Putting Numbers into Perspective

There have been a number of articles and blog posts about the CEIR Index which was released last week.  In case you missed it, the Index showed that there was a 12.5% decline for 2009.  While that is a very significant decline, assessing other marketing functions — like advertising – puts that percentage into a different perspective.

On March 17th, BtoB Magazine reported that “US Ad Spending [is] Down 12.3% Last Year”.

Total ad spending in the U.S. fell 12.3% to $125.3 billion last year, according to a new report from Kantar Media (formerly TNS Media Intelligence). Ad spending in the fourth quarter was down 6.0% from the same period in 2008.

• The hardest-hit categories last year were local magazines (down 27.7%), b-to-b magazines (down 26.2%), national spot radio (down 24.6%) and spot TV (down 23.7%).

• The only categories experiencing growth last year were Internet display advertising, up 7.3%, and free-standing inserts, up 3.0%.

While we consider these numbers, another very interesting statistic is worth evaluating.  On April 19th the CMO Council released their new report on marketing entitled, The State of Marketing: Intentions and Investments for 2010. This is the fourth edition of this report and this year it was sponsored by Deloitte Consulting LLP, and ExactTarget.

In this annual report, the CMO Council  provides the numbers for all demand generation marketing functions.  Of course, exhibitions are one of those functions.This year’s number is very consistent with last year’s figure of 11%.  It has held steady year-over-year!

Here are a couple of highlights from their announcement about this report:

Management requirements for greater top-line growth in 2010 are reflected in how demand generation, sales support and advertising dollars are being directed. Largest shares are being allocated to database marketing (12.5 percent), sales collateral/literature (12 percent), trade shows and conferences (11.5 percent), and online advertising (7 percent). In contrast to 2009, most marketers are seeing their media budgets stay the same or increase slightly by five percent. Larger gains of over five percent are reflected in interactive/web marketing, social media, search marketing, SEO, and mobile communications areas.

Christine Cutten, a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLC notes, “The lens on marketing spend has been magnified and marketers will continue to be asked to do more with less and justify marketing investments. To deliver against these directives and enable growth, marketers are looking toward online and social marketing execution strategies.”

“We are seeing increased activity in the marketplace around online channel integration and building digital competencies as online strategies increasingly become incorporated with overall enterprise strategies and consumer purchasing patterns change. Similarly, we have seen a push toward the development of multi-channel offerings that deliver the brand promise consistently across online, mobile, in-store, and traditional channels,” Cutten added.

To see additional material on this and other CMO Council reports, go to www.cmocouncil.org.