Changing solutions in a recession

In our business, we're serving as a global 'ebay' of creative advertising ideas, delivering real results for big-name marketers that previously only had the brick-and-mortar advertising agencies to turn to for solutions. Especially now, the recession looms large in the minds of marketers and their CMOs, the industry is experiencing a noticeable shift in attitudes towards new business models.

We're noticing that more and more clients are reaching out to online communities to deliver efficient, effective and economical solutions. Perhaps most tellingly, however, is the range of industries that are embracing such alternatives. While in a robust economy, some skeptics theorized that even if there were a gap in the market, the market opportunity would be limited to small and mid-sized companies, all evidence is pointing to an even more remarkable opportunity than even the most fervent of supporters may have thought. Remarkably, not only are mammoth packaged-goods, automotive and retail companies taking advantage of the open-source models, but sectors such as the fashion industry and the recording industry - two categories that tend away from employing outside marketing sources - are testing the OpenAd model, for example, with great success.

This is a truly fascinating time to be in the marketing business. As marketers are grappling to find ways to do more with less, the smart decision makers are expanding their horizons to include more creative and resourceful solutions to their business challenges. In a broad sense, this means that digital and public relations solutions are being implemented to a greater degree than ever before, even replacing some pricey traditional executions. From a sourcing standpoint, CMOs are engaging with open-source models, where they're finding increased return on their investment, as well as global input on their brand, and in our case getting input from more than 11 000 creatives from 125 countries.

Not only is this encouraging for those of us who have always thought the web could transform entire industries, but it will be exciting to see what kinds of businesses are born out of this increased willingness to explore non-traditional models. What other industries will change because necessity, does, in fact, breed creativity?

Source: www.openad.net.