Adweek: What happened to the dog days of summer, the time when nothing big happened in August and agency people took long overdue two-week vacations and spent Fridays on the golf course?
“No one I know can remember an August like this,” said Mike Duda, director of business development at Interpublic Group’s Deutsch, who said it is the busiest August he has seen in 10 years.
“The activity we’re seeing now is what people expected 18 months ago, when we were coming off the worst three-year period in advertising in 60 years. And what I’m hearing more and more from clients this summer is that they’re doing now what they wanted to do two years ago,” said Duda.
“It has become unacceptable to say, ‘I’m not here today,’ ” said Robin Koval, chief marketing officer and general manager of Publicis Groupe’s The Kaplan Thaler Group.
While new-business chiefs feel harried this summer, the memory of the recession is fresh enough that they’re not complaining too much. “The alternative is worse,” said Koval. “Better to be here in the office.”
