It’s dark out there with ad spend forecasters continuing to downgrade their estimates. ZenithOptimedia and Magna have lowered their growth estimates to low single digits. From Mediaweek:
“But privately, some industry executives now believe this year’s ad spend might actually end up in negative territory, and might not improve at all in 2009. They point to figures just released by Nielsen Monitor-Plus that show a first-half U.S. ad spend decline of 1.4 percent, compared with the same period in 2007-”
The Association of National Advertisers reported over half of their members are expecting to cut their media budgets in the next six months and our looking to scale back marketing efforts.
Steve Lanzano, chief operating officer at MPG North America is pretty sure that 2009 is going to be a very difficult year calling it “daunting out there.”
Hmm… What did Marc Goldstein, president and CEO of media agency conglomerate GroupM North America, say at Advertising Week? Oh riiiight. That everything would be just fine. Ha! Don’t worry too much. There is a silver lining: “The continuous decline in the US spend on advertising is certainly not a worldwide phenomenon,” said Avi Bhojani, CEO of Bates Pan Gulf Group.
Still, is your stomach feeling shaky? Mine is.