The Pearlfinders Index - Quarter 1 2010

Welcome to the Pearlfinders Index, taking the temperature for the first quarter of 2010.

When analysts talk about opportunities in the marketing services sector they tend to examine agency profits, marketing spend and the channels commanding them. Though fine for corporate planning, these are of limited value as practical pointers for agencies looking to plan their next new business campaign. So the Pearlfinders Index collects and analyses a large sample of first-hand data on the opinions of marketing decision-makers. It enables us to map the entire market for emerging trends on preferences for marketing support, confidence to increase spend, inclination to review, and interest in new techniques.

Desirable Disciplines

From a broad range of data we drill down to specific disciplines to analyse the trends and patterns most relevant to your area of expertise. For each discipline we produce a summary of our findings, which you may download by clicking on the links below.

Branding & Design 

One in ten of all marketers we spoke to specified a need for design or branding solutions to their current business challenges. After a period of budget freezes, crises and consolidation the time has come for marketers to think about how to tweak their identity to carve out some space in a new consumer landscape. 

Simplicity, openness, and a desire to appear more accessible were all emerging trends. It goes without saying that global financial brands have taken a battering, but Q1 2010 was when they publicly acknowledged something needed to be done about it and hired a whole raft of marketers with a remit to address it. 

Digital & Integrated 

Digital is continuing to dissolve into the integrated marketing mix. The fall in digital specific jobs, compared with an increase in total marketing hires, emphasizes that marketing directors are increasingly expected to have a firm understanding of the digital area themselves. 

Digital is now so enmeshed in the overall branding or advertising solution, that it’s no longer common to see a “digital advertising specialist”. Interaction with the consumer has gone past building websites. Marketer’s challenges are more focused on their brands becoming integral aspects of their consumer’s day, be that via their portable device, or their online social group.

Experiential, Sponsorship & Events 

While the overall trend is positive, we’re seeing some major attitudinal differences in how marketers think about experiential marketing. The last 12 months saw many budgets and plans delayed until economic green shoots were seen, but now a raft of new appointments and product launches mean brands and marketers want to make some noise. 

The outlook for experiential agencies has improved, but as marketers focus on the most lucrative demographics, your ability to pinpoint and engage specific audiences has never been more crucial. FMCG brands in particular have been increasingly been turning to experiential agencies or revising their strategy as they compete for emotional engagement and attention, but their products and audiences are becoming more segmented.

Media & Advertising 

While professional services might not be the first sector you target as a creative shop, we found over half the marketers we spoke to here were thinking about their lead creative agency or looking to take on additional support. There has also been a major increase in the focus marketers are placing on targeting more affluent individuals. The key here is communicating quality, longevity and uniqueness rather than conspicuous displays. 

B2B marketers we’ve spoken with are looking for creativity outside of what’s ordinarily delivered for their area, and there’s an obvious increase in them looking for more creative approach. Perhaps it’s time for creative agencies to re-visit this more boring side of marketing. 

PR & Communications 

Marketers in the sectors worst affected by the Recession are turning to PR as the discipline to reassert their brand on the market. Whether it be retailers looking to speak to their customers through social media, blogs and online conversations, or charities using the whole spectrum of PR disciplines. 

Having kept its head down in 2009, the Financial Sector is now a hive of PR activity, and businesses of all industries are once again engaging with financial PR