America's advertising industry has just experienced its worst year since the 1930s. In the early months of 2001 a heavy sense of gloom hung over the market. New York ad agencies saw client budgets slashed and thousands of staff pink-slipped. In April last year, in the midst of this depression, arrived Andrew Robertson. The former chief executive of Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO in London had been recruited to head up BBDO's North American operation. Five months after his arrival, as some were hoping the economy might stage a revival, came September 11.

"I thought the first six months would be the hardest, but I didn't reckon on both a recession and a war," says the 41-year-old executive, sitting in his office overlooking the Avenue of the Americas.

Robertson's career so far is a record of over-achievement. Starting out as a media planner at Ogilvy & Mather in London, he moved into account handling and climbed rapidly up the management ladder. After a stint at J. Walter Thompson, he was head-hunted by WCRS to become the London agency's chief executive aged just 30. Four-and-a-half years later he moved to Abbott Mead Vickers. There, Robertson confirmed his reputation as a deal-maker. Adept at bringing in new business, schmoozing clients and colleagues alike, he was widely regarded as one of the sharpest "suits" in town.

So, in the UK at least, it was no surprise that Robertson was last year named as the president/CEO of BBDO's North American operation. It was a job that had previously been held by the group's worldwide CEO Allen Rosenshine. He went on to give up his US responsibilities, and focus on his role as CEO of the global agency network.

Robertson now has operational control of BBDO's entire North American business, including 3,500 staff in 21 offices. The implication is that if Robertson succeeds in his new role, he will be the man to replace the 63-year-old Rosenshine when he retires.

Rosenshine is an undisputed king of Madison Avenue. He and his creative partner, Phil Dusenberry, were largely responsible for developing the BBDO network of agencies that now spans 76 countries, with billings of more than $15bn, and 18,000 staff.

So this would be a hard job for someone from within the US industry's own ranks. For an agency outsider - and a Brit to boot - it's a major challenge. There is, though US executives would deny it, also some resistance to the increasing numbers of British executives crossing the Atlantic to take senior agency roles.

Brits in top US jobs include Paul Hammersley heading up Lowe Lintas, Nick Brien at Starcom MediaVest, Carl Johnson at TBWA, and Alison Burns who runs Fallon's New York office. And then there's John Farrell running the D'Arcy creative network. Little surprise then, that one BBDO executive grumbled after Robertson's appointment: "He's not the heir apparent; he's just in pole position to replace Allen. But it's not a sure thing."

Robertson doesn't believe it's a sure thing either: "My feeling is that all of the talk about me replacing Allen is, at best fantastically premature, and at worst horribly misguided. I'm here to do the American job, and that is what I am focused on."

And Robertson has a one-word answer when asked about the biggest difference between the US and UK markets: scale.

"The sheer size of the American market and economy changes so much. I spent the first 20 years of my career saying that the trouble with Americans is they didn't understand the way the UK market worked. But I think I was naive, because I didn't understand the way the US market worked. It's fundamentally different from anywhere else in the world."

One of those key differences is in the size of the accounts that agencies hold - and pitch for. "There are far fewer of them, but they are worth much more," says Robertson. "In London a good agency might do 15 or 20 pitches a year - and each might last around six weeks. Here you might do just four across the whole year - and they would all involve maybe three months work.

"The way creative work is developed is also very different, and that's because the value of a hit is so high. You have to kiss a lot of frogs before everybody agrees that you've kissed a prince. And you do a lot of work that gets thrown away, before you agree it's a hit. It's not unusual here to present three alternative campaigns. You wouldn't do that in the UK."

Robertson also rejects any notion that advertising in the US is of poorer quality than in the UK. "I think advertising here has to work much harder because it's that much harder to engage the attention and there are so many competing messages. But the best of it is as good as the best you get anywhere."

Robertson's ultimate goal of taking over the entire network is helped by the fact BBDO remains one of the strongest and most successful agency networks in the world. Last year it was named Global Agency of the Year by both Advertising Age and Ad Week, the industry's two main trade titles.

It's also part of the Omnicom Group, which includes the agency networks DDB and TBWA, and has proved to be more resistant to recession than its rivals WPP and Interpublic Group. Last week, Omnicom announced a 15 per cent rise in net profits for the fourth quarter of last year, to $164.1m. Revenues rose 9 per cent to $1.97bn. Omnicom's president and chief executive, John Wren, was upbeat about the coming year: "Clients are increasing plans for spending and people are starting to look at the glass as half-full."

Robertson's own assessment isn't quite so optimistic. "I don't see any real sign of recovery," he says. It's a view shared by most US marketers and agencies. A survey of 974 agency executives and 185 US clients by Research.Net and the Advertising Database found that 55 per cent said it would be two years or more before spending returned to 2000's levels.

But Robertson has come up with his own measure for the US economy. "I met a Manhattan cosmetic surgeon the other week. He said that his business was by far the leading indicator - when people stop having their noses, ears, or breasts done, then you know the economy is in trouble. He said there was no good news on the cosmetic surgery front."

conordignam@hotmail.com