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In what is not going to be a surprise for most of us in the Marketing space is the announcement by WPP Group that their  like-for-like revenue was down 8.1% for 2009. In branding and identity, healthcare and specialty communications group, which includes its direct, digital and interactive agencies, they announced revenue declines of 6.2% for 2009 compared to the year before. 

I must admit that I was one of the many relieved to say good bye to 2009. For many of us working in the Agency game, it was by all accounts a tough year. However, as the 2009 financial results start to be announced, I am expecting it could have been much tougher for some.

Havas and Omnicom are just two of the 4A Agency's that saw drops in revenues. For Havas,  they experienced a year on year drop of 8.1% and Omnicom’s revenues dropped by 12.3%.  Clearly, it was a bad year for Agency's but the percentage of the revenue drop surprised me. We need to wait for the other 4A major's to announce to get a better picture on the broader issues.  So where did it all go wrong last year? Where these results just a reflection of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) or is it more fundamental. Are the  old ways of the doing business as an Agency becoming difficult to sustain in the era of digital?

China Telecom has appointed Carat Beijing to its media account after a pitch against incumbent agency Starcom and Mindshare, which took place last November.The brief from China Telecom includes planning and buying across all media, excluding CCTV and digital. The win marks the first time Carat Beijing has worked on a telecom account.

WPP Group, the world's largest advertising and marketing services company, this morning reported that like-for-like revenues declined 8.7% during the third-quarter of 2009. WPP, which is the parent of Group M Interaction, and media services agencies such as Mindshare, Mediaedge:cia, Mediacom and Maxus, reported that its advertising and media investment management revenues declined greater than the group as a whole, falling 9.8% from the third-quarter of 2008.