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“Depression 2.0″ is the catchy term being used to articulate our current fiscal crisis. I’m not exactly sure where it originated, but it certainly fits the bill in all but one respect. The “Depression” part is accurate, as there are so many historical indicators that seem to be repeating themselves a la 1929, as this excellent Time article points out. And I find the “2.0″ aspect of the moniker especially relevant (although very 2006) , because the web makes things so much more interesting for everyone involved.

Also, by most accounts, interactive companies are thriving in this downgrading economy. Certainly, there are exceptions, but for the most part, marketers are keeping budgets the same for next year or even increasing their spend on interactive projects. The reason? I think it has to do with the most important aspect of interactive marketing that has evolved over the past several years.

Interactive marketing is, when executed properly, measurable. Just look at any Ecommerce site. With sophisticated (and in the case of Google, free) analytics tools at every agency’s disposal, it’s becoming easier and easier for a marketing executive to plainly articulate the return on their marketing dollar. It’s something that everyone can understand, “If I spend $10 here, I can on average get $30 back”. That’s the kind of work that sells itself. Of course, anyone in the industry knows that it takes the time, energy, and attention of some very talented people working under pressure to pull that off, but when you have the numbers on your side it’s any easy sell.

Finally, unlike the poor folks back in 1929, the access to information is so much greater. We can get up-to-the-minute reports of exactly how screwed up the economy is at any given time. We don’t have to wait for our neighbors to knock on our doors to tell us that there’s a run on the local savings and loan.

However, it never ceases to amaze me how, with all of the knowledge of our current world and of our history we have, people still behave quite predictably and ignorantly of the past. Once again, Americans have overspent, over-borrowed, and lived it up now at the expense of the future, and Americans are hoping the government will bail us out. I can’t help but wonder if a little more crisis wouldn’t help us all slow down a little and cause us to be thankful for what we have.

Just keep the dollars flowing to responsible interactive companies in the meantime.

Update from Fuse:

“This report just crossed my computer from Marketing Daily. It indicates that internet ad spends were up 15.2% in the first half of 2008. No doubt this is a part of a trend toward increased online spending and a steady move away from the more traditional advertising channels. With the economy in its current mode, customers will demand and desire the ROI metrics that their internet marketing spend can provide.”