Sexism, price deflation, social media spend: 5 killer stats to start your week

1. Majority of filmmakers say the ad industry is sexist

New research reveals 84% of filmmakers – 76% of males and 87% of females – think the ad industry is sexist, while 73% of female directors say they’ve witnessed sexism first hand while working in the sector.

Another 56% of female directors claim they would have more of a chance at winning a brief if they were a man. And only 19% of female filmmakers say they have not been impacted by the gender pay gap.

Currently, 93% of ads are made by men while just 12% of creative directors in London are female. Additionally, 71% of filmmakers [male and female] believe a lack of female directors is having a negative impact on the creative work in the ad industry.

Source: The Smalls

2. More than five years of shop price deflation comes to an end

Shop prices entered inflationary territory for the first time in five years during August, increasing 0.1%, compared to a 0.3% drop in July.

Non-food deflation continued to ease in August, with prices falling by 1.0% compared to 1.4% in July, marking the lowest rate of deflation since April 2013. Food inflation accelerated to 1.9% in August from July’s rate of 1.6%.

Fresh food inflation picked up in August when prices increased by 1.5%, up from 1.2% in July. And ambient Food inflation accelerated to 2.5% in August from 2.2% last month.

Source: British Retail Consortium

3. Social media spend accelerates despite marketers not being able to prove impact

Social media spend now accounts for 13.8% of brands’ total marketing budget, up from 9.8% in August 2017. That’s despite only 24.7% of marketers suggesting they are able to prove its impact quantitatively, and 39.3% unable to show its impact at all.

However, that is an improvement compared to the 16.3% of marketers who said they were able to quantify results last year, and the 45% who were unable to prove social’s impact.

Social media investment is still predicted to climb, with marketers expecting it to rise to 16.3% of their total marketing budget over the next 12 months and to 22.9% within the next five years.

Source: CMO Survey

4. Three-quarters of consumers would switch to a new brand for cheaper prices

Three-quarters of consumers say they would consider switching to a new brand if it offered cheaper prices (76%), better quality (76%), a discount (72%) or enabled them to save time (60%).

This is despite just 24% saying they consider brands they haven’t tried before when making new purchases, indicating customers tend to stick with what they know.

TV (45%) and online search (43%) are the key ways for consumers to find out about a new product or service.

Source: Direct Marketing Association

5. UK consumer confidence climbs in August

Consumer confidence was -7 in August, up three points from the previous month and August 2017.

The index measuring changes in personal finances during the past 12 months has increased three points to +4 (two points higher than this time last year), while the forecast for personal finances during the next 12 months increased one point to +8 this month (three points higher than August 2017).

Meanwhile, the measure for the general economic situation of the country during the past 12 months increased two points to -26 (four points higher than August 2017); expectations for the next 12 months have stayed the same at -26, one point higher than August 2017.

The major purchase index climbed eight points to +6 (six points higher than August last year) and the savings index also increased eight points to +17 which is 11 points higher than August 2017.

Source: GfK