Marketers seem to think recession is here

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: Let Let the economists and politicians debate whether the American economy is in a recession. Madison Avenue is already battening down the hatches. Since September, Wal-Mart Stores, the nation’s largest retailer, has built its entire current advertising approach upon this bald premise: “Save money. Live better.” Skeptics wondered at the time whether Wal-Mart and its new agency, the Martin Agency in Richmond, Va, part of the Interpublic Group of Cos, were fixating on price at the expense of other attractions like fashion or breadth of merchandise.

But the economic problems that followed—falling prices for houses, tightening credit and the gyrations of the stock market—vindicated their decision. Amid widespread consumer anxiety, Wal-Mart weathered a difficult holiday season for retailers, reporting a 2.7 per cent increase for December while many of its rivals, including Target, posted losses. “We don’t profess to have any prophetic abilities to call the economy any better than the folks who do it for a living,” said Stephen Quinn, Wal-Mart’s chief marketing officer. Rather, “when gas prices spiked last spring,” he added, “we saw the pressure this put on our core customers.”

Those customers can find plenty of companies following Wal-Mart’s lead, with many campaigns speaking to Americans as if a recession were already under way. But while many marketers may be looking to adjust the contents of their campaigns, forecasters believe overall advertising spending will remain strong as a

recession looms.