Creative duo Denesh and Anuj came together in 2004 after being introduced by a london headhunter. They recently picked up a creative excellence award from wpp’s john o’keeffe and have since been getting around some of the top ad agencies in london and amsterdam including BBH, Wieden+Kennedy and Strawberryfrog. Denesh 07966 473785 | anuj 07939 038929

Recession in advertising:

HOW THE CREDIT CRUNCH IS AFFECTING CREATIVE ADVERTISING. A DESI CREATIVE TEAM IN LONDON SHARE THEIR VIEW.

A loss of confidence has been breeding through London since last summer. At least the sun helped us all to feel a bit better day to day. But then came autumn and winter, as for you who know how miserable these British seasons can be, it only added to the snowballing currents of depression flowing from the City in the east to the media industry and the heart of shopping in the west end.

Now upon hearing the massive job culls in the financial part of town, then to the shop floors on high streets up and down the country, slowly and surely more and more people in advertising were being overcome with “depression”. It’s been filtering through all forms of communication, and when everyone talks about something, it’s hard not to believe it. But the thing is, so far it’s not been as bad as it’s been made out to be.

However global networks have set hiring freezes across their agencies, this has set the trend for others to follow, it’s purely about confidence.
It’s not just London either, the disease is spreading like the plague, “it’s gonna wipe people out”, that’s what we keep hearing. We’ve been in touch with agencies all over the world from the states to Australia and they are all talking about the recession, no one is sure about what’s happening and so no one is grabbing their balls to make a confident decision.

This has had the negative effect that it could only have, telling everyone there are no jobs, and if you’ve been unlucky to be made redundant then there are still options for you. But as a creative, whether freelance or not, you always face adversity, the confident ones fly in the face of it and come out stronger.

It’s all about confidence. Being freelance creatives we’ve seen the credit crunch effect across a variety of creative departments. We’ve heard Ogilvy, Publicis, VCCP, Fallon and Leo Burnett have made cuts in their creative departments. Though most agencies are pitching like crazy, which is good news for freelancers…the other thing is, everyone is watching their backs, so they are trying to hold on to their jobs or if they feel they’re in the firing line then they are looking to move. And it’s a good time to move, even though the industry says there are no jobs. This is because, as there is so much shift going on, the creative directors are now spoilt for choice, so if you’re good and have what people want there’s nothing to be afraid or depressed about.

In terms of creative product, of course we are seeing more and more sale adverts. But this isn’t creative, as much as you try and get an idea in there. Great brands that have a heritage of great advertising are now reeling off the feel good ads of the years before, which is smart until they have their budgets for the year set. However these are just brand statements. There are also product launches which now cannot rely on blandvertising anymore. This is dangerous territory for the creative and the client, if either lets this happen there will be no sales, which equals no jobs for both. The markets are saturated with similar products, with only the creative idea, the good feeling you have for the product, as the point of difference not the USPs of the product anymore. As for the argument that you need a big budget for a big idea, this type of thinking was killed a while ago by contemporary creatives though it may still survive in some dinosaur agency. So in this time of uncertainty, we are seeing more and more creative work that isn’t being led by TV, but instead by digital.

Big TV adverts are still around, but now it’s more like one a year for a brand rather than five. We’ve also noticed great briefs are still about too, thanks to the clever suits, planners and clued up clients who are flying in the face of the depression too. Yes budgets have been slashed, but this could be a great thing. It means we have to be smarter about the idea and how it is put out there, how it engages with people. If you can show this with confidence, you’ve kept the client. There are some shit agencies out there, who will continue to do what they do, this will be a sad time for them, but a good time for everyone else who wants their business.

We should keep in mind that all we have seen and experienced so far has been based on the last financial year, as that business has helped propel everyone along until now. With the new and slashed budgets coming into play from next month, we will then see the true effect start to play its part.

I think creatives in London now actually want to fight it out against the recession, against depressed people. There is an air of confidence, which I don’t think is just face value, well it maybe from those too frightened by it though, but then why do you want to associate yourself with them, they’ll just bring you down.

Denesh+Anuj

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