How to win during and after a recession

A collection of Video Advertising Bureau Insights reports that will help brand marketers advertising strategy during times of economic uncertainty or recession. In these reports, users will find data, insights and statistics from real brands and advertisers.

Marketers can take five key steps as they look to align more closely with CEOs and CFOs, especially as they seek to protect brand budgets in the face of economic volatility.

In a moment of uncertainty, we’re surfacing evidence from the WARC archive to understand what happens when brands ‘go dark’ and stop advertising: simply, long periods off air damage brand health and make it difficult and expensive to recover that lost growth.

Economists now believe this year’s recession will be relatively mild, but marketers still have important work to do to ensure their brands come out stronger on the other side.

The two papers "When Brands Go Dark" (2021) by Nicole Hartnett et al. and "When Brands Go Dark: A Replication and Extension" (2023) by Peilin Phua, PhD et al.

AbstractThe value of mass media advertising can be demonstrated by quantifying what happens when it is removed. The current study does this, extending the work of Hartnett, Gelzinis, Beal, et al. (2021) by documenting changes in market share for 365 U.S.

Take a look at our compendium of robust, empirical evidence to help you justify your advertising investment.

Ian Whittaker is a City analyst, and the current City A.M. Analyst of the Year. Shaky seems to be the best word for the start of results season on Wall

Marketing during a crisis: a collection of expert advice

"When the times are good, you should advertise. When the times are bad, you must advertise “ Not any crisis or its announcement does leave anyone indifferent, and we, marketers,…

The Covid-19 recession may have some unusual characteristics, but the arguments in favour of continued brand investment remain as powerful as ever.

How to Successfully Navigate Your Brand Through an Economic Downturn | COVID-19 Insights

Amongst the many articles and analyses are pieces warning advertisers not to “go dark”. Based on data from previous recessions, these argue that firms should maintain or even increase adspend in order to gain market share, and so emerge stronger when all this is over.

There is definitely some truth in this. Indeed, I have made the same argument myself in the past. But I can’t help feeling that we need a more nuanced and thoughtful approach just now. For a start, advice from Adland about “not going dark” is likely to sound self-serving and hollow to a CEO who faces imminent bankruptcy. But more fundamentally, I think there are three reasons why lessons from past recessions may not apply just now.

Independent analysis of marketing spend in difficult economic times shows brands that maintain or increase advertising investment, relative to competitors, were the ones to gain market share during and following the downturn. 

Under the banner of The Premium Content Alliance, Australia’s premium content creators have joined forces to share this message with a campaign that spans the digital, print, TV and Broadcaster Video on Demand (BVOD) inventory of Foxtel Group, Foxtel Media, Network 10, News Corp Australia, Nine and Seven West Media.

Brands seeking to understand consumers in the recession that is expected to follow the spread of COVID-19 will need to update their research playbooks, the chief executive of Nielsen has argued.

The Godfather of effectiveness, Peter Field, says the only sensible course for any advertiser who wants to maintain a presence through CV-19 is putting money into long-term brand building because …

Explores advertising in a recession through the evidence available in the WARC archives and beyond. Typically, recessions cause businesses to rein in advertising spend in the short term, a mistake, that can cause long-term damage to a brand.

Business analytics firm, Marketscience, have conducted a comprehensive economic analysis of the last five major recessions