DIRECTWATCH: A monthly analysis of the direct marketing field

September's spend displays a number of shifts on previous months,

which have been dominated by motor manufacturers. Overall spend is up on

July by £6.08m due to a significant rise by the COI and both

Procter & Gamble and Lever Faberge following the latter's merger.

The bulk of September's spend is on TV advertising, which is up £15.64m, in part due to increased viewing figures following the terrorist

attacks in the US, as well as seasonal factors. Press and radio spend

remain stable, while cinema and outdoor show a combined drop of £5.29m this month as budgets were pushed into other areas.

Direct mail spend is down significantly on July due to an unrepeated

push by DFS which accounted for a significant amount of July's total

mail spend. MBNA's spend remains consistent in this area with a total

spend of £4.43m, of which £4.19m is on direct mail.

Renault and Ford both decreased overall spend this month, although Honda

enters the top 20 with £4.09m spent.

FMCG dominates the top 20, including the entry of Nestle Rowntree, with

£5.59m spent across all media excluding direct mail, and

Sainsbury's, which utilised all media except cinema. Mars Confectionery

returns with £4.95m spend.

The increasing iTV market and commencement of the new football season

result in the entry of BSkyB and ITV Digital in the spend table. Both

predominantly utilise TV and press.

TOP 20 ADVERTISERS SEPTEMBER 2001 (POUNDS M)

Company Press Cinema Radio Out- Tele- DM Total

door vision

COI 2.15 0.46 1.90 0.58 12.44 0.00 17.53

Procter & Gamble 1.87 0.01 0.49 0.50 9.91 0.95 13.73

Lever Faberge 1.87 0.00 0.15 00.0 6.96 0.00 8.98

BT 1.64 0.00 0.61 0.15 4.49 0.32 7.21

Nestle Rowntree 0.04 0.41 0.01 1.10 4.03 0.00 5.59

Ford Motor Company 2.41 0.06 0.50 0.07 1.20 0.26 5.50

Pedigree Masterfoods 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.07 3.91 0.17 5.15

Renault 1.51 0.27 0.24 0.00 2.87 0.18 5.07

Mars Confectionery 0.96 0.00 0.02 0.85 3.12 0.00 4.95

Kellogg 0.79 0.00 0.00 0.13 3.89 0.01 4.82

Vodafone 0.01 0.00 0.09 0.00 4.54 0.13 4.77

L'Oreal 1.29 0.03 0.00 0.46 2.70 0.00 4.48

MBNA 0.24 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 4.19 4.43

Unilever Bestfoods 0.47 0.00 0.00 0.36 3.46 0.00 4.29

Honda 1.02 0.00 0.01 0.32 2.69 0.05 4.09

Sainsbury's 1.08 0.00 0.47 0.01 2.12 0.41 4.09

BSkyB 1.48 0.00 0.23 0.00 1.92 0.29 3.92

AA Insurance Services 0.95 0.00 0.01 0.26 2.61 0.08 3.91

ITV Digital 0.70 0.00 0.15 0.00 2.83 0.00 3.68

DFS 1.79 0.00 0.00 00.0 1.70 0.00 3.49

Total 23.27 1.24 4.88 4.86 77.39 7.04 119.68

ACNielsen MMS monitors direct mail activity and spend using a panel of

10,000 people profiled and weighted to be representative of the UK

population. Spend is estimated by multiplying grossed-up mailing volumes

against average post and production costs for mailpacks in each area.

Data does not include requested items, door-drops or inserts. Detailed

information on direct mail is available via marketmovements.com.

This article was first published on Marketing