April 2009 – The Media Report

The Media Report

Industry Will be Measured by Good Deeds, Not Good ROI

By Jack Myers

The recent Promotion Marketing Association Conference in Chicago, although lightly attended, deserves recognition for focusing three full presentations on corporate responsibility and how the media and advertising industry can contribute to the greater good. Industry trade association conferences are especially fascinating these days. A few weeks ago, I attended my 15th TED Conference, which establishes a standard by which all other conferences can be measured.

The recent Interactive Advertising Bureau, Association of National Advertisers and American Association of Advertising Agencies events, while dramatically different in their focus and perspectives, had one glaring reality in common. They were consumed with self-interest, failing to spend one minute on what their communities could do to support the greater good of mankind—or even the greater good of the media and advertising business. Not one minute of the agendas at the events were devoted to green initiatives, supporting the nation’s economy, investing in industry executives who are out-of-work, eradicating AIDS or raising funds for any other disease, helping to support returning Iraq War veterans, or any cause that desperately needs our attention and support.

MISSING THE BIG PICTURE

There was little focus on the threat of state and federal taxes on advertising; just a few minutes of impassioned comment by Irwin Gotlieb and Randall Rothenberg on data privacy issues; never a mention of the conversion of broadcast television from analog to digital; rarely any expression of concern about the true danger of the extinction of newspapers, radio stations and television stations in hundreds of communities across America. At all three conferences, HP’s marketing guru Michael Mendenhall spoke and at the 4As’ event he said: “What catches my attention is the growing and important audience that defines their loyalties based on the demonstration of corporate responsibility.” If the industry expects to capture the attention of the public, it must focus on industry-wide corporate responsibility. Support for the initiatives of the Advertising Council should be the foundation of industry support, and every media company, advertising agency and marketer should also define its own brand by the social causes it supports. quotation This industry is in crisis, but it would be very difficult to perceive that reality if you attended industry gatherings in the past few weeks and listened to most of the rhetoric. Companies remain entrenched in the security that as bad as things might get in our business, the basic status quo will survive. Keep on keeping on, managers seem to believe, and all will be well. Once the economy turns around in the next few months, most executives seem to think our business will turn around with it. But that assumption is as absurd as believing the real estate market will return to normal in the next few months. As we struggle for our survival, we must not lose sight of the fact that we will be measured not by the success we achieve, but by the good we accomplish with our success once we have achieved it.