Outlook for the ‘90s : ...
Perhaps Madison Avenue executives are getting caught up in their own hype. But many of them seem to think that the 1990s will basically be a boom time for the advertising industry.
Some point to the fast-growing ad market throughout Western Europe, as well as the growth potential in Eastern Europe. Others cite expected new advertising markets throughout the Far East. Add to that some projections of an upbeat economy and a slew of new products that are expected to be introduced in the 1990s, and the recipe is there for a lucrative decade for the ad world.
“I believe the ‘90s are going to be an incredibly positive period of time for business in general,” said Charles D. Peebler Jr., chief executive at the New York agency Bozell. “The ad industry will parallel that, or maybe even do better.”
During the ‘80s, it was the promotion and public relations end of the ad business that grew, while the advertising side was generally flat. “Advertising will bounce back over the next 10 years,” predicted Graham Phillips, chairman of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. “I’m reaching a point where I wonder if we could possibly be entering a golden decade.”
The fast changes in Eastern Europe will create new marketing opportunities for many clients at many agencies, said Richard Fizdale, president at Leo Burnett. “They all seem to want to be a bit more Western.”
But there are some problems ahead too. Although there probably will be lots of opportunities for the giant agencies as well as the smaller ad shops in the ‘90s, the mid-size agencies may be squeezed out. “If you’re not a big player or a boutique, you’ll have nowhere to go,” warned Ricard J. Lord, chairman of Lord Einstein O’Neill & Partners.
At the same time, several executives predict that the Japanese may begin buying into U.S. agencies in the ‘90s--much as the British did in the ‘80s. “It will be problematical for them to overcome the language barrier,” said Robert Schmidt, chairman of Levine, Huntley, Schmidt & Beaver. “But it is the Japanese, if anyone, who will come in and buy U.S. agencies.”
