2020 In the Year View Mirror

“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up”

Vince Lombardi

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This quote pretty much sums up 2020 for the advertising industry. Many, many businesses, not surprisingly, cut their advertising budgets. In the heat of the battle, Karsh Hagan continued to be agile and flexible for clients. We also got more creative with media buys, ad production, and meetings utilizing the latest technology pumping out creative content quickly. In the early days of Covid, much of the messaging for our clients focused on safety. Thanks to Zoom, Google and Microsoft we remained very productive and we are proud of our staff for meeting the Covid challenge head-on. Now, businesses are planning for the future in the hopes of a rebound.

It looks like the first half of 2021 will look a lot like 2020….flex schedules, restrictions, more Zoom meetings. With vaccines now being delivered, there is light at the end of the tunnel. We are grateful to our clients and to our industry partners for hanging in there with us to weather this storm. As eternal optimists, we know that things will slowly get better and we expect an explosion of pent-up demand around mid-year. We will be locked and loaded in anticipation.

It is not surprising that digital media surpassed traditional media in 2020 and is now over 50% of all ad spending. Television did relatively well given that, according to Ad Age, over $8.5 billion was spent on political ads during this election cycle. Out-of-home continues a pretty good run although slowed by Covid. When movie theaters hopefully reopen, this will be good for the industry too. And, let’s not forget the Tokyo Olympics coming up next summer…. a significant driver for advertisers.

A return to normal is within sight.

Wishing all a happy, healthy, prosperous and Covid-free 2021!

Pocky Marranzino, Co-CEO