowski hails from Toccoa, Ga., a 90-minute commute from Atlanta. Since August, she has attended almost a dozen interviews at firms such as WestWayne, Omnicom Group’s BBDO and Austin Kelly. So far, no luck. As industry layoffs mount, so have her concerns. “It’s hard enough without more people out there looking for work,” she says.

* * *

During his tenure at Siegelgale, an independent branding firm based in New York, Matthew Bass helped clients such as J.P. Morgan Chase, American Express and Dow Chemical create brand strategies as a senior consultant. Then he was let go in April, just as he returned from a ski vacation. “I didn’t like it, but this is a business and I understood it,” says Mr. Bass, 50.

He immediately began looking for work, scouring job-board sites on the Internet. Mr. Bass also called friends at the big ad firms where he had contacts. These included DDB and Ogilvy & Mather, where he hoped to find a job in business development or as an account manager. “It was pretty bleak, ” he says.

Since April, Mr. Bass, a father of two, has depended on his unemployment insurance and money from a home-equity loan. Making matters worse, his wife lost her job recently. He is now focusing his attention on starting up a consulting business with an old friend that focuses on sales and marketing. Meanwhile, he has taken to spending plenty of time at the gym. One upside: he has lost 40 pounds and says he’s “in the best physical shape of my life.”

* * *

Until June of this year, Mark Arnold was a heavy hitter in ad land, negotiating global media purchases on behalf of Ford Motor’s Jaguar brand. But as the economy slowed in the early months of 2001, Mr. Arnold, a managing partner in the London office of WPP’s MindShare, grew increasingly concerned about keeping his job. “Three months from now they will fire me,” Mr. Arnold thought in April.

Rather than wait for the ax to fall, the 53-year-old Mr. Arnold resigned in June and headed home to Atlanta with a severance package. It was a risky move, since colleagues had warned him not to return home without a job. They turned out to be right. Mr. Arnold hasn’t even landed a single job interview since then. “Every time I talk to somebody they say there is nothing out there,” he says. “For the rest of this year most agencies will be lucky if they get to spend half of what is left of their ad budgets,” he says.

Mr. Arnold is now living on savings while keeping his expenses low. He stays at his father’s house, and spends his days singing liturgical classical church music in choir groups and poring over trade publications. He thinks he has little chance of finding a job in the next nine months.

Originally posted on eduturca.com

Agencies participating in the survey, released in mid-May, included Leo Burnett, Mindshare and Bailey Lauerman. Clients included Ford, GE, Kraft, Lego and Lenox.

While 51% of each group said that the second half of the year would see at least some continued falls in ad spending, more agency respondents (42%) felt the economy had already hit rock bottom and would therefore start to improve over the rest of the year than clients (35%).

Mark Sneider, owner, managing director of RSW/US, said, “While it appears some of the worst might be over, it’s probably best if agencies try to do more with less in the short term.”

Some of the feeling in agencies is related to perceptions of how bad things have been in the first half of 2009. Agency execs appear to feel that they have been hit harder than client perceptions of spending levels imply. 53% of agency respondents said that client spending was down 11% or more in the first six months of 2009, while only 39% of clients thought the same. Even more starkly, 30% of agency respondents said that client spending was down 21% or more in the first half, but only 8% of clients thought that spending fell by this much.

But in another reflection of agency optimism, 76% of respondents said they expected to see the number of new business opportunities rise in the second half of 2009.

Running slightly counter to this, more clients expect to keep their headcount the same than do agencies: among client execs, 63% say staff numbers won’t change in 2009, compared with 53% of agencies.

The clearest consensus between the two groups was among those who believe the recession will bottom out sometime next year. Given the choice between later in 2009, sometime in 2010 and sometime after 2010, 89% of the agency and client respondents who did not think we had hit bottom yet picked one of the first two.

Written by Mark Chapman, posted on adweek.com on June 8, 2009

-Jeff Cornwall

Moments of economic turbulence provide the unique opportunity to start new businesses, launch disruptive new products, and strengthen customer loyalty - often at a discount. During these challenging time, here are a few pointers on what to do, why to do it, and what to avoid. 

• Listen to the market. It’s quieter when it’s less crowded. Unmet needs abound.
• Invest in your customers. Now they need you most. Loyalty hangs in the balance.
• Rather than reduce price, offer more value to your customers and demand greater value from vendors.
• Increase communication with your customers.

• Move longer-term project forward not back. Now is the time to grab market share.
• In a recession, not all costs are created equal. Maintain or increase investment in good costs, prune bad costs, and use judgement on it-depends costs.
• If you don’t have the time, at least spend the money.
   

Written by Andrew Razeghi. For a more in-depth look at these points, read the entire article at http://www.scribd.com/doc/7450921/Innovating-Through-Recession-Andrew-Razeghi-Kellogg-School-of-Management

Yes, that may mean buying less of a product or service in your category. And this is where some corporate types with lack of imagination will see cutting back on marketing as the band-aid solution to their problems until they ride out the recession. But the question isn’t really whether to cut back on marketing or even spend more on it. You have to start with the very product or service you offer and ask yourself how you are going to adapt that product in order to give it increased versatility and in turn, value.

See, right now, your target audience can’t sit out a recession. They’re hurting. But believe it or not, they still have a need for your product or service if you can adapt that product or service in a way that speaks to how you feel their pain. Is it as simple as dropping your price? No and I don’t think that’s the smartest move anyway. But it is about being flexible in the name of boosting value.

So as we enter a new year, don’t give me your “it’s the recession” excuse for doing nothing or cutting back on marketing. It’s not a marketing problem. It’s an adaptability-of-your-product/service challenge. Now it’s up to you whether you choose to seize it.
 

Written by Dan Gershenson; originally posted on thecreativeunderground.com

In the 1920’s advertising executive Roland S. Vaile tracked 200 companies through the recession of 1923. He reported in the April 1927 issue of the Harvard Business Review that the biggest sales increases throughout the period were rung up by companies that advertised the most.

After World War II, Buchen Advertising, Inc. decided to plot the sales of a large number of advertisers through successive recessions. In 1947, it began measuring the annual advertising expenditures of each company. When they correlated the figures with sales and profit trends before, during and after the recessions of 1949, 1954, 1958 and 1961, they found that almost without exception sales and profits dropped off at companies that cut back on advertising.

In most small or mid-sized companies you are working with talent from the bigger agencies that either left for a better work/life balance or to get the opportunity to be more creative. Clients are getting the same level of thought and creativity found from larger creative firms, without the larger overhead and costs.

Senior Management Supervision

At Intake Studio, the principals are involved in the daily activities on each project. Quite often, at larger firms, a junior account staff is responsible for important decisions about a client’s vision. Navigating today’s economic climate is too important to be left to a less-seasoned staff.

Can I Have That Yesterday?

A boutique company is used to being more nimble and responsive, and can adapt to the changes that need to happen quickly in times like these. In larger firms, they are just not equipped to turn new ideas around as quickly.

Fresh Ideas:

Smaller companies tend to be quicker to integrate and offer new methods and technology. Why? They are used to working with clients that don’t have big budgets and are well versed in coming up with non-traditional, creative ideas.
 

Marketing Partner vs. Advertising Vendor:

The cutbacks seen in advertising and media are seen in just that, advertising and media. People still need to sell things and more importantly, position themselves. Brands have come to rely on the advertising agencies that are capable of become their marketing partners.
 

Adapted from egcgroup.com/blog

If you own a small business, you’ve probably been losing sleep at night lately. With the economy in trouble, businesses everywhere are feeling the crunch, but no one is more worried than small business owners. While fear may drive you to go into survival mode and compromise your values, you may be making a huge mistake that in the long run can hurt your business far worse than the recession.

You can’t let yourself, or your business be paralyzed by fear. In times like these it’s more important than ever to maintain your brand identity and focus on what makes your company stand out, what makes it great. You have to be a ‘fearless fish out of water’—shining a light on those qualities that make your company different and more desirable than the other businesses in your industry. Playing up what makes you special could be the very thing that keeps you in business.

So, what should small business owners do at a time like this? It’s time to refocus on your company’s core values, to remind yourself and your employees what it is that sets your company apart from all the rest, and most importantly, to be fearless. Now more than ever is when you should be staying true to your company’s brand by sticking to projects where you can excel.

7 steps to being fearless in the small business world, and how they will help you survive and thrive in this economy:

Go fishing for the real you

It’s time to focus on what your business does better than your competition and put that out there to your clients and prospects. Maybe you’re a boutique ad agency that can create any kind of campaign, but your best work is in B2B advertising.

You have to peel away all the layers that have made you a jack-of-all-trades and focus on the area that you are truly passionate about so you can excel. That’s your vein of gold. Sure, some things are a guaranteed sale, but your clients can get that at any agency. Get back to being creative. That’s where you can show your clients your value, and impressing your customers is how you can ensure you keep bringing in the revenue.

Use your differences as a lure

In extraordinary economic times like these, the natural tendency is to just hunker down, do the work, cut back on expenses, and try to keep as many clients as possible. Newsflash! That’s exactly the kind of strategy that will hang you. Because if you’re not luring your old customers back and new customers in based on something they feel they can’t get anywhere else, your days may be numbered.

Small business owners get so caught up in stressful economic times like this that they essentially just start going through the motions to keep their doors open. Unfortunately, often this means they start giving their customers the bare minimum. Just enough to satisfy their order but very little of what most likely attracted the customer to you to begin with. Now is the time for you to hone in on what has always made your business great. Is it exceptional customer service, your creative flair, or organizational skills? Time spent refocusing your efforts is not time wasted. You have to prove to your clients why they should go with you over your competition and once again lure them in based on what makes you special.

Find a few fish like you

While your first instinct may be to fly under the radar right now, now is the time to build relationships with your clients so that you can anchor yourself in these rough seas. Rest assured that you aren’t the only small business owner worried about what will become of your company in these tough times. Your clients are likely feeling just as nervous and unsure as you. Invest in some serious face time to build your client relationships. Doing so will help ease your fears and theirs.

Now is the time to meet with your clients face to face. Find out what attracted them to you and ask what you can do to be of further service to them. Brainstorm with them. Bounce revenue-boosting ideas off of each other. Show them that you want to be more than a vendor or a provider of a certain service. Partner with them now and not only will you make it through the recession, but you’ll have an even stronger business when the seas have calmed.

Swim in their ocean your way 

Every time you pitch your company to a new prospect, you are a fish out of water. When you’ve won them over and you finally get inside their organization, it’s important to learn how to be part of their culture without getting lost in it. Remember that your clients have hired you because you bring an outside perspective, and you have talents and skills that don’t already exist within their organization. It’s okay to tailor your ideas to fit their particular needs or style; just make sure you hold onto the core of what makes you you.

Look for people with values that resonate with yours. If you don’t, at the end of this recession, you may not recognize yourself or your own company, and that can have damaging effects on your business long after the economic crisis is over.

Put yourself out on the line 

Businesses that shine a light on what’s different about them are perfectly positioned to makea difference. You may be paralyzed by fear, cutting the budget on anything that’s not payroll and necessary expenses, but you should instead be finding ways to give back. There may come a time when your own company is in need of a little help, and people will be more willing to return the favor if they’ve seen your willingness to help others in the past.

Getting behind a cause is good for business and makes you look like a hero. Now is the time to step up and volunteer, join a board, or give what you can to a local nonprofit. When clients see your philanthropic nature, they will trust you more. For example, if customers know that your company is environmentally conscious, it can give you a great competitive edge. And even if giving back doesn’t mean you’ll see an immediate profit increase, it can help you to re-identify what you are passionate about in life, and that passion will bleed over into your work.

Evolve by casting a wide net

As any business owner knows, each year can be vastly different from the one before it, and 2009 is already a whole new world compared to 2008. We have a constantly changing economy and a new president, and our clients will certainly have different needs this year from last. In tough times many business owners hold strong to doing what has always worked for them in the past, but refusing to change with the times can have disastrous effects on your business’s success.

Operating with a business-as-usual mentality will not allow you to distinguish your business. You have to continue reinventing yourself, changing with the times and with your clients. But remember, don’t let go of who you are as a company while updating your style, your website, your advertising, and the way you think about things. The key is staying true to the essence of who you are, and then recasting your image to feel brand new. Your clients, both existing and new, will appreciate the break from the business-as-usual approach. Working with you will be a refreshing change in a stifling business world, and that will garner success for you this year.

Reel in your unique power

In these tough times, it is only natural that you will experience moments of fear and anxiety when thinking about the future and your business’s fate. However, you know that you and your business are valuable, or you wouldn’t have started it in the first place. And nothing, not even a bad economy, can change that. The fearless among us overcome these doubts by practicing their ABCs—action, belief, and courage—and doing so will help to free you from the fear and allow you to move forward and be successful.

It’s time to stop wringing your hands and start using them to improve your business. The story that you tell about your company is what others will believe, so make sure it’s a story of strength and success. If you believe that now is a time for your company to start a new division, have the courage to do it, despite what others may say. Maybe you have an idea for a new product or some thoughts on unconventional ways to approach customer service. Now’s the time to believe in your instincts and have the commitment to follow through. Have the courage to use your unique power to make them believe that you are indispensable and that is exactly what you will be!

The biggest problem is that most small business owners are failing to see the big picture right now. And when your livelihood and the livelihood of your employees is dependent on your ability to be successful in a tough economy, I can’t say that I blame them. The trick is to quit thinking about what’s going on right now. And instead think back to who you were when your business first started, and what kind of business you want to have on the other side of this recession. If you hold on to who that person is, and who your business truly is, you’ll sail through this time and into an even brighter future.
 

Written by Robin Roffer; originally posted on intent.com