Claire Mathieson, Head of Planning
Mass redundancies across networks and a collapsing effectiveness rate aren’t indicators of a healthy trade. But how did we get here?
Last month, I was in Berlin during a protest calling for greater investment in long-Covid research. More than six years on from the pandemic, most of us have mentally moved on. Our attention has shifted to wars, AI, economic uncertainty and the cost-of-living crisis. But maybe as an industry and an economy, we’re all suffering from long-covid and waiting for our nervous systems to recover?
Covid changed everything for those of us who worked in marketing before it arrived. Overnight, we shifted from building brands to protecting revenue streams, rescuing budgets and producing campaigns over FaceTime. Our lives became erratic, and so did our marketing.
In the rush to prove our value, we gravitated towards the channels and metrics that could demonstrate immediate returns. And while there’s a time and a place for it, advertising isn’t a quick fix. You’ve got to sell a LOT of soft drinks to justify a £10m investment.
High-growth environments rely on confidence. People need to believe that the future is reasonably predictable, that plans matter, that institutions are stable and that risks are survivable. Yet marketing costs have increased significantly since the pandemic, pushing investment towards channels that promise measurable results.
But if Meta, Amazon and Google now account for roughly £2 in every £3 spent on advertising, why is advertising becoming less effective?
The role of marketing has always been to build meaningful connections with consumers and ensure brands are present when purchasing decisions are made. That cannot be achieved through six-month planning cycles alone. It requires a longer-term perspective. Brands are built over years, not quarters.
And I’m not convinced AI will solve this problem. AI is only as good as the information and assumptions that feed it. If we’re operating in an environment where 80% of campaigns achieve their reach targets but only 25% achieve their effectiveness targets, then we’re simply optimising the wrong outcomes.
What we really need is agile teams filled with resilient, curious and confident critical thinkers who can connect the dots and see the bigger picture. We need to rebuild confidence in our judgement and decision-making. Because when the data suggests taking a calculated risk, are we confident enough to do it?
Confidence isn’t built through perfect forecasting. It’s built through relationships, trust, judgement and the willingness to act despite uncertainty.
So, a skydive isn’t an act of recklessness; it’s an act of confidence. You trust your preparation, your experience and the people around you. You know there’s risk. You jump anyway.
The future of our industry won’t be built by those waiting for complete certainty. It will be built by those with the confidence to step out of the plane first.
