Big Shops in Small Ponds

“Think small” is no longer just a famous ad slogan from the ’60s. Now it’s a common philosophy among the nation’s largest agencies as they chase the tiniest of accounts.

Shops always have and always will use smaller accounts as creative showcases. But the pursuit of small victories is increasingly driven by economic and financial issues. The responsible factors these days, of course, are the sluggish economy and subsequent dearth of sexy new-business opportunities.

In a year in which ad spending is expected to trail economic growth for the first time in a decade, “if Joe’s Deli in Keokuk, Iowa, threw a pitch, you’d find Arnold, Goodby and Wieden jump ing in,” said Ruth Ayres, evp/chief marketing officer at Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos in Boston.