The Eye of the Storm?

Well it’s been an interesting few months in the world of FMCG with a really busy start to the year followed by a quieter time through March. I get the feeling that we’re sitting in the eye of the storm right now. The new financial year could bring optimism to the interim market in the short to medium term as the projects that have failed to take off could receive their budgets. The interesting dilemma will be how the clients spend their money and the suggestions so far will be that the briefs will be very specific as they look to focus on key skills delivering quick pay backs as well as long term returns. We’ve all been witnessing the decision paralysis in the market place of late and I think this will start to lift as clients brace themselves going back out into the storm. Whilst it would seem that although cutting costs are at the top of everyone’s agenda it would appear that it’s a mutual belief that this won’t be done if it deteriorates the supply chain, instead, solid continuity planning together with acid tests could be a route for interims through the summer leading up to the golden quarter.
So what I’m interested in are your thoughts on where the market goes from here. Will Alastair Darling come in on his white horse during the budget or will it follow my prediction that the market will be ugly yet ripe for the right type of interim looking to demonstrate a point of difference.
Over to you.
Simon Gough is Head of the FMCG Practice at Interim Partners.

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