As we move in to the end of the summer, it seems like everyone has been heading out on vacation: creative directors, clients, animators, school kids, families. Everyone is out at the end of August. Since the beginning of the week I have heard from 2 clients and 2 different animators that they will all be out. One lucky individual will even be spending the final days of summer in Italy. What does this mean? It means that we are at the traditional End-O-Summer when the industry takes one last breath before the advertising world prepares for 4 months of sleep deprivation, all night meetings, and caffeine fueled creative. Stevens Design & Animation is going to get busy! You might think that this sounds a bit like pure speculation – it is. And you might also think that this would be wishful thinking in an economy that looks slower than the Jamaican Bobsled Team – it could be. However, as we all know, the Jamaican Bobsled Team had spirit and spirit can go a long way even when you are flying down the ice upside down!

As I have mentioned, the ebb and flow of advertising is highly unpredictable these days. But, the up tick around the holidays is still one of the few reliable times of the year when we can all hope to get a boost in business. With a new mailer going out this week (that one that I have been talking about for the last several months) and the holiday season arriving soon, I think SDA is poised for a boost. Even though many of the prognosticators are sticking to a tepid outlook on the economy, they can’t deny that the holidays are always a high point. For ad agencies and marketers, Christmas morning begins sometime in September and doesn’t end till the final spot and the last ad are delivered for the holidays. A joyous time it is!

So it is with much anticipation that I await the return of my colleagues from their vacations. We are all ready to go.

Thanks

Tim Stevens

Directing Animator

Stevens Design & Animation, LLC