Apprenticeships, Super Bowl, ad spend: 5 killer stats to start your week

Apprenticeships can boost diversity and inclusion in the creative industries

44% of UK managers believe that apprenticeship programmes are the best way to encourage diversity, followed by recruitment strategies on 42% and updated policies on 40%.

Collective effort is also required to raise awareness of the issue, with 37% believing hosting events and internal training to educate employees will helps. A quarter believe government regulations and guidelines and involvement from industry bodies (17%) would help improve the UK’s diversity gap.

In a separate survey of 1,000 parents, 29% think real-life experiences provide the best route to securing a good job, ahead of higher education on 24%.

Source: Creative Pioneers

Microsoft tops list of most effective Super Bowl ads

Microsoft has topped a list of the most effective Super Bowl ads this year. It’s campaign starring the first woman Super Bowl coach, Katie Sowers, scored 5.3 stars on System1’s ranking.

That was ahead of Jeep’s ad featuring Bill Murray that took advantage of the coincidence that the Super Bowl this year was on Groundhog Day on 5.2 stars. Doritos’ Western-inspired ad rounded out the top three with 5.1 stars.

The ranking is calculated by measuring the emotions that each ad generates and the intensity of that emotion. These are then given a star ranking. The higher the star ranking the more likely an ad is to generate long-term growth.

Source: System1

UK ad industry experiences 25th consecutive quarter of growth

Spend on advertising in the UK increased by 5.6% year on year to reach £5.97bn in the third quarter of 2019, marketing the industry’s 25th consecutive quarter of growth.

The increase means UK ad spend is now forecast to reach £24.8bn in 2019, up 5.2% year on year, and a further 5.2% in 2020 to £26.1bn.

Overall market growth is being driven by increased spend on online advertising across a myriad of media. Digital outdoor spend was up 17.1%, TV broadcaster video-on-demand increased 16.7% and national online newsbrands experienced growth of 6.5%.

Cinema advertising saw particularly strong growth, with spend up 46.5%.

Source: Advertising Association/Warc

Consumer confidence creeps up

Consumer confidence increased by two points in January to -9, the second consecutive month of improvements and suggesting consumers are feeling a “mini Boris bounce” after the Conservatives’ election win.

People’s perceptions of their financial situation improved, with the score for the past 12 months up four points and the next 12 months rising three points. Perceptions of the economic situation also increased by three points although they remain strongly in negative territory.

The major purchase index, however, was down two points, reflecting belt-tightening post-Christmas.

Source: GfK

Consumers discovering new brands through podcast advertising

More than a quarter (27%) of people who listen to podcasts weekly agree that they discover new brands through podcast ads.

The majority (59%) of listeners say they find marketing they hear via podcasts and the radio relevant.

Some 37% of the British population listen to podcasts at least monthly, with this rising to 67% of men aged 16 to 29 and 54% among households with incomes of more than £75,000.

The most engaged group of podcast consumers are those aged 16 to 34, with 14% listening daily and 29% listening several times a week.

Source: DMA