Flashy commercials, creative taglines, unique characters, and in-your-face marketing designed to sell, sell, sell are what most people think when they think about advertising. The last decade has disrupted the industry with a heavy focus being put on shorter and more diverse advertisements, extreme targeting, and the post-click stage where personalization is everything. On top of this, analytics, undeniably sometimes overstated, have changed how advertising feels, where it’s placed, and who it targets.

Advertising agencies have responded to the changing business demands and economic environment by embracing tech-focused solutions. Major management consulting firms have gone so far as to even purchase advertising agencies for their broad capabilities and tactical execution. Overall, public relations agencies have moved quicker than many of the large advertising-specific firms. As we discussed yesterday, PR firms have embraced strategic brand planning and services once only offered by advertising agencies. Many advertising firms have had a tougher time introducing public relations services into their portfolio of offerings.

The one area advertising almost always succeeds is in the creative space. Advertising agencies dominate art direction and creative campaign development. However, for many small businesses, advertising is still a long shot as the initial upfront cost is significantly higher than PR. Nonetheless, small businesses can turn to ad agencies for creative-focused campaigns and projects where more production pizazz is needed. Of course, if your small business is looking to focus less on long-term brand awareness and more on sales and immediacy, advertising is definitely the way to go.

Next week we’ll discuss how PR is going to dominate the decade and where advertising agencies will stand out and make significant waves.

Have a great weekend, I’ll talk with you on Monday.