The economic crisis has had many businesses wondering, for some time now, what to do with their advertising investment. I’ve decided to answer this question by quoting a book by one of the greatest advertisers: David Ogilvy. Interestingly, the book was published in 1983, which shows that some things change, but others don’t.

« Marketing in recession

What should you do in times of recession, when you need every penny to sustain your earnings? Stop advertising?

If you stop advertising a brand that is still in its introductory phase, you will probably kill it — forever. Studies of the last six recessions have demonstrated that companies, which do not cut back their advertising budgets, achieve greater increases in profit that companies that do cut back.

In a Morrill survey of 40,000 men and women involved in the purchase of 23 industrial products over five years, it was found that share-of-market went up in bad times — when advertising was continued.

I have come to regard advertising as part of the product, to be treated as a production cost, not a selling cost. It follows that it should not be cut back when times are hard, any more than you would stint any other essential ingredient in your product.

During World War II, the British Government prohibited the marketing of margarine under brand names, but Unilever continued to advertise one of their brands during all the years when it was not on the retailers’ shelves. When the war ended and brands returned, the Unilever brand emerged at the top of the heap. »

- Ogilvy, David.  Ogilvy on Advertising, ‘Vintage Books’, Random House, New York, 1983, p.170