There is a long established maxim that clearly spells out when to advertise: when business is good and you can afford to do it and when business is not good and you cannot afford not to do it. This view is supported by plenty of research that points out the many important advantages in continuity of advertising in good times and bad including sustaining brand recognition, strengthening corporate image, retaining and growing market share, achieving market domination, etc. Yet, advertising budgets implode when times get tough. While it has been true in the past in varying degrees, statistics and anecdotal information seem to indicate it is more dramatic in this latest downturn in both volume of the cuts and number of companies making them.
Why is this the case? Is it a notorious executive mindset that refuses to look beyond achieving short-term goals and profits instead of long-term growth and continuing strength? Is it a failure to understand the values of advertising and marketing as the result of poor education and lack of real world experience by the current crop of top managers? Do marketing and sales management need to work harder to educate and lead within their own companies to change to a more effective and practical model for making budget decisions in hard times? Are the media and media associations not doing enough to educate all their advertisers, future advertising prospects, agencies and business schools in the fundamentals of successful marketing and advertising? What can and should be done?