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One thing I've been wondering is why UK media owners and ad agencies haven't been using their inventory and positioning to communicate more on Brexit...
Why? Well, the ad industry is particularly volatile and extremely vulnerable to marketer confidence. If there is even a hint of a downturn, advertisers begin to cut budgets and the ad sector takes an outsize hit.
For instance. In the 2008/2009 financial crisis, UK nominal GDP dropped by about 1% in 2009 compared to 2008. The UK ad sector took a 12% hit - declining ~£1.9bn between 2007 and 2009 (with the bulk in 2009).
Let's take a no-deal Brexit scenario. The Bank of England has warned we could be facing a recession worse than the 08/09 crisis.
Let's be conservative (small c) and assume the hit to the advertising sector this time would be only £2bn...
Let's be conservative (small c) and assume the hit to the advertising sector this time would be only £2bn...
Imagine now, that instead of simply sitting back and taking a no-deal Brexit and the associated £2bn hit, ad firms instead use their inventory to join the debate (or, if they'd rather, offer heavy discounts to those - like @ByDonkeys - who are trying to shift public opinion)
What could that £2bn buy...?
1) Every single advertisement on all of ITV's UK channels for an entire year, with a little to spare (see later notes on political TV ads...)
2) Every single advert in every newspaper in the country for an entire year
3) Every billboard placement in the country - again, for an entire year, with quite a lot of money left over
Note: I'm not saying I like the idea of large corporate groups using their scale and reach to influence policy. And indeed there are rules specifically limiting the distribution of political advertising via broadcast TV...
...But it nonetheless surprises me that we haven't seen more activity from agencies and media owners, given a) how much they specifically stand to lose during an economic downturn and b) the fact that they actually have the means to deliver messages
Newspapers can of course use their column inches to said effect (on a related note, are the boards of those newspapers promoting hard Brexit thus not risking being in breach of their fiduciary duties...?), but there are many groups which have been remarkably quiet...
