April 30, 2025  |  SIGN UP

Michael Bürgi
SENIOR EDITOR, MEDIA BUYING AND PLANNING

Having just attended the first two days of the Possible conference in Miami -- it wraps up today -- Digiday editor in chief Jim Cooper and I conducted more than 25 video interviews with executives in attendance (Digiday is a media partner of Possible). Our conversations with almost all the guests, who represent a cross-section of tech firms, marketers, agencies and publishers, revealed a mix of optimism about the economic uncertainty roiling the U.S. and global economies -- and a growing dread that a recession appears more likely than not. 

Should the R word materialize, it will likely result in pullback of ad spend and marketing budgets -- but most speakers agreed that will only come once other cuts (expenses, some head count and other expenses) have been exhausted. Few of them spoke of actual cutbacks -- yet. Perhaps the most worrisome prospect, according to Michael Kassan, chairman and founder of consultancy 3C Ventures, is that the big brands who usually heavy up on advertising when others pull back are not doing that yet.  

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