This week is the 8th Annual Advertising Week in New York City, the world’s premier annual gathering of marketing and communication gurus and thought-leaders. This year’s conference is making the news, despite the crappy economy and economic outlook. On day one, there was a panel discussion that shed a very positive light on our industry and the outlook over the next couple of years.
Tim Jones, chief executive of ZenithOptimedia, part of Publicis Groupe, was quoted as saying, “While the aftershocks keep coming, worldwide advertising spending will grow this year compared with last year, next year compared with this year, and 2013 compared with 2012.”
Mr. Jones mentions the primary reason for growth next year comes from the “quadrennial effect” that our industry will experience —media reaping the benefit of selling commercial air time and ad space for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games and the 2012 elections in the United States. It’s the perfect storm for media spending to increase next year.
There were some caveats to Mr. Jones speech, like the somewhat anemic growth of the U.S. economy and the power of consumer sentiment. He warned, “If we’re not in a recession, we may talk ourselves back into one.”
I, for one, am not going to be part of the negative thinking. It’s time for optimism and confidence. Here’s to a resurgence of ad spending and consumer confidence in 2012!