Marketing budgets rise at weakest pace in nearly three years

Brands increased their marketing budgets at the slowest rate for almost three years in the third quarter as uncertainty over the UK’s future trading relationship with the European Union allied with concern over economic slowdown caused cautious companies to put spending under greater scrutiny, according to the latest Bellwether report from the IPA and IHS Markit.

Although a majority of marketers in the survey of 300 senior marketing professionals reported an upward revision in budgets in the three months to the end of September, the net balance (2.5%) was a marked slowdown on the 6.5% reported in the second quarter and the lowest return since the final quarter of 2015.

Despite a fifth of respondents fuelling new product launches and protecting share with increased spend, the vast majority either froze or cut spend. Higher input costs due to higher wage bills and business rates for many have put pressure on margins and the brakes on what is often seen as discretionary spending. However, the impasse in trade negotiations between the Government and the EU and increasing concern over a “no deal Brexit” and its impact on the economy was cited by many as stifling spend with the amount spent on advertising in particular under greater scrutiny.

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Marketers becoming ‘paranoid’ over reliability of marketing metrics

Almost three-quarters of senior marketers believe media measurement currencies are becoming “increasingly corrupted” and that players such as Google and Facebook have too much control.

A whopping 70% of senior marketers believe media measurement currencies are becoming “increasingly corrupted”, according to the second Media2020 report by Media Sense, ISBA and IPSOS Connect.

Having surveyed more than 250 senior British marketers, the report shows nearly a quarter (23%) are “losing sleep” over recent high-profile measurement errors.

According to Andy Pearch, co-founder of MediaSense and the author of the report, marketers are becoming increasingly paranoid about the reliability of audience measurement data on digital and s

ocial channels.

“There’s paranoia because the media agencies and the big digital players have way too much control,” he tells Marketing Week. “It’s going to take a long time to move to an independent source of data verification.

“What this does show, however,..

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Stop die ellendige discussies over meten en focus op wat er echt toe doet

Flat vector illustration of web analytics information and development website statistic - vector illustration

Goede communicatieafdelingen vergroten de (positieve) impact van organisaties. En laten dat ook zien; accountability moet. Helaas ligt de nadruk in de praktijk te vaak op meten, en dat is zonde.

Tijd en middelen zijn schaars en de spotlights van social media kunnen ieder moment op jouw organisatie gericht zijn. Dan moet de inzet en opbrengst van investeringen in communicatie wel helder zijn. Maar toch… het concept ‘accountability’ heeft een groot probleem. Allereerst weten te weinig mensen wat het betekent. En ten tweede, in de praktijk vinden maar weinig mensen accountability echt interessant.

Waarom? Omdat het veel te vaak over meten gaat. Over staaf- of taartdiagrammen, percentages, meetmomenten, meetinstrumenten, meetcriteria, et cetera. Dodelijk. Ellendige discussies over ‘meten’ kunnen dan ook maar beter meteen de kop in worden gedrukt. Ze zuigen energie en leiden de aandacht af.

Robert Phillips

In een belangrijk artikel van Robert Phillips kwam ik de volgende uitspraak tegen: ‘We measure everything except what counts.’ Intrigerend. Ik denk dat er een kern van waarheid in zit. Wordt inderdaad niet te vaak gezocht naar de spreekwoordelijke sleutels onder de lantaarnpaal, alleen omdat daar het licht is? Worden niet te vaak de dingen gemeten die gemeten kunnen worden in plaats van die zaken die er strategisch en maatschappelijk toe doen?

Bron en volledig bericht: Communicatieonline