Though skepticism about a turnaround in the recession-fueled downturn in marketing spend (measured by ad dollars, because frankly they're the most readily available) continues, the big campaigns keep coming.
Chase, American Express, Yahoo, Siemens, Michelin, P&G, and now Wendy's. Many of these companies are calling these splashy ad campaigns their “largest ever.” And of course, most of these big ad campaigns include significant PR and social media pieces. Is everyone trying to beat their competitor to be top of mind post recession? What's going on? Will it have a lasting effect?
Though PR folks will tell you the ad industry has been hit harder in the downturn, it's still worth looking at the predictions in this sister discipline. The latest prediction on the ad market via The Wall Street Journal:
Aegis Group PLC's (AGS.LN) media agency Carat Thursday slashed its forecast for global advertising spending for 2009 but said it expects the industry to return to slight growth next year.
The agency expects global advertising expenditure to drop 9.8% in 2009, down from its previous forecast of a drop of 5.8% made in March, as companies across regions continued to cut media budgets in the recession-ridden first half of the year, except in Asia-Pacific.
“These significant revisions aren't unexpected in the context of the recent volatility of the market, and represent a cautious attitude towards adspend (advertising spending) this year, most significantly in the U.S. and Europe,” Jerry Buhlmann, Chief Executive of Aegis Media said in a statement.
Still, Carat said it expects growth of 1% in 2010, driven by more stable conditions in the West and a recovery in developing markets, particularly China.