Hot Markets for 2007 — Prepare for Growth

Insuring a Strong Future

Property/casualty insurers ($1.9B to print, +5 percent) and life insurance ($2.1B to print, +5 percent) are rebounding as rising real estate values, personal debt and an aging population demand greater coverage. Related is Number 10-ranked investment brokerage ($873B, +15 percent; with $8.5B to print, +7 percent) where investment banks/syndication ($3.5B to print, -11 percent) will nearly equal securities brokerage ($3.6B to print, +3 percent).

The largest spate of across-the-board consolidations will exceed the record in 2006 and bring tremendous demand for open-web, sheetfed and hybrid/digital financial printing. Also bigger in branding will be the exchanges. NYSE Group’s merger with Euronext NV, its acquisition of Marco Polo Network, and the NASDAQ/London Stock Exchange (LSE) link-up, underscore globalization of trading and investing. Initial public offerings will also shatter the ’06 record, which overturned the previous record in 2000. Mutual funds ($1.4B to print, +55 percent) in post- consolidation will come back with direct mail and ROP marketing. Number 3 medical products/pharmaceuticals ($373B, +3 percent; with $12.9B to print, +4 percent) will be led by pharmaceuticals and wellness ($8.3B to print, +7 percent) as new and rebranded medicines come to market and as government intervention impels generics. Packaging, point-of-purchase (POP), ROP and bind-in placements will be at half last year’s growth because of price and regulatory pressures. Medical products ($3.0B to print, -6 percent) and biotechnology ($0.8B to print, -14 percent) will slash print buys as Congress and class-action lawsuits hamstring product introductions.

Related is healthcare ($2.17T; +8 percent; with $8.3B to print, +8 percent), ranked Number 12. New products to the un/under-insured population in health insurance and third-party administration ($5.0B to print, +19 percent) will be driven by impending federal policy changes. More mail and outdoor advertising. New dental benefit programs will also be introduced by the big insurers because of “proven links to other health problems.”