THE YEAR IN... INTERNATIONAL

According to a recent article in Fortune magazine, "Changes have brought a deep shift in the balance of power on Madison Avenue...now media are calling the shots...and providing the bulk of their parent companies' growth." There have been many false dawns and much hyperbole about media's growing pains and emergence from the full-service basement. The quote from Fortune, however, reflects some of the mood and developments of the past 12 months. During 2004, media companies have come of age - they are now big global businesses with power increasingly revolving around a few companies operating within the key communication groups: WPP (GroupM), Interpublic Group, Publicis Groupe and Omnicom. The overall requirement is for communication solutions that are not biased to a particular marketing communications company's self-interest.