He comments, "2003 is looking much better than we were thinking a couple of months ago. We expect media inflation to be minimal year on year. However there has been a massive jump in TV spend for January and a huge increase in spots transmitted (68%).This could lead to Media owners being bullish and increase their rates accordingly. This would be sad after the last two years of getting the price right. We will wait and see.

"The stronger rand means that international clients will not be repatriating as many rands as in 2002 where the rate of exchange was prohibitive to any possible growth. More cash will therefore be available for clients to re-invest into their chosen media.

"The continuing shift away from traditional media will provide opportunities for creative media planning, but it will still be important for clients to stay focused," continues Wilkins.

"These new media present great opportunities for creativity, but they must be utilized correctly to avoid a "scatter-gun" approach which could result in too much media mix but not much media outcome. Our job will be to make sure that our clients' budgets are wisely and effectively directed during 2003 thus enabling real growth for clients' bottom lines," he concludes.