Advertising pins hope on World Cup for recovery  Looking for
magic: could success for Wayne Rooney and England help
advertising? A new year always offers the possibility of new
hope. Surely, after the worst 12 months for the media in modern
history, things can only get better in 2010. The recession will
recede. Confidence will return. Advertising will pick up.  If
only that were to be the case. Most forecasts suggest otherwise
and, in taking counsel from some of the wisest of advertising
gurus, there appears to be little chance of a concerted upswing.
There may be some light filtering through, but before we reach
it, we must travel down a gloomy tunnel. Predictions are not
facts, of course. But there is more than a measure of unanimity
among forecasters. Taken together, they look very pessimistic
indeed.  GroupM, for example, predicts that there will be zero
growth in ad spend this year over last. Its ultimate boss, WPP's
Sir Martin Sorrell, tells me that this represents somewhat of a
turnaround in fortunes.