The global advertising industry is expected to decline nearly 12 per cent this year as the coronavirus pandemic batters businesses around the world, a report on the sector said on Monday. 

The advertising market, which typically tracks the broader health of economies, was thrown into chaos in March, as people stayed home and businesses shut their doors to stop the spread of the virus.

As CFO's look to establish even tighter fiscal control it will come as no surprise that marketing are not going to see the budgets they enjoyed pre-covid, which obviously is good for the bean counters and business survival but at what cost to the business revenues?

This is certainly a double edged sword for leadership teams that are looking to kick start revenues with less in the tank so to speak - creativity from your CFO has never been needed greater than today!.

I write a lot about the intrusive advertising industry and the associated ad fraud that's been spiraling out of control for some years now. 

Pre-Covid we saw forecast for it to be circa $100 Billion by 2023 mostly driven by the adoption of ad tech within the 'Smart TV' sector - we are told that the ad tech industry is trying to sort some of the issues out themselves.

Before this crisis kicked everyone into reality there were over 7.5K Ad Tech Vendors sat in that supply chain all of whom have a vested interest in perpetuating the myth that digital programmatic advertising is the silver bullet you need to reach your intended victims - pun intended.

The fact you can deliver shit at a million miles an hour means that what started out as a shit intrusive advert, just got the same shit intrusive ad there faster.

It could be discrepancies between demand-side and supply-side systems, or between individual reports from different technology partners. 

It could simply be the result of different tracking methodologies (which can cause problems alone), or it could be signalling something more.

And how about this for the continued madness associated with the ad tech industry;

"Interestingly, despite the frustration, the industry doesn’t typically treat discrepancies as a serious threat. In fact, we tend to view them as the cost of doing business. Even Google, the leading ad seller by a projected USD$35.2bn (£28.2bn), suggests that a 20% discrepancy rate is not only common, but should be expected".

When, why and how did we become so complacent with wasting money? 

Pre-Covid keywords and low quality creative on intrusive ad tech fuelled paid media was reduced to a fraud ridden commodity. It was based on the principle that reach outweighed authentic engagement and as a result it has managed to piss off enough people that they have voted in their millions to disengage with those messages.. 

It has lead to the introduction of GDPR along with you and me not only skipping, blocking or refusing to give permission for those digital intrusions, its created less trust which in turn has lead to erosion of the brand relationship, but it's still awesome for fraudsters and related Bots.

So just what is a brand to do, decimated due to this crisis and any cash is being used to prop up the company for a little time longer?

especially as advertising budgets and related marketing and agency resource are already

Today we can access and consume content anywhere, anytime, and on any device.

Consumer behaviorcustomers. Those that don't adjust the business mindset are now paying a hefty price for 'business as usual'.

and expectations have changed, and organisations must evolve to meet the changing needs of their

Today's socially savvy prospects and customers are checking out your 'social proof' as part of the 'trust' building process, not your website.

With 3.8bn+ people on one social platform or another around the world simply handing social media to the guy with the beard, or the girl with the tattoo in marketing doesn't really cut it today. Social media requires a strategy that sits across the entire business enterprise - WHY?

Because that's how today's social savvy consumer 'experiences' what you say you do which in turn is a significant factor in building and earning trust.