Online marketing no "holy grail" says head of Publicis Group Maurice Levy

Internet advertising should not be seen as a magic wand to solve the problems facing advertising, said the head of Publicis Group Maurice Levy at the International Federation of the Periodical Press (FIPP) World Magazine Congress in London this month. Levy said that print media would continue to suffer even after the recession, however he warned that online marketing was no “holy grail”.

As technology evolved, said Levy, the traditional model for print advertising was “broken” and that new media were dominating the market space.

“The end of the economic crisis will not be, I’m sorry to say, the end of the crisis for analogue media,” he said. “You are facing a deep and profound structural revolution and have to be prepared for a new world.”

Levy also added that in his experience, customers are more likely to spend money on keyword promotion and search engine optimisation than an expensive option like television advertising. Nearly 50 per cent of online budgets went straight to search advertising said Levy.

“The current crisis is not the cause of the problems of the media industry, it’s just a brutal accelerator and identifier of long-term trends”.

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