Ad agencies innovate to gain market share

The beleaguered advertising market has forced ad agencies to turn to unconventional marketing methods to maximize the impact of their clients' messages while keeping costs down. "What we see now in the advertising market is malaise and a search for unconventional forms of marketing," said Konrad Pudło, president of the Wrocław-based research firm Expert Monitor. Since the beginning of the year, the Internet, sports sponsorships, TV product placement and "guerilla" marketing have become the biggest buzzwords in the sector, agency managers and industry watchers said. But as ad agencies search for new ways to reach consumers, industry professionals disagree on which methods are the most effective. "2002 will be the year of sponsorships," Pudło said. According to Pudło, more advertisers are putting their money into sponsorships such as billboards - eight-second TV spots aired just before weather reports or other programs - or sports.

Betting on the home team Neil Selby, general manager of d'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles ad agency, said that sponsoring is becoming increasingly popular among advertisers but that in Poland marketing directors tend to choose sports they like rather than those that are consistent with the products they are promoting. "If your brand stands for innovation, you'll have to find an innovative sport, and if it stands for security you need a 'secure' sport," he said. Other potential sponsors have been encouraged by the success of TV shows such as "Big Brother" and are trying to predict the next blockbuster. "Many companies are hoping they will be associated with what they believe will be the next hit program," Selby said. "Last year it was 'Big Brother,' now it's 'Pop Idol.' " "Big Brother's" strong audience ratings have also fueled interest in another marketing segment - product placement. "If you watch 'Big Brother,' you see that people are falling over themselves to get their products on the show," Selby said. "And (it's obvious). (The participants) literally can't walk around the house without you seeing some kind of product standing there." Nevertheless, product placement, which is increasingly used by advertisers but still not recognized by viewers, has a long way to go before it catches up with more conventional forms of sponsorship, according to Marek Gargała, managing director of Publicis ad agency.

"Now, advertisers are aware of it but viewers are not," Gargała said. "I think viewers don't yet realize they are being manipulated." In the near future, however, product placement will become so common that consumers will begin to recognize it, he added. At that stage of development, today's relatively simple placement of products on shows will be replaced by more sophisticated methods, d'Arcy's Selby said. "When viewers become more tired of irrelevant product placements just for the sake of it, the advertising industry will move toward placement as a part of (an action sequence), like in James Bond films," Selby said. For the time being, though, companies will continue to look for ways to place their products in aggressive ways on popular shows, Gargała said.

Almost as old as the profession itself Product placement as an advertising tool has been known about for decades, but only recently has it been used on its current scale, according to Gargała. The reason for its increased popularity, he said, is that TV has changed. "The number of television channels has increased and reality shows emerged," he said. "Reality shows are an ideal (vehicle) for product placement." But Maciej Lipski, client service director at Grey Warszawa, was skeptical about the sudden popularity of product placement. He said the agency's clients view the method as extravagant and uncertain, and due to cash constraints they are inclined not to experiment. "Advertisers today don't think about long-term brand development - they focus on current sales," he said. Also seeing more interest among advertisers this year, according to Lipski, is "guerilla" marketing - ads aimed at young people written in trendy language, printed on stickers and placed in pubs and discos. "Some brands are rebellious by definition," Lipski said. It can be beer, cigarettes or clothes." In that vein, guerilla marketing and product placement provide advertisers with a way to skirt legal restrictions on promoting alcohol and cigarettes, Lipski said. "These budgets have to be channeled somewhere," he added.