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February 26, 2009
Change You Can Make Money From.
The current market is filled with stories of companies savaged by the financial industry meltdown and subsequent recession. Today's announcement from IBM that it expects to hit its 2009 earnings targets after already posting a better than expected 4Q08 is more evidence that what is at work here is "not your father's recession."
Undoubtedly the exuberent overspending of the past decade has helped to fuel a fall from grace in many areas of the economy. But some segments, like autos, are also experiencing a structural shift...such as the end of the Boomer era and reduced consumption for macroeconomic reasons.
With IBM, we are also seeing a profound shift toward services and outsourcing as companies look to focus on what they do best...and leave many complex infrastructure operations to outside experts. That shift will fuel many opportunities for companies large and small in the years ahead.
What does it all mean for marketers? First, in marketing, the same search for expertise will fuel new opportunities. Despite plummeting spending, there is work being done but, in some cases, it is not the traditional agency fare. Second, newfound competitiveness is fueling an immense need for loyalty marketing, social marketing, relationship management programs and spend optimization programs. These are new concepts, executed using new strategies and new technologies. That means new opportunities.
Savvy businesspeople are regrouping and religning their strategies to take advantage of the shifts that are under way. For marketers, there is not return to business-as-it-was before September 13, 2008. But, as IBM showed today, that may not be a totally bad thing.
Posted by jcioban at February 26, 2009 5:44 PM
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