You would think — given all the doom and gloom — that corporations would have sharply cut back on spending in the second quarter. Indeed, just about every expert out there has cut spending forecasts.

Yet Interpublic, home of DraftFCB and McCann-Erickson, posted revenue that raced right past expectations and said it was well on the way to achieving its goals for the year.

And the economy? They said they’re watching it and keeping an eye on costs.

“While the growth that we posted during the first half demonstrates that we have yet to see retrenchment on the part of clients, we will continue to monitor the broader economic situation closely,” CEO Michael Roth said in a statement.

French advertising group Publicis also seemed to weather the storm in the second quarter, increasing organic sales in all areas, including the United States. It did say, however, that it expected marketing investments to fall in some areas, citing the automotive and financial sectors, because of the credit crisis and rising commodity and food prices.

Of course, solid spending by clients in the second quarter may not tell us much. Many see advertising spending as a trailing economic indicator, meaning that we could very well see clients cutting budgets for the second half of the year.

“We are not immune to the macroeconomic environment. We will certainly see some client areas affected,” IPG’s Roth said on a conference call. But so far clients see the downturn as an opportunity to build brand, he added.

“We haven’t seen a major pullback.”

On the other hand, clearly everything isn’t sunshine in the advertising world. Just check out Meredith, whose earnings fell because of lower advertising revenue at its magazines. Or take a look at Viacom Inc, whose earnings showed weakness in retail and automotive advertising crimped hurt sales for its cable TV networks.

Keep an eye on:

• Dell is testing a digital music player that could go on sale as early as September in a challenge to Apple (WSJ.com)
• Social networking site MySpace announced a series of new senior executives (paidContent.org)
• Billionaire oil investor T. Boone Pickens has sold all his Yahoo shares in frustration over Yahoo’s failure to reach a deal with Microsoft (San Francisco Chronicle)
• ESPN will unveil a new online network that will encompass a cluster of Internet sites aimed at action sports (LA Times)

(Photo: Reuters)

Not to sound callous, but by this point should anyone be surprised by news that a publisher is getting rid of jobs? After all, this is shaping up to be one of the worst years in memory for the newspaper business.

The upshot: The Sun will lose 100 jobs, 60 of them in the newsroom, and the Courant will cut about 60 jobs. (Don’t forget, Tribune is also cutting jobs at the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune)

But it’s not just Tribune. It seems everyone is cutting jobs as advertising revenue plunges thanks to the one-two combination of a weak economy and competition from the Internet for marketing dollars.

Here’s what the union had to say about Tribune’s cuts:

“Baltimore Sun employees are being punished for Tribune’s mismanagement,” Cet Parks, chief negotiator for the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, said in a statement. “Tribune’s answer to solving declining circulation and readership is to slash employees from the payroll and cut the news hole, salaries and benefits.”

Perhaps that is their answer — but is there a better one out there? So far, nobody seems to have found one.

Keep an eye on:

• WPP Group chief Sir Martin Sorrell is warning that Google is trying to do an end-run around ad agencies. But French rival Publicis is keen to partner with the search giant - and just about anyone else in the online realm (NY Post)
• Video games are known to improve hand-eye coordination but can they help someone quit smoking or lose weight? (Reuters)
• NBC has settled a lawsuit filed by the family of a man who killed himself when confronted with cameras for the documentary series “To Catch a Predator” (NY Times)
• It costs less to run run ads during “The Office” on Hulu than NBC.com. But keep in mind you can’t buy individual shows on Hulu, just demographics across a number of shows (Silicon Alley Insider)

(Reuters photo of Tribune Tower)

Thing is, the chief executives of the big ad holding companies so far have given very much the same answer during conference calls and interviews: everyone is worried, nobody is cutting spending.

Interpublic CEO Michael Roth is no exception. Here’s what he said on Wednesday about the economy/spending issue during his company’s earnings call:

“Of course, it goes without saying clients remain cautious due to broader economic concerns. To date we are not seeing signs of a pullback. But we continue to monitor the situation closely so as to be able to response quickly should the need arise.”

Here’s Publicis Groupe’s Maurice Levy:

“Not one single client has changed its plans. We continue to work with our clients according to plans.”

And Omnicom’s John Wren:

“Like most of our clients, we remain cautious about the economy, but to date, as I said, we have not seen any significant reduction in client spending.”

Havas’s Herve Philippe had this to say:

“Today we do not see any impact on our numbers from the international environment.”

So everyone seems to agree that nothing is happening — yet.

What’s that mean? It could be the industry is painting the brightest picture possible, which isn’t unheard of in advertising. Or it could mean companies aren’t yet feeling the full effects of the slowdown, and don’t need to take scissors to ad budgets. Or perhaps the thinking in the corporate world has shifted, and executives believe marketing is too important to cut. Or maybe the big cuts are just working their way through the system and will show up next quarter.

Give us your best guess. We’re interested.

(Photo: Reuters)