YEAR IN REVIEW 1996: BUSINESS-AND-INDUSTRIAL-REVIEW

ADVERTISING Despite concerns about the economy, spending on advertising surged ahead in 1995, with large companies spending aggressively to get their messages to the public. (For Most Valuable Brands Worldwide in 1994, see Table V.) Industry forecaster Robert J. Coen predicted that overall advertising expenditures in the U.S. in 1995 would top $157.7 billion, a 5.1% increase over the $150 billion spent in 1994. He estimated that spending outside the U.S. would top $193 billion, up 8.2% from $178.4 billion in 1994, led by strong growth in large ad markets like Britain, France, and Germany and with double-digit percentage gains in emerging markets like China and Vietnam. U.S. advertisers, optimistic that consumers would continue spending through much of 1996, invested heavily in network television's "upfront," or advance sales, market. More than $5.6 billion was committed to shows for the 1995-96 season, up 27.3% from the $4.4 billion worth of commercial time sold in advance of the 1994-95 season. Advertisers doled out up to $1 million per minute for commercials that aired during "Seinfeld," NBC's top-rated comedy. "Seinfeld" was the first regularly scheduled series to come close to the $1 million-a-minute mark, something that previously had been attained only by events such as the Super Bowl. NBC sold a record $600 million in advertising for its coverage of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga., a 20% increase from the $500 million the network had sold for the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona, Spain. One of the biggest advertising splashes in 1995 was the worldwide introduction of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 95. Supported by an estimated $700 million in advertising, $200 million from Microsoft itself, and most of the rest from retailers and hardware and software companies, the launch on August 24 more closely resembled the release of a blockbuster movie than a computer operating system. Microsoft estimated that more than one million copies of Windows 95 were purchased by consumers in retail stores in the software's first four days on the market. The enthusiasm for new computer software came during a rush by consumers and advertisers alike to gain a toehold on the Internet. Through on-line services such as America Online, CompuServe, and Prodigy as well as through direct links to the Internet, approximately 24 million people in the U.S. and Canada signed onto the worldwide network. Some 17.6 million people regularly used the World Wide Web, a subset of the Internet designed for multimedia use, where many corporations and advertising agencies had created "home pages" for their products and services. An unprecedented effort by U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton and the Food and Drug Administration to outlaw cigarette ads pitched at young people drew an immediate response from advertising and tobacco groups, which filed suits in a U.S. district court in Greensboro, N.C., challenging the agency's right to regulate tobacco as well as alleging violations of the First Amendment protection of free speech. Federal regulators asserted that aggressive tobacco marketing was the most influential factor in persuading young people to start smoking. In September the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation of designer Calvin Klein's controversial jeans campaign that featured young people in suggestive poses, even though the ads had been pulled from distribution. The legal issue was whether any of the models were under the age of 18, which was found not to be the case. Vietnam continued to expand its consumer markets, and advertisers and agencies from the West poured into the country. Advertising had already helped some American brands such as Pepsi, Kodak film, and Oral B toothbrushes become dominant with Vietnamese consumers. American brands also were becoming popular in China, although advertising continued to be sporadic and concentrated on the three largest markets--Shanghai, Beijing, and areas in southern Guangdong province. After being squeezed out of Saatchi & Saatchi Co., the ad agency he and his brother had cofounded, Maurice Saatchi opened the New Saatchi Agency, with billings of more than $211 million from former clients such as British Airways, Dixons consumer electronics, Qantas, and Mirror Group Newspapers. Actress Candice Bergen was ranked again in 1995 as the top entertainer in Video Storyboard Tests' 10th annual rating of celebrity presenters. For the seventh time in eight years, basketball star Michael Jordan was the top-rated athlete for commercial endorsements. A study by Yankelovich Partners found that only 25% of 1,000 consumers questioned said a television ad would induce them to try a new product or brand. Only 15% said that a newspaper ad would entice them to buy, while only 13% said that a magazine ad would influence them. A global survey by Roper Starch Worldwide found that 73% of consumers believed that advertisers regularly misled or exaggerated a product's benefits. Consumers in the former Soviet Union proved to be the most suspicious of advertising. Only 9% of Russian and Ukrainian consumers felt that advertising provided accurate information, while 10% said that they felt advertisers respected their intelligence. (LAURIE FREEMAN) This updates the article marketing.