Advertising Industry to Thrive and Give Positive Impacts amid Pandemic
As Asia and the rest of the world grapple with the impacts of COVID-19, most corporates from various sectors are deeply concerned about their business performance. Things are done to trim back their spendingsㅡadvertising budget is no exception. On the other hand, this decision surely lays its impact on the sustainability of advertising industry.
Sylvia Sudradjat, IDN Media Head of Business Development, agrees upon the fact that another challenge for advertising industry has just arrived. However, ad service providers as well as advertisers still carry out the opportunity to explore and collaborate, discover a lot of things and put them into immediate action.
1. Changes in consumers’ sentiments and behaviors affecting advertising industry
Large-scale Social Restriction brought in to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia has varied dramatic impacts on the country. It has shifted long-held consumer behaviors that industries are having to adapt for survival. Dominating Indonesia’s demographic, Gen X’s and Z’s identity and digital behavior are inextricably linked, blending the physical and digital world as never before, especially during the pandemic.
Sylvia stated, “All industries are affected, indeed, including the advertising one. Many ad service providers are starting to consider some fundamentals regarding their marketing strategy. In order to keep the engagement with their audience on going, they accelerate digital transformation. Content creator marketing, for example, digital content marketing, or online live streaming.”
2. Stay creative in the midst of the pandemic
The biggest challenge faced by the ad service providers is, Sylvia mentioned, brands’ uncertainty of budget allocations. This phenomenon triggered by the pandemic is arguably uniqueㅡstatistical data on spending habits are no longer relevant to be applied. That is, if companies usually have an annual budget for advertising, this year, the budget must be allocated flexibly, depending on the current situation.
Although considered to be counterproductive, greatly trimming back advertising spendings has now become the first thing on most brands’ lists. “This shift in priorities is a real challenge for advertising industry. We’ve got to finish and tackle it down while creating various kinds of proper campaign creations to answer the needs of advertisers,” said Sylvia.
3. Adaptation, creativity, and positive contributions to society
As COVID-19 has successfully accelerated the need for digital transformation, Sylvia believes that there are three requirements a company needs to fulfill to remain exist, especially during the pandemic.
While the disruption caused by the epidemic may be different at its core from economic or political ones, yet the successful business response is always the same: adapt or fall behindㅡjust like a binary opposition. “First, every company will need to meet new standards and new demands for digital processes, services, and experiences. Second, it must also be able to give positive and real contributions to society during this time of hardship. Third, because creative advertising is memorable, each idea must come with contextual words that don’t cause any anxiety,” she explained.
At IDN Media, she said, “Not only providing balanced and accurate information through articles, but we also provide signature programs that are specially designed to accommodate the needs of our clients to interact directly with their audiences. Later, these outputs will be distributed through IDN Media’s publishers (IDN Times, Popbela.com, Popmama.com, Duniaku.com, Yummy, and GGWP.ID) which surely have various reader segments.”
Simply put, ad service providers nowadays must always deliver the most actual digital programs. Other than that, appropriate communication strategies as well-targeted campaign ideas should be their ammunition to help advertisers gain the best out of them, especially during the Coronavirus outbreak.
