Quotes from the quarter: What CEOs and CFOs are saying about the state of ad spend

The longer this earnings season drags on, the clearer it becomes: the ad slowdown might be steeper than anyone first thought. It’s not the tariffs themselves spooking advertisers – its the fog of uncertainty they create. And nothing makes a CMO freeze faster than not knowing what’s possibly around the corner. 

Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun nailed it early in the cycle, telling analysts: “Until there is more clarity, this is not going to get better.”

And it’s hard to argue with him. At this stage even a rollback of tariffs might do more harm than good because what goes down could just as easily snap back up. The volatility itself has become the risk. 

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