UK marketing rated ‘centre of excellence’

The UK, alongside continental Europe and Australia were cited as being “go-to” markets for best practice in a World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) poll of 65 senior marketers from companies such as Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and McDonald’s.

Marketing excellence is increasingly found outside of the US, home to the majority of the world’s biggest brands, the survey found. Almost three-quarters (71%) of respondents said that the best examples of marketing were found outside the States.

The shift in sentiment about the US’ prominence is reflected by respondents’ budget allocation plans.

Almost 60% are planning to shift the bulk of their marketing spend to developing markets, which have greater growth possibilities in the coming years.
Global companies such as Diageo have already begun to reallocate budget to exploit burgeoning markets such as South America and Asia.

The Smirnoff maker upped marketing spend in emerging economies by 20% in the second-half of 2012, compared to a 10% bump across the world.

Advertising spend in Asia Pacific and Latin America is expected to grow by 7.4% and 9.2% respectively in 2012, according to ZenithOptimedia, outpacing North America at 3.6% and Western Europe at 1.5%.

UK spend will grow 3.2%, the media agency network predicts.

Read WFA president and AB Inbev chief marketing officer Chris Burggraeve’s thoughts on social media here.