Marketing Briefing: Marketers and agency execs are hoping for more optimism post-inauguration

By Kristina Monllos

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Ready to turn the page

Ahead of the inauguration of president-elect Joe Biden this Wednesday, there’s a sense of unease among marketers and agency execs who are waiting and hoping the event passes without serious incident.

With political tensions high and the potential for another insurrectionist event in Washington D.C., or elsewhere in the country, marketers and agency execs are “treading cautiously,” having added more contingencies to ad deals should something ugly occur.

Still, even as marketers “wait with bated breath for this to pass quickly,” as one media buyer noted, there seems to be a hope that should Wednesday’s inauguration go off without a hitch, that there’s the potential for optimism of a different future. That’s not to say that the inauguration of a new president will simply flip a switch to sunnier times — the country is so politically polarized that it’s difficult to imagine how to fix that divide — but that people are ready for change, according to agency execs and industry observers.

That need for change overall after a difficult year — with the pandemic, the economic impact and layoffs of the pandemic as well as the social unrest and the litigated election results — was present in every conversation prior to the holidays. Agency execs, media buyers, PR professionals all joked about being ready for the end of 2020.

“Everyone, buy and sell side, is aching for a new normal,” noted one agency network executive.

Of course, 2021 has delivered another round of difficulties with the insurrection at the Capitol building, a new strain of the coronavirus and a less than stellar roll out of vaccines. Now, it seems, the hope of change for a more positive year seems tied to the inauguration now as the New Year didn’t deliver.

“Brands are looking forward to turning the page,” noted one agency exec. “And moving towards optimism.” Should that page actually be turned, “I think you will start to see more optimistic messaging” in ads, according to the exec. “More sunrises. More smiles. Fewer maudlin piano pieces of music.”

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Source:: Digiday