The Ad Industry Struggles to Stay Relevant

With all the changes in the economy and technology, Madison Avenue cannot afford not to innovate and find new ways to serve its clientele. In a recent NY Time’s piece, the causes and concerns are highlighted clearly:

“The origins of the industry’s current problems are many: the dot-com bust, the fallout from 9/11 and the explosive growth of technologies that help consumers avoid ads – like digital video recorders, iPods and satellite radio. Madison Avenue is still trying to regain its footing. Industry employment, which peaked at 496,500 in 2000, fell 14.4 percent, to 424,900, last year, according to the Labor Department.

The onus is on the agencies to make sure they have the right creative talent,” said Lauren Rich Fine, an analyst who follows the ad industry for Merrill Lynch, but ‘I suspect that’s more difficult than ever,’ she added, after the ‘massive layoffs of the last few years.’

Ad spending in the United States, which once grew reliably year after year, declined in 2001 for the first time in four decades – and by the largest percentage since the Depression year of 1938. While ad spending has rebounded since then, the growth rate is slower than during its heyday of the 1990’s. “

 Print This Post