2010 Prediction: The Death of Marketing as We Know It
22. Dec, 2009 
3 Comments
Forester Research predicts that in 2010, marketing as we know it may be dead.
Traditional advertising has taken a huge hit this year as Nielsen reports that ad spending has tanked by 11.5% so far in 2009. TNS Media claims that things are getting worse with a decline in ad spending of 15.3% in the 3rd quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008.
The nations top newspapers are failing. They’re laying off people in record numbers with over 15,000 newspaper jobs lost in 2009. Most recently it was revealed that weekday subscriptions in newspapers has dropped by more than 10% in the last few months.
TV and Cable ad spending dropped over 12% in 2009 versus the same time periods in 2008.
Total radio advertising revenue tumbled 16% to $4.15 billion, making it the 10th consecutive quarter to see total revenues decline, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau. Year-to-date, total radio ad revenues are down 21% to $11.57 billion.
The top Phone book companies R.H. Donnelley and Idearc have declared bankruptcy this year, shedding 12 billion in debt. When was the last time you used a phone book?
The nail in the coffin was when Pepsi announced that they were ending their 23 year’s of television advertising in the Super Bowl and spending that money on a social media campaign.
David Meerman Scott wrote a book called “The New Rules of Marketing and PR.“ In this book, it talked about how PR today and in the future should be directly to the consumer rather than relying on reporters. In fact Scott’s book got the vast majority of its attention on blogs instead of through newspapers and other traditional medias.
The point being is that marketing in 2010 and beyond will be through direct channels online rather than through ad spends through traditional and conventional methods such as phone books, television, radio and newspaper.
- Tony Darrick Baker
Vice President of Marketing
BizNdex LLC
Thank You David.
Yes, I expect it to be a long and painful death. A more visual example would be that 2009 demonstrated the puncture, 2010 will be the twist, and beyond that will be a bleeding wound! Depending on the geography and the demographics, different traditional medias will expire.
However, there is the possibility that they will adapt. How television adapts may not have been thought of yet.
Well said,m Tony and thanks for the mention. I’m pessimistic about the death of marketing as we know it because so many marketers are still working off the 1980s playbook. But that’s excellent news for those who are making the transition. Best to you in 2010. David
Tony I agree with your blog today, which is hard for me to swallow as I came from that industry and have a lot of friends still there. I know this; like many industries in our history, the Yellow Page Industry will either go away or it will adapt and continue to serve its customers. The small town phone books will out last the big expensive metro books, because they operate with lower overhead and smaller towns are not as tech advanced. However, these towns are catching up rapidly, and the small town directories that learn how to sell Internet Marketing will keep the relationships and continue to service their local markets as the leaders in directional advertising. Most of these companies don’t have the knowledge or the time to gear up and do it themselves. Bizndex solves that problem, as we can act as your fulfillment house for your local sales people. Bizndex already works with Yellow Assistance who partners with Independent Publishers to provide them an online directory platform.
Good blog let’s come back to this page in December 2010 to see how this prediction goes.