… and exhale. The past few months have been marked by black comedy and terrible tragedy, but very little in the way of romance (any semblance of patriotism having long metamorphosed into naked nationalism in too many quarters).
Now, as the relentlessly depressing kitchen sink drama of the EU referendum reaches a denouement, the nation will be pondering whether there is still an epilogue to come or we have only finished the first act.
Either way, as the industry prepares to inhale (avoiding the settling dust) and hold its breath once more, it can take some comfort from the results of our Agency Survey 2016.
Considering all the misgivings about the state of the market expressed in the first half of 2016, you would be forgiven for thinking the sector would be pretty bearish about its prospects. Not so.
Buoyed by strong performances across the board in 2015, which have boosted the revenue of the top 40 UK agencies by 13%, that of the top 10 European agencies by 11% and that of the top 10 global agencies by 18%, the big agencies are decidedly bullish.
Granted, the survey went live at the beginning of May, when some respondents may have been more upbeat, but more than a third (35%) say they are open to M&A activity in the next 12 months and 60% that they expect staff numbers to increase.
That first statistic is a massive hike on last year, when 24% expected to be involved in a merger or acquisition, and while the second figure is down on the 71% who expected their headcounts to increase this time last year, neither suggests this is a sector that thinks it is on the brink of the abyss.
Or should that be that it knows that even if it is on the brink, it is in good shape, facing forward… and in possession of a decent parachute and well-padded crash mat?
Yes, the 13% uplift in revenue across the top 40 UK firms is sharply down on the 35% posted last year, but that was off a low base: 13% is a truly phenomenal achievement in the current market. Lest we forget, and I have certainly been guilty of this over the past few weeks, the whole Brexit question has only ever been one part of a far more complicated equation that the industry has been grappling with for a long time now.
The threats have been - and will continue to be - many. The dangers posed by global volatility, the ongoing terror threat, ‘dirty’ money and London’s overheating prime residential market are just a few, and they cannot be overstated.
But neither can the resilience, ingenuity and adaptability of the agency world. When you look at the revenue uplift achieved in the past year, the top 40 agencies look well placed to cope with whatever is thrown at them over the next 12 months - although I doubt any will be quite so bold as to say: ‘After the Brexit vote, bring it on.’
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