At a football match last week I noticed that one of the rotating ad messages on the hoardings was for Tanzania holidays. Not renowned as the primary destination of choice for the people of Norfolk where the match was taking place, but with a worldwide audience for English Premier League games it’s not altogether surprising to see broader targeted ads. Unless it was a case of digital insert going slightly awry, it was almost certainly the result of one of those calls with the message – ‘we have some ad space available for a great price and potentially millions will see your ad’.
The last minute ad is one of the great opportunities for the CMO and marketing team. The chance to have your message viewed by thousands, at often significant discounts. Probably in channels that you may not normally afford, or on a bigger scale, than you’d ever plan in your original advertising schedule and budgets.
And it’s not just ads. We’ve all had the call from the exhibition company with a ‘drop-out’ making the stand space half the usual rate. Or the opportunity to sponsor a major production or event when we’d ruled it out in the first place on price grounds, even if the audience is perfect.
There’s often one small issue. The chance to take advantage of reaching out to everyone you’ve ever wanted to for a fraction of the cost is often thwarted by not having the creative deliverable ready to go. The exhibition stand space, without the stand. The TV ad slot, without the ad. That hoarding, without the creative implementation. The old version just won’t do – it misses the message that you now need to relay. And even if you can source the creative, the last-minute nature of the job means that you’ll be quoted a premium to complete.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyHmt8XTxG4

We’re not suggesting that profanities are over-used in marketing. But they may be uttered when you have to put the phone down having said no to this great offer. It doesn’t have to be like this. It’s where the Creative Services Exchange comes to your rescue – again. With 12,000 creatives around the world it means there’s always someone able to respond to your brief and deliver to your timescales.

And with our value-based approach it’s not going to make the bargain ad placement a pricey option. There is no alternative. Brief the Exchange now.