• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, September 3, 2019

GroupM’s Brian Wieser is out with a cautionary note today about decelerating global economic growth and the resulting slowdown in ad spending, which he now says is “looking neutral to negative versus last year’s levels.”

While there are pockets of opportunity, said Wieser, who is global president, business intelligence, GroupM, economic growth worldwide is “generally slower than previously observed.” And retail sales and industrial production “appear more unambiguously negative versus last year’s levels.”

He further notes that “marketers spend on advertising in alignment with the pace at which they make things or sell things.”

Further deterioration in the ad spend picture is likely, added Wieser, given trade-war pressures “which are likely to persist alongside Brexit uncertainties.”

“All of this says that marketers need to be prepared for a downturn,” he added. This, of course, means agencies should be prepared, as well.

Read Wieser’s full missive on the developing situation here.