Riding the agency see-saw

Changes in advertising expenditure, linked to changes in the national economy, see-sawed up and down during the 1960s and 1970s, until the early 1980s saw the beginning of the long upswing which is now showing signs of ending.

Riding the Agency See-Saw

Winston FletcherDelaney Fletcher Delaney

For advertising agencies the last 25 years have been a see-saw, with 1979 as the pivot. From 1964 until the end of the 1970s the agencies’ end of the see-saw plunged downwards. Then it bounced back – now many kids in the advertising playground fear it may be beginning to dip again.

In 1964 total media advertising reached a then record 1.91 per cent of UK Consumers’ Expenditure. It did not return to that level until 1983, some two decades later. Between 1964 and the late 1970s advertising was a declining...

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