When the economy slips, marketing budgets often get the ax first, although not all in the same way. Among those already cutting back are local retailers and service providers like mom-and-pop
stores, attorneys, dentists and others who tend to be more sensitive to changes in the economy. Ad spending by such local businesses has dropped fast, rising just 2.3% in the first nine months of 2007
from an 11% growth pace during the first nine months of 2006, according to TNS Media Intelligence.
While TNS sees total U.S. ad expenditures up 4.2% this year on spending on political
campaigns and the Olympics, that may be masking weakness in some core ad markets. And among the biggest sectors apt to cut back is financial services. Retail banks and mortgage lenders hedged on
pulling their ad campaigns last year as they tried to maintain market share, notes Jon Swallen, senior vice president of research at TNS.
Brand is also in for a hit, says Sanjay Dhar,
a marketing professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.
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