UK Research Spend Falls, Says Bellwether Survey

The IPA's latest Bellwether survey of marketing executives indicates a further upward revision to UK marketing budgets during the first quarter of 2015, but says spend on market research fell by 1.3%, having risen 0.6% in the previous quarter.

The survey, run by Markit Economics on behalf of the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising), has taken place quarterly since Q1 2000, with results now reflecting answers from around 300 UK marketing professionals. In the latest quarter, overall marketing spend rose for the tenth successive period. More than 27% of the survey panel reported an upward revision to their marketing budgets - the best figure recorded by the survey for ten years.

However, while increased marketing budget was reported for Internet, events, direct marketing, main media advertising, and sales promotions activities, spend on PR, market research and 'other' marketing areas moved downward.

Looking to the future, data for the 2015/16 budget period showed that a net balance of +28.0% of panellists are forecasting an increase in their marketing budgets relative to 2014/15. Markit says this is the most upbeat assessment signalled by the panel for eight years, and all Bellwether categories are forecast to benefit from this general upturn.

Paul Smith, Senior Economist at Markit and author of the Bellwether report, commented: 'While many commentators await to see what form Britain's post-election economic landscape takes, marketing executives seem to be shrugging off any uncertainty. Indeed, latest data shows companies planning to bolster their marketing budgets for the forthcoming accounting period to the greatest degree in eight years.'

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