• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, May 22, 2008

It's nearly impossible to attend an ad industry event these days without perpetual questions about the fate of the economy, and how it's likely to impact budgets, revenues, etc. But over five hours of discussion this morning, the "e-word" wasn't uttered once. There wasn't a peep about how oil prices and other macro-economic factors would trickle down and negatively affect email marketing.

Of course, many email-ers are feeling rather optimistic about their position in the marketing food chain these days, arguing that their methods are both cost effective and ROI positive -- a perfect storm for a recession.

Nonetheless, Q Interactive CEO Matt Wise said it remains "a constant challenge" to educate marketers about email marketing benefits. Many remain skeptical because of the "spam" stigma that persists, while others have little money left after spending on Google search and site-specific/ad-network banner ads.   Â

Economic impact or not, Wise thinks "the use of email marketing as a true advertising medium is picking up." And he expects that to be facilitated by a proliferation of DoubleClick/Advertising.com-style networks in space in the next year or so. So far, there are only a few "below-the-radar" players.

Growth there, he said, could increase email's share of the overall Internet marketing pie above the IAB's 2% estimate. In recent years, the actual dollars have risen, but share has dropped.

Credit Suisse today published its global advertising forecast for 2008. Not surpirsingly, the Internet was tabbed as the growth engine. CS predicts a 24% rise in Internet spending for 2008, on top of 27% last year. And share is projected to rise to 12%.

Speaking of the economy, CS says it's limping so much that for the world's three-largest ad markets -- the U.S., Japan and the UK -- Internet growth is the sole reason overall dollars will grow. Traditional media is forecast to be down for the seocnd year in a row.

Wonder how much those figures would change if Wise's bullishness comes true.Â

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