The UK food and drinks industries will spend an increasing amount of
their marketing budgets on PR rather than advertising over the next four
years, according to research by management consultancy Datamonitor.
Two reports: Marketing Strategies in UK Food and Marketing Strategies in
UK Drinks, predict that PR will increase as a proportion of marketing
spend between 1996 and 2000. Overall PR expenditure will grow by 14.7
per cent to pounds 164 million in the food sector and by 25.2 per cent
to pounds 30 million in the drinks industry.
By contrast, the drinks industry’s current pounds 319 million
advertising budget will rise by just 3.1 per cent.
The switch to PR has been attributed to rising advertising and
television costs and a tendency for companies to use more targeted
promotional methods. The increase in own-label goods in particular has
prompted brand names to adopt alternative marketing techniques in the
fight for sales.
