New Business Activity Remains Subdued In First Half
The long-awaited advertising recovery may have brought a feeling of optimism to the industry but it has yet to result in a significant increase in UK new business, according to figures from the AAR’s NewBizMoves database.
The latest official data reveals little notable improvement in the advertising sector with a total of 198 creative account reviews taking place in the first half of 2004, compared to 193 in the same six-month period the previous year.
Martin Jones, director of advertising at the AAR, said: “The advertising market has undoubtedly seen a rise in levels of confidence. However, this has been principally caused by increased spending by existing clients and has yet to be reflected in the new business marketplace.”
The majority of pitches (60%) were open to non-roster agencies, while 14% of pitches involved only roster agencies and 18% of advertisers appointed without a pitch. The remaining appointments were either a mixture of roster and non-roster or new assignments.
Jones added: “For those clients that have chosen to review, we are continuing to see a rise in both the involvement of Procurement Departments, and the desire from Marketing Departments to have integrated thinking from their advertising agency partners, although the majority are still looking for specialist agencies to undertake the exceptional requirements”
HSBC’s appointment of WPP on a global basis was the most high-profile pitch in the first six months of 2004. However, the AAR claims that multimillion UK-only reviews have been few and far between so far this year. It points to Camelot moving to AMV and 3 appointing WCRS as two of the most significant moves.
The retail sector accounted for the greatest proportion of new business moves in the first half of this year with 9.5% compared with 8.3% for the same period the previous year. Financial Services, historically the largest reviewer, dropped to fourth place with a 6.7% share of the total review compared with 10.4% in the first six months of 2003.
The latest Bellwether report from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising shows confidence returning to the UK marketing sector in the second quarter of this year, with the steepest rise in marketing and advertising spend since the survey began more than four years ago (see Market Recovery Continuing For UK Advertisers).AAR: 020 7612 1200 www.aargroup.co.uk For the latest account moves see NewBizMoves.co.uk
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