Saturday, February 23, 2013

Something Wicked This Way Comes


As congress continues to waste time playing school yard games, which I often to refer as the age old "my balls are bigger than your", the country waits in anticipation of the dreaded sequester. This estimated $85 billon dollar round of spending cuts is expected to take its full affect throughout the fiscal year without much hope of a backup plan or a quick effective replacement. In simple terms these “across-the-board cuts” are being used to persuade and put pressure on the public to encourage or in other words force new agreements in congress regarding issues such as new tax revenues. 
Easily predicted, these massive cuts are not only going to affect government personal employment but will hurt defense and education budgets as well as affect the cost of air travel and jobs. But lets be honest, it’s not going to stop there. What about advertising? What about sales? Without a shadow of a doubt, this sequester is going to have a massive trickle down affect. Advertisers are going to have to find new angles and ways of persuasion to make those products we think we have to have affordable and worth it when money starts to get tight. Prices of products are not just magically going to become cheaper just because we dealing with a national budget cut, in fact they will likely go up. The advertising game is going to get a little bit harder and a lot more competitive, it’s time to gear up so some else isn’t stealing your sales.
When times get rough and money and federal aid is a little harder to come by, the majority of society is not looking for those high-end luxury products or shopping at pricey stores but rather going to the affordable second best. It’s going to be all about the next best deal. This sequester is going to affect everyone. Although the magnitude of this trickle down affect is still unknown, it’s time advertisers prepare themselves for the changes it will be facing because let’s be honest, something wicked this way comes and it might be here to stay.   
          

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323864304578320534058412860.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories