• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, January 10, 2005

Two thousand and four may have been a year marked by high profile media account reviews including some by big marketers such as Coca-Cola Co., Masterfoods and Procter & Gamble, but new data being released today indicates the volume of media account reviews actually waned in 2004 as marketers focused on revamping other forms of advertising and marketing services. Agency searches for media buying/planning accounts declined 7 percent in 2004 from 2003, according estimates from AdForum.com, an online provider of data and information about ad agency services for marketers worldwide.

And it wasn't just traditional media buying searches that ebbed in 2004, but interactive ones as well. According to Adforum.com's database, searches for interactive agencies declined 8 percent in 2004.

The decline in media search activity doesn't necessarily reflect stabilization in advertising account activity, just a shift in focus. AdForum.com said it registered 83,000 searches during 2004, and that the big increases occurred among marketers looking for ad agencies and PR firms that have an expertise in "corporate communications." Such searches rose 77 percent over 2003.

The next biggest area of activity was searches for agencies with "branding" experience, which rose 48 percent in 2004, followed by "full service" agency searches, which rose 11 percent over 2003.

"We believe this reflects a trend among companies to protect and grow their brand images," said Christopher Wynne, president-CEO of AdForum.com "both internally with employees, and externally with shareholders."

Wynne speculated that "the spate of corporate ethics violations reported in news during the past year or so, combined with a less tolerant regulatory environment" has placed an increased emphasis by corporations on marketing aimed at strengthening and communication their "corporate values."

The shift in focus among marketers is interesting, because it coincides with a shift by media agencies toward communications channel planning, which seeks to embrace other forms of marketing services including public relations and corporate communications.

2004 Agency Search Activity

Corporate Communications       +77% 
Brand & Product Development    +56% 
Branding                       +48% 
Packaging & Design
+18% 
Full Service                   +11% 
Media Buying/Planning           -7% 
Interactive                     -8% 
Marketing Services             -28% 

Source: AdForum.com. Base = 83,000 2004 searches.