Gloom’ Deepens for Marketing Budgets
UK marketing budgets have dropped for the third consecutive quarter, according to the Q2 2008 Bellwether Report, the quarterly survey of marketing spend, published today by the IPA. The downturn is now the most significant since that which followed the 9/11 attacks in late 2001.
The report says further cuts are likely later in 2008 due to low levels of corporate profitability compared to a year ago, raising the possibility of an absolute fall in marketing and ad spend for the year, given that initial budgets set in January were only slightly higher than 2007.
Second quarter marketing budgets rose for only 15% of companies surveyed, while 27% reported a decrease.
There were cuts in all sectors apart from online, and even the latter saw the smallest rise since 2003. 19% of companies reported a rise in their online marketing budget, and only 12% a decline – but this still compares unfavourably with the first quarter when the figures were 27% and 5% respectively.
The sharpest falls were in traditional media, which includes TV, press, outdoor, radio and cinema; followed by the ‘all other’ category which saw the biggest fall last quarter and includes research along with diverse other sub-sectors including PR and events. Some 8% of firms reported a downturn in ‘All other marketing’ while 20% reported a decline.
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