Warc, 11 July 2013
LONDON: Marketing budgets in the UK have been revised
sharply upwards in the second quarter of 2013 as business confidence soars,
according to new data.
The latest IPA Bellwether survey, which features data drawn
from a panel of around 300 UK marketing professionals and provides a key
indicator of the health of the economy, found a net balance of +7.3% for the
quarter. This represented the difference between companies increasing their
marketing budgets and those trimming them and was the highest such score since
Q3 2007.
For the year as a whole, the net balance was +13.5%, the
most positive forecast in two years.
The news follows the recent Advertising Association/Warc
Expenditure Report which noted that adspend had increased 2.4% in the first
quarter as the sector's recovery continued, with a 2.6% rise anticipated for
the full year.
In addition, companies were at their most upbeat since Q3
2009, registering a net balance of +27.6% on their financial prospects, a sharp
improvement on Q1's +16.8%.
Companies were "taking an increasingly aggressive
stance with regard to boosting their marketing expenditure", noted Chris
Williamson, chief economist at Markit and author of the report.
This was, he said, a reflection of "their views on
financial prospects having improved dramatically over the course of the year to
date".
Most marketing categories showed an increase in budgets for
the quarter, the most important being the internet sector, where a net balance
of +17.4% was a marked improvement on the first quarter figure of +8.9%.
This was followed by PR, a recent addition to the survey,
with a net balance of +3.4%, the highest in three quarters of data collection.
Sales promotion recorded a figure of +2.0%, main media
advertising +1.9% and direct marketing +0.6%.
Market research budgets were unchanged, while there were
falls in events and 'other', of -0.9% and -3.2% respectively.
Discussing the overall figures, Paul Bainsfair, IPA general
director, said: "These figures should send a very upbeat message to the
wider economy".
And Williamson added that the official growth forecast for
the economy in 2013 of +0.6% was "all of a sudden starting to look overly
pessimistic".
Data sourced from IPA; additional content by Warc staff
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