The 2007 Jamaican general elections stemmed the flow of red ink gushing from the balance sheets of many Jamaican media houses and the lucky few advertising agencies who handled the placements of the two political parties. The anticipation of a similar windfall for the current election will not be realized as the timing has dealt a triple blow for the local advertising business.

In the first instance the period November to December is traditionally the most profitable period for advertising agencies and media houses as its the period when business seek to capitalize on the increased consumer expenditure which takes place during this time. With elections in the air many companies and individuals are holding back in a wait and see mode.

Secondly companies that would normally bump up their advertising expenditure during this time have scaled back not wanting to compete with the election advertising frenzy.

Importantly this last quarter spike in expenditure was used as a cushion for the annual “tamarind season” January to March, when companies drunk from the frenzy and increased expenditure crawl or slow down and close their cheques books in anticipation of the upcoming April government budget presentation.

And finally the 2012 elections will clearly not have the level of expenditure as the 2007 elections and as such the anticipated spike in income and profitability for media houses and ad agencies will not materialize.

Compounding the pain of the media houses and advertising agencies is the “peace treaty” between Claro and Digicel. The war that waged between these two telecom giants poured millions of dollars in the coffers of media houses and the agencies that handled their business.

From all accounts the 2011 Digicel “top up this Christmas rappa-pam-pam” campaign lacks the energy and excitement of former years and many are attributing this to the lack of competition from Claro. LIME on the other hand seems determined to capitalize on this lethargic Digicel campaign and is spending hard in the media, hoping to win over consumers. BM