Social media, advertising & FMCG’s

Lots of my friends in social media have been chasing what, I imagine, they see as lucrative work for advertising and media agencies. Seeking Alpha has an article today that they should read.

Seeking Alpha explains the income statement of FMCG firms.  FMCG’s, like Coca-Cola, stack them high and sell them cheap.  FMCG = fast moving consumer goods.

Collectively, FMCG’s account for 40% to 50% of the world’s advertising.

The flip side of this small fact is this.  If you are chasing advertising accounts, then you are probably chasing work with FMCG’s.  It’s worth knowing that.

The alternatives, of course, are durables and cars, which are relatively slow moving; capital intensive firms like aerospace.  There must be a 4th category.  There always is in business theory which is fond of 2×2’s.  The public sector is another.

Social media and collective purpose

Personally, I am a little more interested in social media for collective purposes – like disaster response, for example. When we compare the task of coming together to achieve something quickly with individual behavior, like grabbing a fizzy drink, we can see that social media has to be be vastly different.

Which sector are you in to and how does that affect the social media that you do?

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