"The latest IPA Bellwether survey published today (Thursday 13th October 2011) reveals that marketing budgets were revised up in Q3 ending a three-quarter period of decline, as companies increased expenditure to promote new products and maintain market share amid strong competitive pressure. With 21% of companies reporting an upward revision compared to 17% that reported a reduction, the resultant net balance* rose to a one-and-a-half-year high of 3.4% (up from -2.2% in Q2).
(net balance calculated by subtracting the percentage reporting a downward revision from the percentage reporting an upward revision.)
For the first time since Q2 2007 budgets for all sectors were revised up. The internet saw the steepest increase by a wide margin and the largest quarter-on-quarter jump in the history of the report, with a net balance of 16.6% (up from 1.9% in Q2). Main media spend, a category which includes the internet, recorded the slowest pace of budget growth and only a marginal rise, suggesting a shift to online. Direct marketing budgets were revised upwards to the greatest degree for a year, while sales promotion and ‘all other’ (below-the-line) recorded growth for the first time in 15 and 16 quarters respectively.
Yet business optimism is falling further, with marketing executives’ confidence for the industries in which they operate hitting a two-and-a half year low: the net balance of -23.3% was down from -10.9% in Q2. Even though marketing executives were slightly more optimistic about their own companies’ prospects the degree of optimism was the second lowest since Q1 2009."
Source: Data collected & reported by the IPA, 13th October 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment