Euro Shock" survey: Manfred Strobl

We sense nervousness and receive questions and signals from customers about internal discussions - but these are not (yet) extremely alarming developments for communications investments. We still expect a slightly positive sign, but we must not forget that "paid media" will become somewhat less in the long term and that here and there budget will flow into "earned and owned". It is also important to note that we can no longer speak of a correct representation of advertising investments on the part of Mediafokus, because there are more and more distortions here. In addition, we are certainly in the midst of a significant digital transformation with an accelerating development - this was also revealed by the last study conducted by BSW in cooperation with the HSG. From this it can be seen that, on the one hand, the net share of digital is significantly higher than reported in Mediafokus and, on the other hand, the intentions of advertisers to invest in digital touchpoints are becoming greater and greater. Printed media will continue to lose ground, in some cases by double digits in our projection, i.e., with the exception of special economic situations (e.g., Landliebe), we expect "print-only" budgets to continue to shrink, but this will be partially offset by shifts to digital publisher products.

In any case, performance and promotion will play a greater role - today this is called activation. In addition, there will be native and couponing as well as any form of functioning mobile advertising as a conditioning "extension" of the brand funnel. We are convinced that it is not acceptable for brands/products to perform with maximum awareness and high involvement, but then fall off the grid when it comes to conditioning and the act of purchase. This is where the mobile device, with its many possibilities, has a great opportunity. Depending on the advertised product or service, opportunities also arise in an anti-cyclical approach to improve the share of voice, but not at any price. For example, we see successes from time to time with seasonalities, i.e. when the industry advertises less and a competitor is suddenly on the road with a high SoV. This can have an impact and thus also work in crises - but with far greater nervousness.