That’s the question on everyone’s mind at the Accredited Advertising Agents Singapore’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on April 28.

By constitution, Anthony Kang, 4As President will lead the association for another year before stepping down at next year’s AGM. “Hopefully by then a more capable and committed person from the current Executive Committee is ready to step up and helm the association,” said Kang in his closing comment.

At the AGM, Kang thanked all members for their continual support in the uncertain times ahead and said that no matter how bad the trading conditions are, they must all co-operate and face the challenges together to make the industry ever exciting and vibrant.

Kang said that although overall advertising adspend in 2008 was S$2,096 mil, a growth of 4.8% when compared to 2007, the last quarter of 2008 saw a sharp decline of 6.4% year on year. According to the Nielsen Company, total ad spend for TV, print, outdoor and cinema, but excluding Internet, in those three months amounted to S$525.1 million, down by S$35.8 million*.

With a recession that the government has termed its sharpest, deepest and most protracted, the numbers are hardly surprising. Businesses are feeling the impact of the global downturn and Singapore is not spared.

“Looking ahead, the economy in 2009 will continue to decline. We are currently in a recession which may last for several quarters. We do not know when the storm will clear, but it would be prudent to make necessary provisions in the event that the economy undergoes a prolonged period of below average growth,” continued Kang.

The 4As will tread carefully and manage their resources conservatively while at the same time maintaining the momentum that they have established.

For example, the Media & Research Committee, together with the Ethics and Better Business Committee have initiated dialogues with media owners on issues that impact negatively on agencies business performance in the current market downturn.

In updating the members on the Advisory List, Kang said that over 40% of member agencies have responded to their survey on default history; and preliminary findings suggest 22 cases of defaults in 2007, of which 10 were related to media billings and 12 cases of services related including creative. In 2006, there were a total of 18 cases, of which 10 cases were media billings while 8 cases were services related. He also added that the number of cases is definitely higher given that not all members responded. The 4As is still in the process of building up the list of recalcitrant clients and will be making an announcement on this issue shortly.

With the downturn affecting business and resulting in job losses, priorities shifted to helping those who were laid off by agencies. With this in mind, the 4As quickly launched the Jobs Redeployment initiative and online Career Centre earlier this year to help the industry retain, where possible, talents within the sector, providing a platform for 4As members to offer their excess staff to other member agencies.

Moving ahead, there are plans to produce a little handbook for clients. This will help educate advertisers on how to pick an agency, how to conduct a pitch and how to sustain a healthy and longer term relationship with the agency.

The current 4As website which was last revamped in August 2006, will undertake a fresh update this year. Plans are underway to keep the website current, while exploring new content and interaction ideas.