The Tide is Officially Out. Let’s Build Better Boats.

By Jamie Mair, AUG 2020

In January, at one of the last conferences I attended, I had my hand up to ask a question. I wasn’t called upon but I still have the same question which was, “are you prepared to shrink the industry in order for it to grow?” My question was specific to #brandfill and the desire to reduce it.

The question still stands but the context is broader now and frankly I’m not sure if the question even matters any longer since the answer has been forced upon us and our industry has shrunk dramatically and clearly not by design.

This was a once thriving industry when the advertising and promotion came ahead of the specialties and products. Shopkeepers and corporations grew their businesses and customer loyalty using this most personal, tangible and affordable advertising medium - and yet it has effectively been deemed “non-essential.” Yes there are many people successfully helping their clients procure PPE, which is essential, but not “core” or “essential” to the practices of advertising or promotion and the related services of merchandising.

PPE is propping many of us up in a crisis. This is more about survival than innovation or splitting hairs over advertising vs. promotion vs. products vs. suppliers vs. distributors vs. end users. But the propping up for now won’t last forever, as more sophisticated supply chains fill the unpredictable vacuum for PPE.

When that happens to its fullest extent we’ll be back to shopkeepers and corporations telling us that “non-essential items have been cut,” or “the marketing budget is frozen for novelties and giveaways and the soft-stuff with no measurable ROI.” Well guess what? The client isn’t wrong and we’re reaping what we’ve sown. 

As the rising tide has proven, year over year our boats have risen, and yeah people can put graphs in my face that show me how we always bounce back and I nod my head and agree and go back to waiting for the tide again. Now is different than before. The tide is still going out on this tsunami and we’re not preparing or thinking about the wave that follows the retreat.

We are not retailers simply selling products to consumers via omni-channel solutions; we do that, plus we design marketing ideas and campaigns with measurable outcomes that prove to shopkeepers and corporations that we are helping them grow, just like real marketing agencies do. Simply speaking, retailers sell products, agencies sell ideas. Our industry does both, which is more complex than either or.

If you are one of the few in our industry that truly does both, you’re likely fairing better than most. If you are nodding your head saying, “yeah, I do both!” Ask yourself, “am I (you) being honest?” If the answer is “no, I’m really a retailer of decorated products and don’t know anything about marketing but say I do,” then you’re in trouble and “non-essential.” Knowing product codes and deco techniques and who makes what is essential to making great quality products but if that’s all you know you’re not making adverts or promo, you’re making decorated products. And the world can wait for those. What the world can’t wait for is optimism & action & the communication of them.

That’s what marketing does & our industry needs more of it! If this feels like an industry scolding, it’s not meant to be. It’s meant to help me sort my thoughts and scold myself for being lazy and riding the tide. It’s me punching myself in the face and telling myself to “do better and find a way to be essential.” This is no small task. It requires me to look past my biases and learn new things, like direct response marketing using digital platforms, agile strategy, copywriting, etc., to become a better marketer. It also requires me to understand the tectonic shifts happening in retail and the ways technology is rising to the challenge of creating new customer engagement strategies, so that I can become a better retailer of branded products

That’s my plan to become essential. What’s yours? Should we work together to help each other? I’m a curmudgeon by genetics but I love our industry and all it has to offer. There’s a niche for everybody. I hadn’t understood that until recently and now I embrace it and it feels much better. I’ve been critical of the “industry”, which isn’t fair. The “industry” makes opportunities available to all. It’s up to the individual to decide what to do with the opportunity.

Again, this is new thinking for me as I’ve historically been a real snob about these matters.

The fact of the matter is, I got away from being an agent of merchandising and ideas. I became more “specialty” than advertising. More “products” than promotion. I became more of an order taker than a counselor. 

The answers to essentialism have been there from the beginning. Going “back to basics” means going back to the beginning, when selling advertising specialties meant selling advertising AND specialties. And providing promotional products meant providing both promotion AND products. Depending on when you got into this great industry, you’ve likely been more of a retailer of branded products and less of an agent of merchandising and ideas. 

I believe the future winners will need to be both again. And it’s critical for our industry to be both too, to truly demonstrate our essentialism.

It would suck to read the industry epitaph, “Novel virus kills novelties.”

It’s time to build! Creativity, design, rigorous application of marketing principles, applied technology, quality goods and merchandising, and demonstrating value metrics need to be “the basics.” Not waiving drop-ship fees, cost-plus pricing, virtuals, 24 hr. delivery. Those basics are not good for suppliers, distributors, or brands when that’s the “value” being created/negotiated.

The tide is officially out. Let’s build better boats.

Originally posted: https://twitter.com/jamiemair/status/1297539673712136198?s=20