Marlin cuts staff, follows national trend

Springfield has suffered its first round of advertising industry layoffs.

The Marlin Company let go seven employees April 9, said owner Dennis Marlin.

Those dismissals, coupled with the recent announcement that Sparlin Advertising Associ-ates is closing its Springfield office, are the trickle-down affects of a struggling national industry.

"We did let some people go very qualified people that we really hated to part with. But we deal with a lot of national companies that have been real conservative ever since 9-11," Marlin said.

As the industry combats trimmed corporate spending, downsizing seems to be the only answer.

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, the largest ad agencies have cut more than 18,000 jobs in the past year.

Add the smaller firms, Marlin said, and that total is in excess of 20,000 jobs. Advertis-ing Age magazine's 58th annual Agency Report announced April 22 there were 93,024 employees at reporting agencies, a 10.2 percent decline from last year.

Deciding factors

Marlin cited three factors in his company's decision to downsize the staff to 24 employees: the slowing economy, technological changes and an attempt to be more efficient.

"I just see some dollars being spent in different ways," he said. "There is just kind of a different mix in the business. I think there are more technology solutions that will be used in the marketplace that use less resources."

Marlin positioned itself to address this tech movement with the formation of iMarlin LLC, which occurred when Marlin acquired Modus Design in April 2001. iMarlin is an Internet solutions-based division of the firm.

"I just see us providing different solutions than we did four or five years ago and so it takes maybe less hands and a little bit different talent base," Marlin added.

The company has recently implemented iExtend, a "print-on-demand" online system that allows customers to design customized pieces for merchandising and sales material. That custom work, he said, occupied a lot of man-hours before.

"It's a system that creates a lot of efficiencies for our clients," he said. "From the agency's standpoint, it doesn't take as many people to produce that."

Marlin said there are three clients using it and another six are looking to go on the system. All programming and designing is done in house.

"Part of it's an adjustment," Marlin said, "but the other part is just strictly a slowing down of business and the economy."

Corporate spending restricted

Both Marlin and Bob Noble, founder of Noble & Associates another Springfield ad agency that handles mainly national accounts say a sluggish 2001 economy, topped by the events of Sept. 11, pushed some clients away from spending advertising dollars.

"Nationally, it's been tough," Noble said. "Springfield is getting a little bit of a whiplash."

Said Marlin: "Not everybody was setting the world on fire in 2001 anyhow, but (Sept. 11) just kind of pushed some people over the edge in cutting back some budgets."

Total measured media spending was down 9.7 percent to $98.21 billion in 2001, from $108.81 billion in 2000, according to full-year data from New York City-based Competitive Media Reporting, a Taylor Nelson Sofres Company.

Roger Moody, American Advertising Federation Inc. 9th District dovernor, said it's unfortunate that in times like these, companies close their wallets to advertising.

"At this point in time, they should be looking at increasing their market share by advertising," Moody said. "If they're cutting off their money to move their products, they're actually hurting themselves in the long run because they have to come back and spend more money to get back where they were."

The AAF 9th District, which covers Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas, also is feeling the effects of the nation's economic struggles.

"The membership pretty much across the board is down this year because of layoffs in the advertising industry, which is a result of the economy," Moody said.

Entries for the AAF's annual Addy Awards were down in the district by 200 from 735 entries last year to 535 this year, Moody said. Also, this year's 2,863 members are short of last year's 3,000.

A volatile industry

"It's not unusual for the agency business to go through these expansion and retraction periods," Noble said.

"To keep its economic fraction constant, it needs to do this. It's a very healthy thing to do. Springfield on whole, is probably faring better than those agencies in large metropolitan areas that have built entire divisions around single clients who spend only advertising dollars."

Reports from the Springfield Ad Club, a member of the AAF 9th District, back up Noble's thoughts.

This year, the club experienced an increase in local Addy entries and has held a steady membership base.

"We're one of the few clubs in the district that has stayed level," said Tammy Leigh, fourth lieutenant governor of the district and a past club president. "We're holding our own."

Marlin credits a "fairly well insulated" Springfield economy and said firms with local clients weren't hit as hard.

"That's the first one that I've heard of in this town," Leigh said about the Marlin layoffs. "There is not a whole lot of movement here."

While the impact is not overwhelming locally, Noble said it's still important for agencies to consistently analyze the market and their firm.

" Our overhead goes up and down the elevator every night and our largest single cost line item are our people," he said. "We are constantly looking at our overhead and looking for ways to be more efficient. It's a constant improvement process. You've got to build into your culture a mechanism that is constantly assessing and reinvigorating your resources, your talent, your people and your offerings. Those that do it, conscientiously, are the ones that weather these storms the best."