BUSINESS BAROMETER

It looks like those green shoots are growing, especially for businesses in the Bay of Plenty and Waikato regions, because they’re picking themselves up and gaining enough confidence to invest in their marketing and advertising after putting it on hold during the recession.

Chris Williams at King St says many of the agency’s clients are medium-sized companies and fairly representative of the region.

“We’re getting at least one call a week from clients who’ve been lying low the last couple of years and now want to address their brand strategy. I think that’s a really good barometer of where things are.”

They’re not alone. At Pan Media and Advertising Graeme Blake says they’ve had most of their significant clients go ahead with work they’ve been putting off for 18 months.

“There’s massive growth happening in the Waikato and over the last six months there’s been a real surge, some real positivity.”

Blake says he’s hiring staff to keep up with demand from his clients.

And in Tauranga, Family Design Co’s Barbara Sunderland says this is the busiest they’ve been since setting up five years ago.

“A lot of companies are picking up and business is booming. Last year people weren’t in the mindset to be looking at marketing or advertising budgets. This year there’s been a huge shift.”