Digital agencies are bullish on their success riding out the economic downturn with 91% of international agencies surveyed by the Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA), claiming that there will be the same or more digital marketing work in 2009.
SoDA which was incorporated last year in the US, is an international advocacy group for digital marketing professionals. In its inaugural Digital Marketing Outlook Report, SoDA which conducted the broad survey across traditional and digital agencies, brands, digital vendors and freelance digital experts, found that over 81% of survey respondents were planning to invest the same or more into digital marketing this year despite the economic climate.
According to SoDA Director of Operations Paul Lewis both agencies and brands will see an increase in the overall dollars spent on digital in 2009, although at a slowed pace. “Both traditional and digital agencies believe that there will be the same or more digital marketing work in 2009 than in years past. Most brands see the same or greater digital spending, and follow up interviews reveal that while digital marketing budgets are by and large intact so far, brand decision makers are very cautious,” he said.
While brands are reducing their digital work forces, the work found that in agency land headcount for digital staffers is rising with 47% of agencies currently hiring digital personnel. “On balance the evidence suggests that despite the drastic effects of the crisis on marketing in general, the digital arena is suffering less. At SoDA we believe this is because of the growing importance, accountability, and effectiveness of digital marketing, and this survey reflects the digital industry’s confidence in its ability to weather the storm,” he added.
Brands and agencies nominated digital infrastructure as garnering the lion’s share of digital spending for the year which includes websites. The report found that across the entire traditional and digital agency sectors respondents were agreed that the economic tumult would accelerate the shift of focus and importance from traditional media to digital media. The top digital priorities for respondents in 2009 were: digital infrastructure (websites, tools); digital advertising; search optimization; social media and blogs; and mobile. The top three initiatives represented the bulk of budgets investment while social media and mobile are caught in the “investigation and evaluation phase” for many organizations.
Meanwhile Adobe products dominate the required solutions sets for the digital marketing industry with Dreamweaver, Flash and Flex the preferred tools of choice. Flash and ActionScript skills were also the most in demand for hiring new workers. Other popular desired skill sets included iPhone SDK and PHP. With PHP standing out as 60% of survey respondents claimed this was an area they seeking to beef up skill sin with new hires. While Wordpress emerges as the blogging platform of choice.
Meanwhile SoDA has revealed that the inclusion of its first Australian digital agency member, Melbourne based IE. While SoDA membership is largely US and UK based at the moment plans are afoot for establishing an Australian chapter. Lewis told Digital Media that while the launch of an Australian chapter was a little way off, it was certainly on the agenda. “We want to make sure we get things right. That is why we are limiting involvement this year to a few select agencies willing to help us craft a larger, more comprehensive plan. Rhys Hayes with IE is an example of that. We hope with his assistance to make considerable progress on the goal for a local Australian chapter.”
Founding SoDA firms include AgencyNet, Big Spaceship, Domani Studios, Exopolis, Firstborn, iChameleon, IQ Interactive, Juxt Interactive, MindComet, Odopod, Schematic, Struck Design, and WDDG. Adobe is also the foundation sponsor of the group.
