“Our budget estimated for 2009 a decline in billings of up to 15 percent compared to 2008. The current results confirm this forecast so far,” Graffiti BBDO’s Chief Executive Officer, Nora Marcovici, told Business Standard.
She further said that the company’s financial results at the end of the first quarter are some 10 percent below the budgeted levels, but added that the latter were drafted on a very conservative basis.
As far as the market is concerned, Marcovici said that the decline registered in the first six months of 2009 is of some 30 percent year-on-year. “This decline is due to the reduction of media budgets and will obviously affect media agencies and suppliers the most,” she said.
According to previous statements by company officials, some 65 percent of the firm’s business is generated by clients gained locally, whether these are domestic enterprises or multinationals. “About 60-70 percent of our clients opt for integrated services, and this is a sign indicating a healthy business,” company representatives told Business Standard in an interview in 2008.
The value of the Romanian media market exceeded €590 million in 2008 and players in the field estimate for this year a 30-40 percent drop. Graffiti BBDO’s competitors include communications groups such as McCann Erickson, Leo Burnett, Ogilvy, and others.
