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It's tempting to reduce advertising spend in a recession

here's why you shouldn't...

In February, the UK entered a technical recession, with GDP figures showing the economy contracting by 0.3% in Q4 2023. This will have major implications for policymakers, consumers and businesses.

Paul Baker Senior Director 02/04/2024
In February, the UK entered a technical recession, with GDP figures revealing the economy contracted by 0.3% in Q4 2023.

This prompted us to consider the severe economic headwinds those in marketing departments across the country will be looking at.

During economic downturn, it can be tempting to look at an advertising budget as a ‘nice to have’ rather than an essential – which is why those in marketing departments are often asked to further squeeze their already-tight budgets.

A closer look at the global annual advertising expenditure over the past 20+ years reveals a consistent upward trend, with the only year-on-year declines occurring in 2008 and 2020. It’s not by chance that these contractions coincide with the world’s most recent financial crises; this alignment underscores the very real hits marketing budgets face across all sectors.

But we believe it’s absolutely imperative for brands to maintain their advertising spend during a recession or any economic downturn.

The risk is, if you don’t, consumers could forget about your brand and it will take a long time (and more budget) to become front of mind once more.

But more than this, there is an opportunity for brands to lean in. If you maintain your advertising spend while many others don’t, there aren’t many easier (or cheaper) ways to increase your share of voice in the market.

Drawing on more than 30 years of experience in brand and comms research & consulting, Savanta’s Paul Baker takes us through the key considerations around advertising during a recession, including:

  How much to spend

  Where to deploy that spend

  Executional strategy

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