If you ask marketers and agency executives what the second quarter will look like, you\u2019ll hear that it\u2019s a bit of a mixed bag. <\/p>\n
Marketers are spending, and there are signals that spending could pick up in the second half of the year with more new business pitches happening now, according to agency execs. But there\u2019s still a \u201ccautious optimism,\u201d as one agency exec put it when asked to sum up marketers\u2019 current mood. At the same time, spending is down compared to the second quarter of last year \u2014 agency execs say that it\u2019s down roughly 10%, a smaller percentage than many had expected earlier in the year \u2014 and marketers are holding onto dollars longer and seeking more flexibility rather than longer-term commitments. <\/p>\n
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Marketers\u2019 current focus is on short-term planning, spending closer to campaign launches rather than inking long term deals, explained Stacey Stewart, U.S. Chief Marketplace Officer at UM, who added that \u201cflexibility continues to be top of mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s primary concern is not in the spending itself but in the unknown,\u201d said Stewart. \u201cEveryone wants to hold onto their dollars until they\u2019re confident that they\u2019re not going to need to return those dollars to someone\u2019s bottomline.\u201d<\/p>\n