Emphasizing creativity in the new year.
JANUARY 3, 2008 – Innovation is the name of the game for 2008, judging by an October 2007 Next Level Strategic Marketing Group survey of marketers.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents said their upcoming strategies would include innovations, line extensions or new marketing initiatives.
Mike Paxton of In-Stat attributed the growth to a basic desire for speedier Internet connections.
Past regrets were partly responsible for the focus on new thinking. More than one-fifth of respondents wished they had been less dependent on �tried-and-true� marketing tactics in 2007 and found more creative ways to reach their audiences.
Although more than half of respondents planned to kick off a new ad campaign this year, they did not necessarily expect advertising to have the biggest effect on business. Only 13% thought that new ads would affect their businesses the most in 2007.
eMarketer Senior Analyst Ben Macklin notes, “We are seeing high-speed Internet users trading up to very-high-speed Internet connections. Plain old vanilla ADSL is quickly turning into the new ‘dial-up’.”
That uncertainty about the effect of advertising is understandable given the changes in media consumption. US consumers are spending more time online and often using DVRs to time-shift their TV viewing, creating a disconnect with marketers who rely solely on the same old ad buys they’ve made for years.
Many marketers expect TV ad budgets to take a hit in the next few years, according to a BusinessWeek survey.
That is in contrast to Internet ad spending, which was picked to decrease by the fewest respondents.
The best way to succeed at a resolution is to keep it simple. The plan for 2008: Innovate, review the ad media mix and don’t rely only on the tried-and-true.
Learn how ad spending will trend in the next five years. Read eMarketer’s US Advertising Spending report.
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