- Andrew McMains

NEW YORK Last year remained relatively busy in terms of the number of creative and media accounts that either went into play or shifted without a review, but the total dollar volume involved fell precipitously, according to Adweek research.

In 2008, some 160 accounts representing roughly $14.7 billion in major media spending went into play or shifted, compared to 164 accounts and spending of $27.5 billion in 2007, Adweek estimates. That's only a 2 percent slip in the number of accounts but a whopping 47 percent swoon in the dollar figure.

Granted, '07 was a particularly frenetic year with some massive reviews, including Dell's $1 billion global marketing services pitch and Visa's $525 million global media contest, which wasn't resolved until early 2008. Still, the dollar falloff in '08 was so significant that you have to go back to '03 to find a total that low: $13.6 billion.

A closer look at last year's numbers reveals that creative-only reviews and shifts represented 44 percent of both the total number of accounts and aggregate dollar amount, while media-only business comprised 26 percent of the accounts and roughly 31 percent of the dollars. The rest were either full-service, digital or direct marketing moves.

Consultants and new business chiefs attribute last year's slimmer pickings partly to a deer-in-the-headlights syndrome: clients freezing in place amid a historical and rapid decline in the economy. Indeed, many corporations were more concerned about surviving the downturn than their marketing strategies. This was particularly true in the banking and automotive sectors, as the lending crisis took hold.

"There was marketplace shock," said Michael Duda, chief corporate strategy officer at Interpublic Group's Deutsch in New York.

Many clients also focused more on lowering their agency compensation costs than switching agencies, consultants said. They stuck with their roster shops but demanded more from them, often at a lower price -- a carrot and stick approach. The obvious implication is that agency accounts are less likely to go into review, but the shops are going to have to do more for less to keep them.

Roth Associates' contract compensation business doubled in 2008, when it handled 10 such jobs compared to five the year before, said the New York consultancy's principal, Richard Roth. And Roth expects that figure to grow this year.

Another factor? The time, expense and risk of conducting reviews may have also dissuaded some clients from taking the plunge, particularly those with new chief marketing officers, said Arthur Anderson of Morgan Anderson Consulting in New York. A new CMO is under daily pressure to deliver results quickly and can't afford to spend, say, three months checking out new potential agencies. They may opt for "marriage counseling" instead: examining their existing relationships with an eye toward improving results. Clients are "trying to make the relationships work better," explained Anderson.