UK marketing spend set to lead growth in 2003

UK marketing spend is set to grow 5.3% next year, after climbing 4.2% this year. In Germany, last year's fall of 4.5% is set be reversed with growth of 1.5%, while France's growth will accelerate next year, up 5.1% after growing just 0.3% in 2002. The US will show growth of 4.4%, following growth of 2% this year.

Expenditure in Japan, however, will be down 1.5% next year, after falling 1.4% in 2002, the study found.

The research shows that changes in marketing expenditure are largely driven by short-term factors, such as market and economic conditions, which spark budget cuts.

The report's findings that marketing spend could rise in the US next year was backed up by a consumer retail financial services company. "We are growing, so we are doing more public awareness and more branding," the unnamed company said.

The study also showed that within companies' marketing budgets across the five markets, spend was shifting toward interactive marketing and direct mail this year.

In the UK, above-the-line advertising is set to fall 2.4% this year, as direct mail increases by 1.5% and interactive advertising climbs 0.7%. In 2003, however, above-the-line advertising will be down 0.2%, direct mail will grow 1.5% and interactive marketing will be up 0.9%.

In the retail and mail order sector, interactive marketing is set to jump 8.1% this year across all markets, although this will slow to 3.9% growth next year.

Above-the-line advertising will be down 17.5% in this sector in 2002, but will more than make up for that next year, with growth of 17.8%.

The study can be accessed here. The report was compiled using quantitative and qualitative analysis on trends in marketing expenditure, their breakdown by discipline and the reasons behind their strategic choice.

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This article was first published on brandrepublic.com