Bellwether Report shows continued marketing budget growth

The latest IPA Bellwether Report, published last week, shows a further increase in marketing budgets, marking the fifth quarter of consecutive growth.

The fourth quarter of 2013 revealed a net balance of +11% of companies registering an increase in budgets, down slightly on the series’ record of +12.3% in Q3 but still the second-highest rate of growth since the quarterly survey was launched in Q1 2000.

The report also found that companies remain highly confident about their own financial prospects, with the net balance of firms that have become more optimistic measuring +47.0%. This is only slightly lower than the series record high registered in Q3 2013 at +49.2%. Companies are also buoyant about industry financial prospects in the coming months, with the net balance unmoved at a series-record high of +35.4% in Q4 2014.

Provisional data for 2014 financial year budget plans reveal a net balance of +25.8% companies are expecting to see growth, the most positive reading since 2008.

Additionally, the Bellwether’s predictive model, which is based on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s prediction for economic growth of 2.4%, forecasts a resultant 3.3% increase in adspend in 2014. Although a forecasted slowing in GDP and consumer spending growth in 2015 leaves predictions of adspend growth unchanged at 3.3% a stronger economic recovery going forwards will then deliver a more substantial increase in adspend to over 4.0% in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

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