Adweek ADSPEND Survey: Issues

Two trends have remained constant, albeit with some permutations, since the first study was conducted in April 2001. First, despite the movement toward integrating communications efforts, the great majority of respondents prefer multiple marketing vendors. In the latest study, 82 percent said they use multiple agencies for marketing communications, down only 2 percent from 18 months ago. Second, sales/profitability and competitive activity remain the two most important marketing issues, as they were in April of last year. However, while sales/profitability is still the No. 1 issue, it no longer commands as much importance as it used to: 52 percent of respondents named it as one of their two top issues in September, down from 65 percent in April 2001. Competitive activity was cited as one of the top two issues by one-third of respondents this time, close to the response in the first study. Perhaps reflecting the recession, 26 percent of respondents said production costs are one of their top two issues, versus 22 percent in April 2001. Although sales and profitability remains job one overall in the study, the importance attached to it varies among industries. For advertisers in retail and telecommunications, the vote was unanimous: 100 percent of respondents declared it one of their top two issues. It is also critical in the food/beverage and aviation/consumer durables/utilities/gas/oil/chemicals sectors, where more than six out of 10 respondents designated sales and profits as one of their two top issues. But among e-business/computers/technology clients, only one in three said sales and profits are one of the top two issues. Among entertainment/publishing/services advertisers, only one in four did so. Competition was a top issue for retail clients, who named it 75 percent of the time. Half of the respondents in food/beverage, telecommunications, e-business and entertainment made competitive activity a top-two issue. The Internet drew only a 12 percent vote overall as a top issue. Among auto advertisers, traditionally among the most active users of online media, only 9 percent named it a top-two issue. Workforce quality was also of relatively less importance, although one-third of respondents in e-business/computers/technology and aviation/consumer durables/utilities/gas/oil/chemicals made the quality of their people a top issue. Agency compensation was of most concern to advertisers in telecommunications and entertainment, with 50 percent of respondents in each naming it one of their top two issues. Financial services clients followed, with 43 percent calling it a top issue. Compensation is of least importance to food/beverage (13 percent) and aviation/consumer durables (17 percent) clients. Roughly one-third of respondents in automotive, pharmaceutical and packaged goods named agency compensation as one of their two top issues.

Brand Marketing

Adweek ADSPEND Survey: Issues

Jack Feuer

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Jack Feuer