How do I get your attention?

As I was pondering what to write about this week, I realized that the Philippine Advertising Ad Congress may already be in its final stages. Hence, I am using this medium to show how much I respect the people who work the longest hours — the account managers. I used to work with them everyday, and credit should be given where credit is due.

For one, they own the unenviable task of trying to convince advertisers that that their medium is the best vehicle to hitting the right demographic. Not only do they have to deal with demanding clients, they have to compete with others who are willing to go as far as they are just to “close the deal”. I actually know someone who had to pick up his client’s kids from school just to get on the latter’s good side. You get the point.

Secondly, and in my experience, the industry also has a huge dependency on personal relationships. How can you vie for advertising spend if your competitor has a direct line to a media buyer’s personal cellphone number? You can have all the connections you want, but the truth of the matter is, someone who is related to a former colleague’s sister’s husband will always have the inside track. You can also see yourself as the most likeable person in the world, but that decision is not entirely up to you.

Lastly, anyone who has made the commitment to be a part of the advertising industry has one way or another given up a huge chunk of his/her personal life. Whether it’s that dinner you missed because of a pending approval, or going through that 12-hour day because of a rush project, all the back and forth on the road, the pressure of an advertising career will beat you down.

Truth of the matter is, the advertising industry can also be unpredictable. What I mentioned above may even have no bearing at all. I have been in New York for almost a month now, and my move made me realize that while there are many similarities, there are generalizations and unsaid truths that can be said about the advertising industry in the Philippines.

Let’s go on ahead and talk about a few “Advertiser Tiers”.

Tier 1 is what I would call the “Money Cows”. Media and advertising agencies know that when those who belong to this segment start to spend, it’s do-whatever-you-can-to-get-the-most-out-of-them time.

I am talking about everyone in the FMCG industry (basically anything Unilever or Colgate-Palmolive). They know they have the power, because everyone wants a big chunk of their advertising budgets. If for some reason you manage to piss off one of the brand managers of these companies, you can kiss your advertising targets goodbye.

They hold the power and they know it. They will not care if you are trying to protect the integrity of your brand, publication, radio, or TV station. You have to include items such as product placement, editorial features, and mentions in your proposal. You can try to reason or resist, but in the end, you have no choice but to give in to these money players’ demands. There’s a whole year of placements that depend on it.

To be continued..

Circuit City would like to thank all of the customers who have shopped with us over the past 60 years. Unfortunately, we announced on January 16, 2009, that we are going out of business.

Please check back later for updates about the status of our website. In the meantime, we hope the information below will help answer most of your questions.

Just think, not even the biggest shopping holidays of the year were enough to make a difference. An official announcement can also be found here.

However, Goel speculated that Circuit City could still find a lifeline if Golden Gate Capital, one of the reported lead bidders for the merchant, bought the company and restructured it primarily as an online business with very few physical stores.

“This would eliminate overhead costs, vendor conflicts and other issues,” he said. “Circuit City has an almost $1 billion online business. So there is a future for it in that regard.”

As an Internet marketer, there has always been mixed frustration in marketing to an audience on the other side of the globe. Though the current crisis in the US bodes well for the local BPO industry, my belief is to not look at it as such.

If you have a thriving retail business, please, please make sure that you’ve taken the necessary steps to make your business future proof. Read a book. Research online. Who knows, maybe you’re only one more step from bringing your business over the top.

You don’t want to wait for a recession to hit before you start moving.