Koroberi Blog

The news that the 200-foot wide asteroid dubbed DD45 2009 narrowly avoided a collision with the earth earlier this week got me thinking.

Sure, the economy sucks, the advertising and marketing job force is contracting at an alarming rate, my 401k is shrinking faster than a pair of silk undies laundered on hot, and my follicle-challenged pate now has way more salt than pepper in it. But, on the other hand, I didn’t have my molecules rearranged on Monday by a concussive force equivalent to a thousand atomic bombs. You can whine all you want about the current state of world affairs (and I’ll continue to contribute to the cacophony myself, to be sure) but you have to admit, we still have a lot to be thankful for. Sometimes it just takes a bolt out of the blue to remind us.

Advertising and PR firms are often the canaries in the coal mine when it comes to economic indicators. Because we work on the cutting edge of production and consumption, we often see, and are affected by, economic downturns and upturns earlier than more general service industries. So for all the folks who thought we were crazy talking about a downturn back in late 2007, oh well….

But now that we are all here, let’s talk about survival.

Surviving in a downturn means taking the same medicine as our clients - controlling costs, being fiscally responsible, and providing value for money.

The first responsibility is to stay solvent. If this means cutting agency travel, perks and even staff, then you just have to bite the bullet. Observing the impact of some recent agency bankruptcies provides well-managed companies a chance to capitalize on Koroberi’s history of fiscal responsibility, good credit and strong cash position - credentials and references that are of equal importance to good work. Nobody wants their trusted business partner to go under, and even less so to go under owing money already paid by the client in good faith.

But in addition to sound financial management, you’ve got to proactively provide clients with more for less. Don’t wait for the budget cuts, they are going to come. Instead, look at ways you can help your client succeed in spite of the budget pressures they face.

If you are able, offer to assist with client cash flow management through delayed or accrued billing.

Keep negotiating with publishers and other vendors for better deals and discounts, and pass these on to the client. Of course, you need to have great credit and a good paying history to get these discounts, which reinforces the need for sound fiscal management mentioned earlier.

Develop program and package bundles that allow you to pass on savings in return for longer term client commitments. We are all in the same boat, so be open about what you are doing and why. Publishers, media companies and printers intent on survival would all rather have some business at some price than no business at too high a price.

And finally, don’t be afraid to ask for help. There is nothing like sharing the bad times to build relationships.

With a little help from our friends, we can all survive to thrive another day.

I just returned from ProMat 2009, North America’s largest material handling show. Held every other year, in January (yuck!), in Chicago (double-yuck!!), this show has always had a “weather be damned” sense of machismo and daring.

This marked my fifth visit in ten years and this year was no different, with the added sense of “the economy be damned” thrown in for good measure. Don’t get me wrong. I love the city of Chicago. Great restaurants. Friendly cab drivers. And unlike Vegas, there’s not someone every few feet ready to prey on the drunken conventioneers. But this year was a challenge.

For starters, we had the one of the coldest, snowiest weeks on record. And then we had the economy. But a strange thing happened on the way to the show. Since they had committed to exhibit over a year ago, exhibiting companies cut back on who they sent rather than what they sent. So the exhibits were almost to a tee staffed by high level executives and sales directors rather than a bunch of juniors out for a junket. The attendees also cut back, to the figure of around 30% less booth traffic, according to the exhibitors I spoke with. But funny thing about the attendees. They too saved money by only sending employees who had a reason to be at the show. Hardly any tire kickers.

But the folks that did trade cards and leave names were genuinely interested in doing business. So here we were, in a down economy, with everyone worried about saving money and (somehow, anyhow) getting leads into their pipeline, actually talking about doing business. Even some startups.

Yes, we are probably entering a depression.

Yes, there will be continued tough times. But there will also be business. You just need to look a little harder, work a little longer, and deliver a little more. No, I didn’t see a recovery in sight. But I did see survival, and beyond.