The view from Madison Avenue: are we seeing a sunrise or a sunset?

Times are tough on Madison Avenue. As customers' sales slide, they cast around for quick budget savings.

All too often, the axe falls on advertising expenditure. On top of that, the fragmentation of the media landscape means it is far more difficult than before to get the marketing message across. The proliferation of television channels, the decline of the US newspaper industry and the growing influence of the internet – all of these have resulted in a series of daunting challenges for the ‘Mad Men’ of US advertising. But, to some extent, this fragmentation plays into the hands of Omnicom and Interpublic, the leading US advertising agencies: both firms have made numerous acquisitions over ...