In the sales business, rejections come with a myriad of reasons. But a recent demurring prospect struck a nerve. The media company’s marketing budget, I was told, was in lock-down because of the economy. There was no money to spend on research, consulting and advertising. “Maybe next year,” I was told. It reminded me of the amazing story of Kellogg’s Rice Krispies.
In the late 1920s, Post and Kellogg were duking it out over packaged cereals, and Post was the category leader. When the Depression hit, Post did what many other companies do in such a downturn — it cut expenses and reigned in advertising. But Kellogg took a different approach. It upped the ad budget and spent most of it on the nascent medium of radio. With the introduction of Rice Krispies, Kellogg wound up with a 30% increase in packaged cereal sales by 1933. It was then that Kellogg took the lead in cereals and never looked back. Even today Kellogg’s is still No. 1. Did Post think, “maybe next year,” back in 1929?
With advertising tanking for traditional media, shouldn’t now be the time to convince advertisers of the value of the Internet if they can’t afford traditional media? Are you demonstrating to small and medium businesses how they can more effectively and efficiently advertise online? Are you pointing out how they can take advantage of competitors’ cutbacks? Of course this assumes that you have made the investment and continued commitment to increase your online initiatives even during a downturn. After all, online is the one medium where we still forecast strong growth. And if you think this tact just exacerbates cannibalism of ad dollars, you are assuming that things will return to “normal” after this recession. History has proven that assumption wrong again and again. Don’t be caught thinking, “maybe next year.”
