IPA Bellwether Report: Q1 2023, a breakdown
MAG are pleased to share the key findings are that marketing budget growth is at its strongest since Q2 2022
Today, the IPA released Q1 2023’s Bellwether Report. The Report is researched and published by S&P Global on behalf of the IPA. It features original data drawn from a panel of around 300 UK marketing professionals and provides a key indicator of the health of the economy.
In Quarter Four 2022, we saw the appetite for marketing was strong, despite the uneasy waters of a possible recession, and now we have the results of Q1 2023, it is great to see that this is continuing for marketing activities to support brands. According to the survey’s findings, Main media marketing, which includes online advertising activity and budgets for campaigns on TV, recorded its strongest expansion in spending since Q1 2022 (net balance of +5.8%, from +4.4%).
The IPA notes that this quarter was overall positive, but what does that mean for brands?
Steve Arklie, Trading Director at MAG said: “For brands that want to show short term support during the cost of living crisis and increase immediate sales ,there are opportunities within main media that include matched investment in TV as well as sales-driven activations whereby broadcasters only receive the full marketing investment if set KPI’s are achieved. This provides a much less risk averse approach to deploying marketing budgets at a time where every penny needs to make a difference to business effects.”
Amy Roberts, Head of Planning at MAG said: “Main media advertising is very strong, with its strongest increase in spending since Q1 2022. Online (which saw a 10.5%+ increase in budgets) and Video (which saw a 7.9%+ increase in budgets) continue to grow, which is great to see, with an increase in audio for the first time since Q1 2022. These findings all reflect the usage and opportunity for the many platforms that are available for you to reach audiences.
“Video, Online and Audio are great extensions to marketing campaigns, and they create strong brand fluency. Overall, these media formats allow brands to engage with audiences whilst creating an emotional connection, and it’s wonderful to see that this is being seen across the wider industry.”
Beatriz Gonzalez, Head of Digital at MAG said: “We’ve noted the positive results for main media which anticipate a further growth of +13.5% in the next 12 months. From a Digital perspective, we’re very optimistic that 3 out of the 5 categories from main media saw increases in budgets in Q1, all three related to our programmatic offering CT360: Video, Online and Audio, with online registering the highest growth at +10.5%. “
Additionally, it is expected that there will be a greater focus towards video advertising across all programmatic offerings, especially with the removal of the third-party cookies. As such, there will be a further push on brand activity across online services. This report ultimately shows us that these are three categories that are going to grow and be utilised in upcoming campaigns.
The report also collects opportunities the surveyed businesses are seeing or predicting for their brands. Of the 300 companies surveyed, the most opportunities stated for media were that new technology such as AI should and would be utilised to reach consumer audiences.
Beatriz commented: “People are seeing the opportunity that lies in the investment in immersive technology, so it comes as no surprise businesses are trialling immersive tools like AI to showcase their products to increase consumer engagement. At MAG, we’ve also seen the rise of ChatGPT and how brands, agencies and people on their day-to-day lives are making use of it.”
The second biggest opportunity noted was the resurgence in face-to-face events in the industry.
Amy said: “This opportunity is an upward trend, which we have seen at MAG also; the desire from a brand and audience side for face-to-face marketing and events and allowing brands to speak directly to consumers. 14.5% of companies surveyed expect this to rise in 2023/24.”
Overall, whilst the results are very positive and companies are planning to increase marketing budgets, there is also a percentage of companies that cutting budgets. This provides an opportunity for brands to think long term, steal market share from their competitors and look beyond the cost living crisis knowing that they are coming out the other end with a larger customer base. For more detailed insights, contact us today.