The recent article in Business Insider talks about a recent decision at P & G to reverse course and lower rather than continue to raise marketing budgets in the face of SG&A expenses that hurt profits. The decision is a cultural change at P & G and clearly a response to Wall Street criticism.
The reason this is perceived to be possible is that "social media is free" and through smart "big ideas" able to drive impressions more cost effectively than traditional advertising. At Facebook the desire is to eliminate free and maximize the productivity of brand dollars that are flooding into social media.
Social Media of course is not free. It requires employees to drive, agencies to manage, and potentially escalating media costs as companies like Facebook need to hit quarterly earnings targets to deliver growth in the face of enormous valuations.
However it's all relative. Free at P & G means something different than free for a $10 million company cutting their budget to focus on social media. With a $10B annual ad budget social media even as costs escalate must feel like free media at P & G.
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