Advertising looks to put horror downturn behind it

The global congress of the International Advertising Association has kicked off in Moscow with industry players confident about the outlook.

Cause and effect. The world financial crisis changed the advertising industry. Last year it caused the biggest decline in the market's history – 9% globally, which means $430 billion in lost opportunities. Alan Rutherford, Chairman of the IAA says this is leading to a renewed focus on advertising models.

“I think the Western economies have been really hard hit, and the impact of this is changed business models so advertisers have been looking for more effective ways, more efficient ways of working and getting real results for their investment in advertising.”

Russia's ad market was hardest hit among BRIC countries – with a 20% plunge in 2009 – according to Michael Lee, Executive Director of the IAA.

“The media have suffered. It remains to be seen if all of the traditional media can recover. But as one of the growing economies and one of the BRIC advertising markets I think everybody is pretty positive and seeing that the market is really rebounding now.”

As emerging markets generate more of the world's wealth – the shift of growth away from traditional European and Northern American countries makes Russia increasingly important for advertisers, according to Sergey Piskaryov, President of RACA.

“It's 12th or 13th place right now and I think that in the nearest future we will be part of the first ten countries.”

The change has had a positive impact – with new opportunities to develop and promote high-tech media ..the old colliding or combining with the new.

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, advertising insiders say the industry will never be the same again. But gradually the consumer is returning, confident and ready to spend – and people here are looking forward to multi-million dollar budgets in the not-too-distant future.