Direct Marketing Outperforms Above-The-Line Methods
Direct marketing is emerging as the weapon of choice for an increasing number of brands with research showing it outperformed above-the-line advertising in terms of expenditure growth during 2003.
The latest research from market information provider Key Note claims that between 2001 and 2002 direct marketing enjoyed a 6.6% increase compared to a 2.6% dip in expenditure for most other forms of marketing.
According to the study, the direct marketing industry grew by 7% last year to be worth more than £12 billion, compared to above-the-line advertising, which saw expenditure drop to just under the £11.5 billion mark.
Commenting on the findings, Key Note’s Simon Taylor, said: “The continuing trend of companies to centre their businesses around customers rather than their processes is clearly benefiting the direct marketing industry. This customer focus has led to a plethora of solutions and associated technologies which allow customer data to be analysed and acted upon much more efficiently.”
He added: “With a more favourable economic climate developing, we expect to see direct marketing budgets continue to increase in the foreseeable future.”
Key Note claims that direct response television has also seen increased interest from advertisers with the rising take-up of digital television. Higher budgets for new media and internet advertising are also reported to be in the pipeline as ‘advertisers recognise the importance of this medium to tailor communications to meet their personal preferences’.
The results of Key Note’s research come just days after the latest Bellwether report from the IPA, which revealed that long-awaited UK advertising recovery continued to gather pace in the first quarter of this year. The economic climate stabilised and business confidence gradually returned to marketing executives (see Recovery Slowly Gathers Pace For UK Advertisers).
Key Note: 020 8481 8450 www.keynote.co.uk
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