As the new year breaks, you'll find the advertising industry clutching a whole new set of forecasts and predictions (fingers crossed behind their backs) in the hope of offering their shell-shocked clients some clarity on what lies ahead. Time, then, for a little crystal-ball tickling.

Except that clarity will be some time coming yet. In fact, the only certainty is that consumers will be dictating the rules of the marketing game as the second decade of the millennium kicks off. How freely consumers open their purses over the coming year will have a profound effect on the shape of the advertising and marketing industries for years to come.

According to market research giant Mintel, after 18 months of recession consumers are emerging into 2010 with a battle-hardened approach to domestic spending. We're spending time to save money (cooking more, DIYing more, being more organised with our lives so that we can be more organised with our money). And these newly responsible consumers are more focused on value than ever before, better at bargain hunting or simply saying "no" as they learn to get by with less.