Yahoo Finance UK firms boost marketing budgets to 14 year record
THE IPA bellwether report, seen as an indicator of the wider economy, today reveals that marketing budgets have seen their biggest upward revision for more than 14 years during the first quarter of 2014.
The report’s authors described the findings as: “the most upbeat assessment of business and marketing spend since the survey first started in 2000.”
IPA’s findings show a net balance of 20.4 per cent of firms upped their budgets during the first quarter, compared to just 11 per cent for the fourth quarter last year.
“We’re seeing a decisive shift in terms of marketing budgets, businesses are looking to move into expansion mode and looking across the advertising categories, with main media (TV, radio and print) rising to the top,” Markit’s senior economist and co-author of the report Tim Moore told City A.M.
The report attributes booming marketing spends to the backdrop of improving economic fundamentals leading businesses to be more bullish in their marketing spends.
“Based on the economic data flow for 2014 so far, we are forecasting an increase in UK GDP of three per cent for this calendar year, which is a little more bullish than the OBR’s projection of 2.7 per cent,” said Markit’s chief economist Chris Williamson.
Online marketing budgets saw a slight decline, from an increase of 9.2 per cent in the fourth quarter to 8.5 per cent last quarter, due to marketing budgets moving to TV, radio and print.
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