Agency

Advertising spending for the first quarter of 2008 remained essentially flat compared to the same period last year, according to preliminary figures released by Nielsen Monitor-Plus, the competitive advertising information service of The Nielsen Company.

Advertising was mixed across media with gains in some mediums and declines in others. Overall despite a continued softening of the economy, several media and companies are showing healthy growth in advertising for this quarter. Advertising in National Sunday Supplements saw the largest growth, with an increase of 19.2% over Q1 2007, while Local Sunday Supplements fared worst among the 17 media tracked by Nielsen, declining by 13.5% compared with the same period last year.

Getting new clients in the advertising and public relations agency business has become more challenging, according to the 2008 New Business Manager Survey commissioned and released by agency lead generation and sales firm Reardon Smith Whittaker. RSW finds that a majority of agencies, 51 percent, believe that it is more difficult to drum up new business, as compared to only 40% feeling the same way a year ago – citing increased competition and the slowing economy as top reasons.

After consistently leading the US in advertising spending, the automotive sector has dropped into the number two spot behind retail. Ad spending in the sector is going in reverse—except on the Internet.

Why isn’t behavioral targeting a hit with advertisers?

A recent automotive marketing report from Experian Research Services and KMR Group suggests that cross platform media planning and buying should incorporate ad technology and consumer media engagement dimensions, from life-enhancing to trustworthiness, in addition to traditional buying tactics.

With a little help from Uncle Sam, consumers headed back into the stores in May. According to the National Retail Federation, retail industry sales for May (which exclude automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants) jumped 3.8 percent unadjusted over last year and 0.9 percent seasonally adjusted month-to-month.

Daisy Expósito- Ulla, Chairman-CEO d expósito & Partners, became a recipient of The Excellence in Business Award from The Women’s Chamber of Commerce of New York.

It’s AHAA’s 25th Semi Annual Conference at the Beverly Hills Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA, September 10-12, 2008 and co-chairs Pablo Buffagni and Florencia Davidzon have developed a creative micro-site specifically designed to promote the conference.

Mindset Media released a Mindset Profile of avid technology consumers, which the company generated from a recent study conducted using Nielsen’s Online pane.

How does a technology gadget get picked up by the masses? If you are Apple, you’re hoping the reduced price of the iPhone 3G will help push your product into the mainstream. But in a recent study, Mindset Media explored if there were characteristics beyond traditional demographics that might predict which consumers were likely to be enthusiastic adopters of technologies. The results show it may be a case of wiring.

Total measured advertising expenditures in the opening quarter of 2008 increased by 0.6 percent as compared to the same period in 2007, according to data released by TNS media intelligence.