There are moments in every society’s history that signify major changes. Moments of rise and fall, of rise that becomes somebody else’s fall, of falls that become steps for an other to climb up the ladder. There are moments of complete collapse that might be followed by total destruction or lead to advancement.
Advertising, being the type of industry that is, is susceptible to such societal shifts, and it surely had its fair share of such moments all around the world. Others small, others big, and others monumental. For advertising agencies in Cyprus such monumental moment was the economic crisis of 2013. The era of change. The year of the “upside down”, during which some marketers folded their cards and left the table, others struggled to remain on the surface, and the rest repositioned and regrouped, in order to maintain their existence.
Up to 2013 the local affluence allowed marketers to act as they willed, often even unwisely, and not get “caught”, since the market was moving forward regardless. Enter the economic recession, which brought a hard time for companies and the market in general. Part of this came with the fact that they could not secure bank loans anymore, and therefore all their actions had to be self-financed. In this new light, every single penny spent from a brand/company had to bring back a return. Needless to say, excessive expenditures had to be eliminated, and advertising was often seen as one of those.
Advertising agencies were found in an uncomfortable position. It was the moment when nothing could be left to chance. If marketing services were purchased, they had to come with proven results. That's when results were placed under the microscope. Needless to say, many ad agencies were quickly rushed out of the game.
What did we do, on the other hand, to remain at the centre of the game, and keep developing consistently, building a remarkable customer catalogue, which at first sight might appear disanalogous to our small size?
How is this possible?
It is simple but not easy. As always, we worked and keep working hard to keep every single one of our customers happy, providing tailor-made services according to their individual needs, always in the light of our knowledge and experience in communication. It does not matter if it is a small independent company, or a large bank. Each account is handled with maximum professionalism and respect for what the client has to offer, and what deserves to be communicated. We monitor the results closely. For us it is important to see our customers’ progress, and we make sure that we have the numbers to back this up. This results-driven work ethic leads to a mouth-viral reputation for our agency that helps us grow further.
Have we remained unscathed?
To remain unscathed would mean that no fight had to be fought. To remain unscathed would mean that we did not have to try, work, put maximum effort, fall and get up, find our way through and secure our position. So, no, we did not remain unscathed. But we don’t have any scars either. War medals were translated into knowledge, experience, wisdom and expertise. Because for an agency of our size, to be in the centre of a hurricane and still manage to remain standing, is almost unthinkable. But it happened.
So this is what drives us to make sure that each cent of our customers matters, and this is how we make sure that it brings them return. And, hopefully, next time someone says that in Cyprus there is no room for advertising agencies, you will think about this article and ask back:
Has the local Apoc-ad-lypse really happened?
Our experience, knowledge, performance and numerous satisfied customers say no. You can see some of the proving cases here.