We’ve been reporting a lot lately on marketing firms that seem to be sprouting up left and right. (Click here and here.) We’ve received several more news releases about others and haven’t had time to learn about their stories.
But the timing seems indirectly correlated with demand, and that could pose trouble for the new firms and the ones they’re competing with.
The Martin Agency said yesterday that it was cutting 24 jobs. In October, RightMinds made cuts. At the time, chief executive Chris Thurston told me, “I’ve been through downturns and recessions, and this is by far the worst.” And that was in October. The pain is likely going to be worse in the next quarter. Almost half of companies cut their advertising budgets in the fourth quarter of 2008, a quarterly survey found, with spending set to fall even more in 2009.
So how will this play out? Will prices for creative services be driven so low by an oversupply that workers leave the industry? Or, on the positive side, might this be an opportunity for local businesses to get a better price on marketing services?
Most of these firms will be chasing local clients, after all.
We’ve been reporting a lot lately on marketing firms that seem to be sprouting up left and right. (Click here and here.) We’ve received several more news releases about others and haven’t had time to learn about their stories.
But the timing seems indirectly correlated with demand, and that could pose trouble for the new firms and the ones they’re competing with.
The Martin Agency said yesterday that it was cutting 24 jobs. In October, RightMinds made cuts. At the time, chief executive Chris Thurston told me, “I’ve been through downturns and recessions, and this is by far the worst.” And that was in October. The pain is likely going to be worse in the next quarter. Almost half of companies cut their advertising budgets in the fourth quarter of 2008, a quarterly survey found, with spending set to fall even more in 2009.
So how will this play out? Will prices for creative services be driven so low by an oversupply that workers leave the industry? Or, on the positive side, might this be an opportunity for local businesses to get a better price on marketing services?
Most of these firms will be chasing local clients, after all.