Even with more interest than ever from marketers, the PR business won't be recession-proof. Most agencies surveyed recently by the Council of Public Relations Firms are predicting slower growth than in the past few years, a period that in some ways has been a boom time for a marketing function that hasn't always gotten a lot of respect. Far from a doom-and-gloom outlook, the survey shows that both agency hiring and increased interest from corporations is moving apace.
All CMOs engage in a time-driven bargain: exchanging their time -- the time they've invested in market research, marketing plans, strategy development and advertising -- in return for a few minutes, hours or days of their consumers' time. But how can you know whether consumers are willing to trade their time for yours? To take the time to listen to your pitch, to be "sold"? More important, how much time will they give you to make your pitch? Leveraging the answers to those "how much time"
Underscoring its interest in noncarbonated drinks as well as its willingness to look outside its own company for product innovation, Coca-Cola Co. has acquired a 40% interest in organic-beverage marketer Honest Tea. According to a statement issued by the companies yesterday, Coca-Cola could buy the outstanding shares, or Honest Tea shareholders could elect to sell the outstanding shares at some point. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.
Even the most successful direct marketing activities are experiencing declining response rates. TPS, MPS and Electoral Roll opt-outs are on the increase, while spam filters are becoming more draconian, writes Alan Thorpe, commercial and operations director of G2 Data Dynamics.Software is now available that removes 'non-desirable' content - in other words, ads. Above-the-line channels are experiencing similar challenges brought about by consumers being spread ever more thinly across fragmenting channels.
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Even with more interest than ever from marketers, the PR business won't be recession-proof. Most agencies surveyed recently by the Council of Public Relations Firms are predicting slower growth than in the past few years, a period that in some ways has been a boom time for a marketing function that hasn't always gotten a lot of respect. Far from a doom-and-gloom outlook, the survey shows that both agency hiring and increased interest from corporations is moving apace.
All CMOs engage in a time-driven bargain: exchanging their time -- the time they've invested in market research, marketing plans, strategy development and advertising -- in return for a few minutes, hours or days of their consumers' time. But how can you know whether consumers are willing to trade their time for yours? To take the time to listen to your pitch, to be "sold"? More important, how much time will they give you to make your pitch? Leveraging the answers to those "how much time"
Underscoring its interest in noncarbonated drinks as well as its willingness to look outside its own company for product innovation, Coca-Cola Co. has acquired a 40% interest in organic-beverage marketer Honest Tea. According to a statement issued by the companies yesterday, Coca-Cola could buy the outstanding shares, or Honest Tea shareholders could elect to sell the outstanding shares at some point. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.
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Even the most successful direct marketing activities are experiencing declining response rates. TPS, MPS and Electoral Roll opt-outs are on the increase, while spam filters are becoming more draconian, writes Alan Thorpe, commercial and operations director of G2 Data Dynamics.Software is now available that removes 'non-desirable' content - in other words, ads. Above-the-line channels are experiencing similar challenges brought about by consumers being spread ever more thinly across fragmenting channels.
