“We believe there will be a slow roll out,” said Alistair Carlisle, head of the Zimbabwe Advertising Practitioners' Association and chairman and CEO of Zimbabwe's biggest advertising agency, Barker McCormac Ogilvy & Mather. “There has been a slight upturn in billing although it's still hand to mouth.”
He said the advertising industry had been “affected badly” by a decade-old economic crisis that was halted by the formation of an inclusive government.
The dollarisation of the economy has stabilised the economy, said Carlisle, and the advertising industry is now “in a better position than we were before”.
Pilate Machadu, chairman of the Advertising Media Association (ADMA), agreed, saying many companies now wanted to advertise but were being hampered by cash flow problems due to a US dollar liquidity crunch.
“There has been a steady increase in advertising but not as much as we would have in a normal environment,” said Machadu, who is marketing manager for Modus Publications, publishers of The Financial Gazette.
“Agencies have started bookings although volumes are still low,” said Machadu.
