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October 31, 2008

Digital Frightfest: Everything Coming Up Zombies

The news this Halloween morning continues the harrowing themes that have dominated the digital marketing space for a couple weeks now. In addition to mounting layoffs at agencies and vendors, several other ghoulish reports may give you pause.

• Google/Yahoo deal on the rocks. There's very little substance in WSJ's anonymously sourced report about the distressed deal, other than a comment from "people familiar" with the companies' ongoing talks with the U.S. Justice Department. The gist is that very little progress has been made so far in the negotiations, and that the parties could back out -- or announce a break-through deal -- "as early as next week." ClickZ's clever readers will observe almost anything "could happen" by then -- including a zombie holocaust. It's a safe prediction.
• Rising expectation of a 2009 contraction in digital ad spending. Will the digital ad market actually go into a recession along with the rest of the nation this year? Shrunken heads want to know.
• Layoffs mount. This one bears repeating: IMC2, Curiosity Group, Inform Technologies, LowerMyBills, Digital Influence Group have all seen heads fall. ClickZ expects to report on two more agencies with significant layoffs by Monday. Scary indeed.
• Most terrifying of all? Google employees may be nearing the end of the company's notorious free food perks. The search giant has cut its extravagant comestibles budget in New York, yanking Tuesday afternoon tea and discouraging "carryout" dining on the company dime. What a lousy trick to play with all those treats. Then again, maybe it wouldn't be *such* a tragedy for NYC Googlers to get out and mingle with their Chelsea neighbors now and then.

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