What a Trump re-election could mean for Australian media and marketing budgets
A number of companies within the Australian media and marketing industry have been hit with redundancies in 2023 alone, and while it’s hoped that this trend will slow down, the upcoming US federal election could play a significant role.
On a new episode of the Mumbrellacast, the team discussed the recent redundancies announced by Private Media – the publishers of groups like Crikey and The Mandarin – which follow similar announcements from companies such as CHEP and the Australian LADbible office this year.
Mumbrella publisher, Adam Lang, noted comments made by Future Fund boss, Raphael Arndt, at a recent ASIC summit, who said that the possible re-election of Donald Trump could be “quite a dangerous point in history”.
“I think it’s just true to say on form, we’ve seen what a presidency from Donald Trump has done before,” Lang said.
“You get news releases on X — or what was known as Twitter then — that’s how he tends to do information exchange with the public.
“[He’s] somewhat erratic. You can just see announcements being made when you do not expect them, and position statements being made. Things that markets don’t like is uncertainty. And that is something that comes with Donald Trump, no matter what side of politics or any side of politics you’re interested in.”
Statistics this week published by Morning Consult show that Trump is comfortably the favourite to take out the Republic Party nomination (64%) to go up against current president Joe Biden in the 2024 election, slated for next November.
Speaking specifically on what kind of flow-on effect this could have on Australia media and marketing, Lang noted that the local economy is in good shape, considering the current cost of living and that interest rates are expected to drop in the next 12-18 months.
“I think [it’s] a relief when you consider the landscape of Australian brands. It is a truism to say that many of them are owned by companies that are overseas. When you might look at a Procter & Gamble or a Unilever or huge car brands, many of those brands don’t just look at Australia on its own, they look at the world,” Lang explained.
“And so, if they are domiciled in America and they’re seeing a view of the world from there, it can impact their marketing budgets in Australia. It can impact their marketing messaging in this country.
“So, I think it’s got this backdrop context, both the economy and geopolitics as to what messaging is coming through to Australia and what money is able to be spent here on marketing those messages.”
Listen to the full Mumbrellacast here.
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topics
Adam Lang
Australian LADbible
CHEP
Crikey
Donald Trump
Future Fund
Mumbrellacast
Private Media
Raphael Arndt
The Mandarin
US election
