• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Rina Chandran

Mumbai , Oct. 14

THE mood is upbeat and advertising spends are up this festive, as a good monsoon and strong market sentiment are expected to fuel consumer spending.

Across the board, ad spends are up by 15-25 per cent this festive as compared to the previous season, according to industry experts. Led by strong demand in durables, housing and the auto segments, the ad industry overall is expected to grow at a healthy 12 per cent this year, according to a recent survey by Mindshare-Maximize.

In fact, while there were some fears that the World Cup may have sucked in some of the money earmarked for this festive, the upbeat sentiment has actually compelled many advertisers to go back to the drawing board and come up with bigger festive budgets, according to Mr Atul Phadnis, Director, S-Group, TAM Media Research.

However, there are some notable changes in the way the money is being spent this festive: some advertisers have resisted from doing festive-specific communications, focusing instead on brand-building exercises that will not get dated after the festive, according to Mr Sushant Panda, Associate Vice-President, Grey Worldwide.

"Except for white goods, other advertising is more about brand building rather than tactical festive promotions because advertisers have recognised that they are in the business of building a brand rather than doing festive promos," he said.

Another visible trend this festive is the greater focus on through-the-line activities, or an integrated 360 degree approach to marketing communications, as clients look for quicker returns on their spends, according to Mr Ashish Bhasin, Director, Integrated Marketing Action Group, Lintas.

"They also realise that after a certain point of time, growth from above-the-line is flat, so clients are spending more on branding at the point of sale, through signage and on packaging, and on mall activity, where sales actually take place," he said.

"There are also greater associations with events, films and festival poojas." Spend on through-the-line communication is about 30-45 per cent of the total festive spend this year, up from 20-25 per cent a few years ago, Mr Bhasin estimated.

A sure sign of a healthy festive this season is the frequency with which ads are getting bumped from TV channels as the networks run out of inventory, and the thickness of newspapers and magazines as they are flooded with ads, said Mr Manish Porwal, General Manager - Investment & New Initiatives, Starcom Worldwide.

"Given that the last three to four years weren't good, there is a great deal of optimism - and that is being reflected on air and off it," he said.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Govt rules out ECB policy change for now

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line