Technology has had a profound effect on the marketing industry, so much so that constant reinvention has become a requirement for David Day and his Baton Rouge-based marketing firm, The Day Group.
Day has owned the agency for more than two decades. As Business Report details in its latest Executive Spotlight feature, Day says how he does things has changed tremendously in that time—but the why has remained the same.
“Building brands that stick, creating messages that break through the clutter, connecting buyers to sellers—that’s the same,” Day says. “But how we do it has changed significantly. There are practically no barriers to entry anymore, and technology has made it easier and cheaper to produce good work.”
There’s more competition than ever for marketing dollars, so companies have to be creative in how they do things, Day says. The speed of change also is daunting. Day estimates he has reinvented his company at least four times.
“Staying relevant and on top of the latest methodologies, media and creative avenues is like business gymnastics,” he says. “If you nail the uneven parallels, don’t celebrate too much—you’ve still got a floor routine to do.”
Although Day’s company is an advertising agency, he doesn’t think like an advertiser—he thinks like a customer and shows business executives how to do the same. “After speaking with them, most of our clients find that they need more than just great graphics or media,” he says. “They need a strategy for making money.”
Day has worked on challenging campaigns over the last 21 years. Currently, he’s working on marketing for the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport. The organization has a huge upside, but in many ways it’s limited by airline policies, Federal Aviation Administration rules and security constraints.
“It can be challenging to communicate with your hands tied, but that’s why they need us,” he says. “Recently, one of our TV spots for BTR won first place in an international competition for airport advertising in North America. That was very rewarding to me.”
Read the full Executive Spotlight Q&A. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com. Here’s a sample of what you will find.
What is one thing about your job people don’t know about or expect?
It makes me laugh how Hollywood so often features someone in the advertising profession just loving life and living large, leading some incredibly cool, multimillion-dollar creative campaign for a millionaire client with a blank check. I guess the world thinks advertising is all about coming up with fun slogans, five-star dining and celebrity photo shoots at exotic locations. But what they don’t see are the small budgets, endless spreadsheets, costly revisions, tight deadlines and the all-night, caffeine-induced brainstorming sessions. If you don’t love that stuff, don’t go into advertising. You get the glamour maybe about 10% of the time—the rest is just plain work and business. Don’t get me wrong, those problems exist in every business. But I think it’s funny how advertising is somehow portrayed as all glory and no guts.
