The other day Christian Boswell, President & Executive Creative Director here at bfw, got a call from Allison Ross at the Palm Beach Post. She was doing a story on trends in retail marketing in a down economy and wanted to get our thoughts. Christian and I got together with Pete Carrara, bfw Director of Design, and Kat Davis, bfw Senior Copywriter, and had an interesting discussion. Ms. Ross moderated via speakerphone.

Holiday Retail Advertising Trends & Tactics

Couple things we talked about: Thanksgiving comes late this year, so there are five fewer shopping days. To compensate, retailers are starting earlier this year with in-store advertising. Macy’s, Target and Costco all had their holiday displays set up well before Halloween. And here in South Florida, Sears in Town Center at Boca Raton already had its fake Christmas trees lit up, on display and ready to go.

Retailers will also be promoting their day-after-Thanksgiving sales earlier than usual to get consumers into the holiday shopping mindset early—here in South Florida and across America. But many retailers are also cutting back on advertising spending (or at the very least, keeping budgets the same as last year). Instead of spending more money, marketers are really looking to advertise more efficiently. In other words, they want to make a bigger impact with the same dollars.

As a Retail Advertising Agency – We Can Help

That’s where great creative thinking is really coming into play. As an advertising agency, we’re continually trying to think differently about messaging and media choices, so we can connect with consumers more effectively for less money. It’s a challenge that all advertising agencies are facing. And, it seems, this holiday season many of them will be put to the test.

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Paul Amelchenko is Creative Director at bfw Advertising in Boca Raton, Florida. bfw Advertising is a full service marketing and communications firm with strong competencies in new media. The South Florida advertising agency creates and builds client brands with strategic thinking and on-target creative executions. For more information call (561) 962-3300 or visit https://www.gobfw.com/ on the web.