UK Marketing Budgets Jump - But Execs May Follow

UK marketing budgets in all categories rose during Q3 according to the latest IPA Bellwether survey, with online seeing the largest quarter-on-quarter jump in the history of the report. Despite this, marketing executives' general confidence in their sectors hit a two-and-a-half year low.

A fifth (21%) of companies reported an upward revision of their marketing budgets, compared to the 17% who reported a reduction. Budgets for all sectors were increased, for the first time since Q2 2007. Spend in the Internet sector rose by a record-breaking margin to 16.6% from 1.9% in Q2.

Despite this momentum, business optimism is falling further, with marketing executives' confidence in the industries they work in plummeting to -23.3% from 10.9% in the second quarter - the second lowest figure since Q1 2009.

The IPA Bellwether report is published by Markit Economics, whose Chief Economist Chris Williamson comments: 'UK companies are tackling the adverse economic climate with increased marketing activity, in an attempt to boost sales in the face of weak demand. The increase in marketing spend in the face of adversity helps to explain why companies became a little more optimistic about their own financial prospects, but at the same time were the most pessimistic about prospects for their industries since the early months of 2009.'

First published on the 17th July 2000, the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) Bellwether report features original data drawn from a panel of around 300 UK marketing professionals.

Web sites: www.ipa.co.uk and www.markit.com .