Many years ago I worked at a company that was trying to survive though a recession.

So they did the first thing many companies do... they cut out their advertising budget.
Needless to say, within six months there were out of business.

A few years later I found myself working at another organization that did very, very little advertising.
The few ads that they did run looked as though they had been devised in the 1950s and should have been running in the back of National Geographic (the ones from that same era).

They did not go under, but did fall on some very, very hard times. They must have finally gotten all their small change together and with it, went out to buy a clue; because they actually hired an ad agency and modernized! They are now quite healthy and in a very good position fiscally.


Well here now is a company that REALLY gets it: http://www.nationaljewelernetwork.com/njn/content_display/diamonds/e3if0ded1d484f712c4399de89528dd0821

De Beers, those famous diamond people are actually doubling their advertising budget for the holidays. Don't you wish that all marketers were this savvy?