I Love To Say "I Told You So"

On August 1, 2007, in response to all the "advertising is dead" idiocy appearing in every newspaper and trade publication, TAC wrote a blog entry called "The End of the World." In it, we said the following:

It will soon become apparent that the advertising industry, far from dying, is in a substantial growth period. It will be re-energized, redefined, and creatively refreshed by the diversity of media. Marketers will need the creativity of the advertising community more than ever."

Well, guess what? Ad Age reported yesterday that US agency revenues grew 8.6% in 2007. The GDP grew 2.2%. So advertising revenues grew at almost 4 times the GDP. I wonder how many mature industries grew 8.6% last year?

2007 was the year our economy went into the crapper. Can you imagine what growth might have been if real estate and banking hadn't tanked and the auto industry was normal?

Morals of the story:

1. The hysterics are always wrong.
2. The trade press is a pack of lemmings.
3. Nobody knows anything.