Profitable Advertising Agencies and Media

The Outdoor Channel and France's Havas Reported 2008 Revenue Gains

Mar 4, 2009

An American cable channel, a French agency and the Emerson technology company provide some relief from the stream of discouraging advertising reports.

The 2008-09 global recession clobbered the advertising industry across the board, starting with the advertisers and extending through the ad agencies and into the media that depends on those ads. However, the Outdoor Channel, Havas the French agency holding company and the British Financial Times were able to emerge from 2008 in relatively good shape. The Emerson company promised some help in 2009.

Also, according to AdAge, some magazine publishers reported that their ad sales for 2009 second quarter issues were a bit better than those for the first quarter issues. One media buyer told AdAge "I think the first quarter gave us rock bottom."

The Outdoor Channel reported a 21% increase in advertising revenue in the fourth quarter of 2008. It was the tenth consecutive double-digit increase for the channel, according to CEO Roger Wener.

Havas Agency Topped 100 Million Euros

Havas reported a 4.7% increase in 2008 revenue. Perhaps more importantly, that included a 2% increase in its fourth quarter revenue. According to Media Daily News, CEO Fernando Rodes Vila said Havas topped 100-million euros in net income for the first time ever in 2008. At February 2009 conversion rates, that’s a bit over $125 million in American dollars.

The Financial Times in London came out of 2008 in good shape compared to most other newspapers, thanks to Pearson, its parent company, and to increases in its non-advertising revenue. Pearson, which also owns Penguin Books, reported its net profit rose 2.8% to $370 million in 2008.

That was despite a 13% drop in Financial Times ad revenue in the fourth quarter. The Times offset some of its ad decline with a 16% increase in circulation revenue and a 9% gain in online subscription revenue.

DDB Chicago Created Emerson Campaign

The Emerson company of St. Louis announced March 2 that it was launching a multimillion dollar global advertising campaign to promote its "Never Been Done Before" engineering and technology services. The $10.6 million first flight of the campaign will run through May.

According to the Emerson news release, DDB of Chicago has created the campaign, which will include:

Emerson will also run ads in Brazil, China, Europe, India, Japan, Mexico and the Middle East.

Emerson Chief Marketing Officer Kathy Button Bell

Emerson Chief Marketing Officer Kathy Button Bell said "a recession is an opportune time for companies like ours to more tightly partner with customers to better help them prepare for the turnaround."

The ads and commercials will feature "innovative solutions" that Emerson produced for the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and Colorado’s Range Fuels company.

The advertising industry will need some "innovative solutions" of its own in 2009. Despite its relatively good 2008 financial report, Werner projected that the Outdoor Channel revenue in the first quarter of 2009 may show only a one or two percent increase over 2008’s first quarter.

According to David Goetzl of Media Daily News, Werner believes the channel’s advertisers "are becoming increasingly conservative." Most ad media would welcome any size increase anytime in 2009.

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