Q 1. Do you at present see a significant impact of this crisis on the communications and advertising business in Greece - e.g.:
Q1a) Do clients reduce or cancel budgets and projects?
A.: Yes, especially in the ATL sector. I believe that above all, even more important than crisis itself, is the market psychology, and this “sector” is badly hurt. People are realizing that they will suffer significant losses of their income and that they must adjust to a new environment, even by decreasing their lifestyle standards. Even make cutbacks on necessities. The companies on the other hand, see their sales go down 30% or more in the last three months and foresee that this situation will definitely get worse before it starts to get better again. And under these conditions, advertising and communication budgets are very high on the cost reduction list.
Q1b) Are people in agencies and consultancies laid off?
A.: Unfortunately yes, for quite some time now. The communications industry is still labor intensive and when agencies see their turnover to take a down turn, salaries and jobs are in danger. I strongly believe that it will also get worse.
Q1c) What about protests against the austerity measures of the government and strikes? Do people in the ad industry take part in this?
A.: Our offices are in the very centre of Athens, and I can assure you that the tens of thousands of people on the streets, are just that: people. They are not liberals or socialists or communists or white collars or whatever. They are people watching their personal or family budget reduced even bellow poverty limits. And yes, they are protesting, it’s one of the very few ways people have in democracies to say what they feel. So, in this context, I suppose that some of them are people in the ad industry. But, keep in mind that there is no organized union for these people, they are working in the private sector and frankly, I never heard of such a thing as a ad industry strike in the last 40 years.
Q2. Are there any campaigns running now that refer to the crisis? If so, could you mention an example?
A.: Yes, there are quite a few companies (banks, car dealers, electric appliances, on line betting etc, just to mention a few), who try to project the crisis as an opportunity to buy something cheaper or on better terms. They must try to stop their sales from going down even more. There is a question though, if they succeed.
Like I said, the psychology on the streets is bad – I believe that no one wants to buy anything right now, except it is absolutely necessary (e.g. Super markets lost more than 30% of their turnover in the last 6 months). People turn to unbranded products, private labels, and what ever is or seems to be cheaper.
Q3. How does the current situation affect your company?
A.: We as a company haven’t suffer much yet, mostly because we are one of the leading Greek branding consultancies, the market knows and appreciates who we are and we have been around since 1983. But the pressure to lower our fees increased along with the design and branding specs. The environment worsens by the day. We are reacting in the only way we know: with patience, by staying calm, and above all by doing our job the best way we can. I must admit that I am optimistic for the foreseeable future, say till the end of 2011.
Q4. How do you and others in the Greek Graphic Designers' Association react now and plan for the next few years in terms of business stategy?
A.: (I am a former president of GGDA, twice re-elected, but still an active member). GGDA tries to stay as close as possible to its members, consult them on business practices, and help them in any way to get out of this nasty situation. Seminars, round tables, events and promotions are some of the means towards professional surviving, especially for the Associations younger members.
Q5. What do you think of the way Germany reacted to the financial crisis
in Greece on the political level (quite hesitant to act at the beginning)?
A.: I believe that Counselor Merkel’s main focus were in the elections in North Rhine-Westfalia, rather than in how the markets reacted in Greece’s problem or the consequences of this situation to our common currency. This gave room for rumors against Greece and the EU, for speculators to act freely against the Greek economy and euro, and for valuable time to be lost for everyone – including Germany. This is the main idea behind a really common market: help each other in troubled times. But I think that the political cost prevailed as it happens in many occasions in politics, and when this is the case, the result is always the same: bad news for the people on the street. And in the end, mrs. Merkel didn’t avoided defeat in the elections.
Q6. How do you feel about what was said in the German media about the
the crisis in Greece, if you observed what was said and written?
A.: I couldn’t have missed it even if I wanted to. I feel that in situations like this, deliberate misinformation in the media and strong reactions are common. Yes, many of the remarks written in Germany’s media were unfortunate and misleading. As if the Greek and the German people were enemies and one was the thief trying to steal the others money. It’s easy to get messages like this to people who themselves also feel the effects of the international crisis in their family budget. Anyway, we need EU’s and Germany’s help and EU and Germany needs a strong Greek economy. So, we either walk together, or no one goes anywhere. In any case, what’s done is done. No hard feelings on our side. The problem is ahead and I don’t thing that turning people against each other is productive.
Q7. How do you personally experience this crisis? What effects, if any, does it have on your daily life and your working day, and maybe on the people around you?
A.: I am no exception. Like everybody else, I buy less, I think twice before spending a euro, look for better prices. I think that we must get used to the idea that for the next 4-5 years at least, we must learn to live with less and work more. I try not to loose my smile and my sense of humor. And, business wise, we upgrade the service to our clients, keep our prices as low as we can and develop new services. For instance, we are investing a lot of time and effort assisting Greek companies to rebrand their products for international markets as this appears to represent the best potential for their survival and growth in the next 5 years. Some of this effort is pro bono. We will be alive and kicking in the end of this crisis, even stronger than before, that’s the plan.
Q8. When and how, do you think, things will get better?
A.: I believe that it will take us 3-4 very long and very harsh years before our economy gets back to normal again. In the main time, people will loose their jobs, their cars, even maybe their homes. But we will bit this monster, as we Greeks have proved again and again in our history. As long as we stay focused and united. And I feel that we are. A little help from our European friends wouldn’t hurt though! We, all Europeans, are together in this and our enemies are common: poverty, unemployment, recession. As always, “together we stand, divided we fall”.
(Το περιοδικό W&V (www.wuv.de) θεωρείται ένα από τα εγκυρότερα γερμανικά περιοδικά του ειδικού τύπου της επικοινωνίας. Στο τεύχος της 20ης Μαϊου 2010 φιλοξένησε συνέντευξή μου με θέμα "Η οικονομική κρίση στην Ελλάδα και ο κλάδος της επικοινωνίας .)
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