Jon Fine, who also happens to be my boss’s husband, has a piece in BusinessWeek about the shift from media-centric advertising to “below the line” or “point of sale” or not-on-tv-web-print-outofhome-etc-etc-etc. Here’s a taste of Fine’s findings:
“So more attention is being paid to what lies below the line. One top marketing executive at a major retailer estimates that his company has doubled such spending, to about 20% of its overall marketing budget, in the past five years. A survey by Veronis Suhler Stevenson found that spending on below-the-line initiatives accounted for 62% of total marketing spending in 2008, up from 57% in 2004, while standard advertising accordingly fell 5%. More than $250 billion is spent on traditional and Web advertising each year in the U.S., so redirecting even a small percentage of dollars means billions won’t go to already stressed established outlets. Wenda Harris Millard, president of media consultancy MediaLink and former co-CEO Of Martha Stewart Omnimedia, wonders, ‘Are we about to see a shift in where most of the ad dollars are spent?'”
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So, are we? What are your clients saying (the smart ones)?
More: “Copy Conundrums: BK’s New Ad Hints at Fellatio”