• Adweek, Tuesday, December 2, 2008 9:30 AM

An increasing number of marketers are using barter advertising -- a tactic once-considered a last resort. Excess inventory has become a common problem for marketers, and they are talking openly with their agencies about their barter know-how, even incorporating it into the RFP process.

Barter involves clients exchanging unsold goods, services and assets, such as real estate leases on closed stores, for ads. Most deals involve cash and credit for media time and space that are swapped for unsold client inventories. Several holding companies have in-house firms handling this, including IPG's Magna Global Trading and Omnicom's Icon International.

Brian McMahon, CEO of Magna Global Trading, estimates the global barter business is close to $3 billion. Industry-wide growth in 2008 will probably reach 30%, and he projects 35% to 40% growth next year. Lately, global clients have been trying to apply credits accrued in one region to media in another, he says, making stewardship of the work critical.

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