Top 100 advertisers - 2001 proved a diverse year for advertisers - while the majority cut their spend, many turned to BTL or took advantage of lower TV costs

In the fourth year of Marketing's exclusive analysis of the top 100 UK advertisers' spend, with figures from ACNielsen MMS, overall spend has declined by 3.7% to £2.86bn, compared with 2000's rise of 2.1% and 1999's 10%. Even more telling is the fact that 59 of the top 100 advertisers cut their spend in 2001, compared with 48 in 2000 and 29 in

1999.

The top three advertisers remained the same as 2000 with one major difference: COI Communications rose to the top of the table having increased its spend by 38.5%.

Its position at the top of the table has already caused controversy and the government has denied accusations of 'electioneering', as reported in Marketing (February 14). The government says its £142.5m spend, which was poured into dozens of campaigns ranging from literacy and numeracy to a campaign for the 2001 Census, was justified as it meant

voters benefited from government services. Its spend puts it more than £25m ahead of the next highest spender Procter & Gamble which owns Ariel, Sunny Delight and Fairy, has decreased its spend by 5.6%.

Last November P&G's UK chief, Chris de Lapuente, hinted in an interview with Marketing that the company was to start channelling more of its budget toward below-the-line marketing. "We've gone through a period where TV advertising costs were higher than we expected and we didn't

consider it particularly good value. We've put more effort into developing stronger, deeper relationships with consumers either via direct mail or interactive TV advertising."

Spending cuts

P&G's chief competitor, Unilever, is split by MMS into the separate companies through which it operates. Despite cuts, the combined total for the four divisions would make Unilever the UK's biggest spender, leading COI Communications by £82,566. Its food divisions, including brands such as Marmite and Pot Noodle, suffered cuts, with Birds Eye Wall's falling by 27.1% and Bestfoods falling by 23.5%, while the Lever Faberge Personal Care and Home divisions underwent a drop of

1.7% and a rise of 0.6% respectively.

The third-biggest spender in 2001, BT, tells a different story. Having decreased its spend by 10.1%, it has concentrated on measuring return on investment rather than consciously shifting to below-the-line.

"Proportionately, the 10% decrease has not gone below-the-line," says Amanda Mackenzie, director of marketing services at BT. "An objective of my job is to spend less and achieve more. The 'Gladiator' ads created a platform for us to advertise products that we have not advertised before, and based on that they are working harder for us than the ET

campaign."

Four of the top ten advertisers are car brands: Ford, Renault, Vauxhall and Peugeot. And, with 17 automotive firms in the top 100, 2001 was a prolific year for car marketers. Ten of the 17 have increased their spend, most notably BMW (73.6%) and Mercedes (53.6%).

Yet the sharp increases seen in 2001's car adspends may have been a blip as marques rallied to bolster their budgets after making reductions in 2000 due to pricing issues.

Automotive's ups and downs

"Allegations that the UK car market was excessively priced led to public debate about buying cars in Europe," says Mike Moran, Toyota commercial director. "But people didn't buy abroad, they just held off. By October 2000 marques had all reduced their prices buy around 10% and for quite a

long period they didn't want to advertise, which is why Mercedes' adspend went from £18m in 1999 down to £10m in 2000 and back up to £16m in 2001," explains Moran.

Car commercials were ubiquitous on TV screens in late 2001, as car marketers took advantage of the chance to buy cheaper airtime from embattled media owners. Ford's TV spend rose by 36.2%, Citroen's by 21.3%, Honda's by 52.1%, Nissan's by 60.8%, BMW's by 43.7% and Mercedes' by a huge 420%.

Of course, automotive ad budgets fluctuate according to the number of models being launched, but as Moran admits, advantageous TV prices provided a fillip. "If you are in the market for TV advertising, then 2001 airtime at 1997 prices will seem very attractive," he says. "But I don't think it would have affected those that were not in the market for

TV space."

Back to the top ten, Sainsbury's' adspend is also on the up. It has leapt ten places to number nine, having increased its spend by 14.7%. Of the 17 retailers in the table, Sainsbury's is one of only five to have increased its above-the-line adspend.

Its Jamie Oliver ads are proving successful, and the chef has agreed a new £1m contract with the chain for the next two years.

"Last year television was relatively cheap and in deflation, so unlike the previous year, we were able to buy what we wanted," says a Sainsbury's spokeswoman. "This increased presence reflected our business recovery and transformation. In addition we wanted to support the Jamie campaign, which we know is effective."

The UK's second biggest supermarket is flourishing under Sir Peter Davis, having reported Christmas sales up 6.8% on the same period in 2000, but although it spends more than twice Tesco's £24m on above-the-line ads, its profits still trail the market leader.

Tesco has, according to the MMS figures, slashed its above-the-line spend by 9%, in line with its emphasis on direct marketing and customer relationship management. "Retailers are looking for lots of different ways to communicate" says Sally Bain, senior analyst at retail specialist Verdict Research. "Advertising is an important part of the mix, but it is a mix and retailers are starting to target niche markets.

They are leaning toward using more direct marketing and customer relationship management, rather than the mass-market coverage that above-the-line offers."

Halifax leads the retail banking sector, with a 21% increase and a 22 place leap up the table. Of its £21.4m spend, £14.1m went on TV, while its spend in other media decreased. This rise was due to its 'real employee' TV ad campaign starring staff Howard Brown and Yvonne McBride singing pop songs.

Conversely NatWest, still running its 'trendy wine bar' TV ads, has slashed its above-the-line spend by 37.6%. The main cuts came in TV and press, while its radio and outdoor spends are up by more than 35%. Barclays and Egg, which raised their overall spends by 264% and 206% in 2000 dropped out of the table in 2001.

Cinema boom

This year very few companies hiked their spend substantially. The biggest increase was from Channel 4, which, according to the MMS figures, raised its spend by 109% to £14.6m. "The spend for 2001 included advertising for FilmFour and the launch of E4, which meant an extra spend of between £3m and £4m, and buoyed our press spend," says Bill Griffin, C4 chief marketing manager.

The media hit hardest by the falling spend were TV (£1.8bn) and radio (£136.3m), each taking a 6.4% tumble. "Radio couldn't escape the fact that advertisers weren't spending as much," says Justin Sampson, managing director of the RAB. "But it did well out of sectors such as personal finance, which increased spend by 33%, and automotive, which increased it by 7%."

Bucking the downward trend, cinema saw a boom year, with the top 100 advertisers spending £84.3m - 108.8% more than they did in 2000. According to the Cinema Advertising Association (CAA), the automotive sector spent the most on cinema, followed by telecoms and drinks.

Cinema admissions rose to 156 million in 2001, the highest for 29 years - since 1972 - and while 67% of cinema-goers are aged between 15 and 34, 20% are now over 45. "More brands are using cinema than ever before," says a CAA spokeswoman. "The increasing diversity of films is attracting a broader audience and a diversity of brands."

Despite their decreases, TV and press remained by far the media of choice, easily outselling cinema, radio and outdoor. P&G was the biggest TV spender, while BT was the biggest supporter of press ads. But it was closely followed by the COI, which was the biggest radio spender. Vauxhall was the biggest supporter of outdoor, with a £6.1m spend in this medium.

TOP 100 UK ADVERTISERS, 1-60

Rnk 2000 Organisation Spend 2001 Spend 2000 % chg Press

rnk (pounds) (pounds) (pounds)

1 2 COI Communications 142,551,224 102,914,973 38.5 27,642,639

2 1 Procter & Gamble 114,232,164 120,962,284 -5.6 19,266,044

3 3 BT 91,794,411 102,101,208 -10.1 28,663,320

4 5 Ford Motor Company 82,138,294 62,627,287 31.2 21,340,005

5 4 Renault 64,294,314 70,649,385 -9.0 19,961,840

6 7 Vauxhall Motors 55,496,901 57,084,964 -2.8 13,704,450

7 16 DFS Northern Upholstery 50,656,732 43,002,724 17.8 23,047,247

8 6 L'Oreal Golden 49,118,512 59,740,511 -17.8 12,554,223

9 19 Sainsbury's 46,003,894 40,107,991 14.7 11,774,229

10 13 Peugeot Motor Company 45,616,597 46,555,440 -2.0 14,408,451

11 15 Lever Faberge Personal Care 43,613,599 44,350,070 -1.7 5,365,815

12 9 Kellogg 41,879,913 47,853,783 -12.5 5,319,852

13 18 Lever Faberge Home Care 41,602,651 41,338,885 0.6 12,461,017

14 14 Volkswagen 41,061,346 46,127,204 -11.0 9,006,453

15 17 McDonald's 40,494,591 42,491,811 -4.7 232,301

16 8 Unilever Bestfoods 39,047,147 51,074,520 -23.5 6,246,798

17 27 Orange 38,242,657 34,787,773 9.9 12,440,703

18 28 Reckitt Benckiser 37,106,767 33,544,476 10.6 2,082,834

19 11 Mars Confectionery 36,855,151 47,357,257 -22.2 1,329,287

20 22 Toyota 36,827,093 38,202,465 -3.6 6,394,776

21 30 Citroen 36,195,837 31,804,607 13.8 8,061,736

22 33 Nestle Rowntree Division 35,850,043 30,986,031 15.7 1,164,744

23 34 Fiat Auto 35,651,351 30,919,518 15.3 12,260,459

24 21 Pedigree Masterfoods 35,563,459 38,495,856 -7.6 8,263,310

25 50 GuinnessUDV 34,253,356 25,763,840 33.0 1,743,262

26 25 Boots The Chemists 32,099,030 35,707,254 -10.1 12,328,929

27 23 B&Q 30,733,779 36,337,446 -15.4 6,891,321

28 10 BSkyB 30,577,804 47,771,305 -36.0 16,898,290

29 35 Royal Mail 30,290,692 29,404,099 3.0 4,552,851

30 20 BT Cellnet 30,150,249 38,891,890 -22.5 10,718,744

31 37 MG Rover Group 30,041,476 29,146,690 3.1 16,678,406

32 61 Direct Line Insurance 29,729,687 21,529,340 38.1 5,015,352

33 29 British Gas 29,032,588 33,151,970 -12.4 5,813,931

34 49 AOL 28,137,527 26,005,446 8.2 4,115,238

35 39 Coca-Cola 28,090,046 28,724,840 -2.2 715,364

36 42 News Int'l Newspapers 27,957,715 27,474,180 1.8 130,841

37 87 Mattel 26,497,724 15,435,960 71.7 371,120

38 55 Honda 26,245,675 23,123,776 13.5 8,480,319

39 40 PC World 26,028,478 28,700,507 -9.3 20,339,844

40 43 Glaxosmithkline Consumer Healthcare 25,549,522 27,013,548 -5.4 3,083,654

41 24 Currys Group 25,499,486 36,302,753 -29.8 14,654,314

42 69 Nissan Motor 24,965,821 19,172,019 30.2 3,093,862

43 12 Vodafone 24,924,660 47,265,610 -47.3 6,499,305

44 70 Johnson & Johnson 24,829,756 18,891,691 31.4 2,600,501

45 54 Asda Stores 24,785,912 23,398,135 5.9 4,576,655

46 44 Associated Newspapers 24,565,845 26,798,175 -8.3 601,905

47 46 Tesco 24,096,803 26,488,682 -9.0 5,437,964

48 47 Woolworths 24,086,303 26,442,656 -8.9 6,291,512

49 96 BMW 23,760,441 13,686,435 73.6 7,431,795

50 64 JD Williams & Company 23,020,322 20,820,984 10.6 19,194,088

51 26 One 2 One Communications 22,346,298 35,317,965 -36.7 2,951,727

52 38 Camelot Group 21,506,112 29,142,931 -26.2 2,597,214

53 75 Halifax 21,416,035 17,702,154 21.0 7,172,027

54 60 Bass Brewers 21,319,960 21,622,033 -1.4 275,345

55 90 Beiersdorf UK 20,880,649 14,839,690 40.7 4,235,931

56 36 ITV Digital 20,722,733 29,399,121 -29.5 6,724,566

57 68 UIP United Int'l Pictures 20,720,641 19,214,691 7.8 3,790,376

58 45 Scottish Courage 20,709,723 26,625,654 -22.2 1,626,556

59 72 Kimberly Clark 20,391,453 18,112,093 12.6 2,631,873

60 65 Audi 20,161,592 20,807,084 -3.1 6,769,815

61 31 NatWest 19,501,212 31,267,698 -37.6 2,999,646

62 62 NTL 19,297,497 21,089,278 -8.5 6,065,684

63 32 Tiny Computers 19,009,154 31,137,223 -39.0 16,654,611

64 81 Specsavers Optical Group 19,006,305 16,550,959 14.8 3,327,575

65 83 Norwich Union 18,884,130 16,228,076 16.4 6,457,561

66 58 Nokia Mobile Phones 18,406,134 22,587,132 -18.5 6,748,756

67 52 Birds Eye Walls 18,370,393 25,184,711 -27.1 1,278,187

68 82 Argos 18,367,796 16,422,234 11.8 3,067,098

69 48 Sainsbury's Homebase 17,762,421 26,365,004 -32.6 3,682,463

70 73 Marks & Spencer 17,668,206 18,086,953 -2.3 11,493,469

71 74 Cereal Partners 17,501,959 18,025,253 -2.9 733,094

72 57 Cadbury Trebor Bassett 17,491,543 22,612,868 -22.6 531,820

73 84 Lloyds TSB Group 17,482,164 16,163,183 8.2 4,041,254

74 51 Interbrew 17,406,510 25,508,275 -31.8 799,952

75 78 Campbells Grocery Products 17,329,703 17,410,483 -0.5 2,421,189

76 53 Kraft Foods 17,274,255 24,208,951 -28.6 2,240,854

77 63 Guinness Brewing 17,246,742 21,009,816 -17.9 334,718

78 56 Comet Group 17,154,523 23,038,425 -25.5 4,583,657

79 67 Claims Direct 16,942,641 19,783,164 -14.4 48,688

80 41 Time Computers 16,871,860 27,478,035 -38.6 16,545,552

81 99 Mercedes Benz 16,793,904 10,934,944 53.6 4,866,252

82 71 MFI Furniture Group 16,533,826 18,364,937 -10.0 7,992,564

83 88 Land Rover 16,510,397 15,094,806 9.4 5,652,068

84 91 Nationwide Building Society 16,106,089 14,595,735 10.3 5,821,963

85 77 Wrigley Company 16,102,556 17,477,690 -7.9 28,635

86 80 Alliance & Leicester 16,060,679 16,854,959 -4.7 7,823,618

87 94 Hewlett-Packard 15,761,441 14,104,761 11.7 9,897,474

88 98 Walkers Snack Foods 15,679,416 12,337,322 27.1 134,801

89 93 Weetabix 15,460,001 14,149,180 9.3 344,142

90 79 Virgin Records 15,384,057 17,041,822 -9.7 987,363

91 92 Universal Music 15,236,208 14,173,946 7.5 985,152

92 85 Courts Furnishers 15,143,299 15,812,120 -4.2 7,151,167

93 59 Volvo Car 15,038,198 21,884,698 -31.3 7,500,149

94 66 Dixons Stores Group 14,671,249 20,511,222 -28.5 12,915,576

95 100 Channel 4 14,648,376 6,992,679 109.5 4,927,603

96 76 Anheuser Busch 14,512,655 17,542,490 -17.3 409,449

97 89 Iceland Frozen Foods 14,315,085 15,035,997 -4.8 2,033,271

98 86 Virgin Mobile Telecoms 14,295,490 15,637,991 -8.6 5,604,446

99 97 Colgate- Palmolive 14,252,414 13,466,947 5.8 1,211,462

100 95 Seat 14,204,023 13,736,912 3.4 2,167,525

Total 2,867,705,052 2,977,222,549 -3.7 692,537,838

Rnk 2000 Organisation Cinema Radio Outdoor TV

rnk (pounds) (pounds) (pounds) (pounds)

1 2 COI Communications 7,531,732 23,743,553 4,182,572 79,450,728

2 1 Procter & Gamble 506,999 3,559,864 4,254,773 86,644,484

3 3 BT 1,827,572 9,691,185 2,390,274 49,222,060

4 5 Ford Motor Company 801,762 2,213,401 3,746,273 54,036,853

5 4 Renault 2,653,294 4,050,502 4,361,148 33,267,530

6 7 Vauxhall Motors 34,162 3,531,566 6,082,395 32,144,328

7 16 DFS Northern Upholstery 0 1,694,025 27,250 25,888,210

8 6 L'Oreal Golden 857,788 99,850 3,114,185 32,492,466

9 19 Sainsbury's 0 2,615,467 1,833,461 29,780,737

10 13 Peugeot Motor Company 3,285,392 1,675,217 2,598,404 23,649,133

11 15 Lever Faberge Personal Care 789,725 406,790 4,442,749 32,608,520

12 9 Kellogg 0 1,145,837 598,252 34,815,972

13 18 Lever Faberge Home Care 0 2,163,406 2,968,433 24,009,795

14 14 Volkswagen 1,952,887 2,101,924 3,387,332 24,612,750

15 17 McDonald's 925,584 2,201,860 4,753,709 32,381,137

16 8 Unilever Bestfoods 1,074,374 293,936 2,086,662 29,345,377

17 27 Orange 3,491,210 1,804,712 2,459,094 18,046,938

18 28 Reckitt Benckiser 0 30,717 395,078 34,598,138

19 11 Mars Confectionery 1,582,894 960,597 2,688,761 30,293,612

20 22 Toyota 2,758,094 3,573,769 2,926,284 21,174,170

21 30 Citroen 0 249,427 22,444 27,862,230

22 33 Nestle Rowntree Division 4,192,294 2,119,329 3,219,770 25,153,906

23 34 Fiat Auto 1,636,322 3,585,568 2,470,024 15,698,978

24 21 Pedigree Masterfoods 36,654 660,630 3,120,738 23,482,127

25 50 GuinnessUDV 6,189,045 733,863 3,126,925 22,460,261

26 25 Boots The Chemists 0 584,848 175,238 19,010,015

27 23 B&Q 0 406,136 115,044 23,321,278

28 10 BSkyB 678,674 2,320,935 2,917,152 7,762,753

29 35 Royal Mail 2,965,666 62,598 2,116,344 20,593,233

30 20 BT Cellnet 5,805,608 3,734,135 114,094 9,777,668

31 37 MG Rover Group 1,543,647 5,036,409 3,044,367 3,738,647

32 61 Direct Line Insurance 0 384,385 0 24,329,950

33 29 British Gas 0 2,586,114 2,557,261 18,075,282

34 49 AOL 0 2417 83,810 23,936,062

35 39 Coca-Cola 734,015 899,871 3,525,535 22,215,261

36 42 News Int'l Newspapers 112,000 4,033,259 536,233 23,145,382

37 87 Mattel 0 0 5529 26,121,075

38 55 Honda 0 494,669 2,320,027 14,950,660

39 40 PC World 0 371,248 0 5,317,386

40 43 Glaxo- smithkline Consumer Healthcare 210,225 668,529 2,027,560 19,559,554

41 24 Currys Group 0 102,816 0 10,742,356

42 69 Nissan Motor 789,751 1,759,969 9580 19,312,659

43 12 Vodafone 810,714 2,868,594 1,298,629 13,447,418

44 70 Johnson & Johnson 199,514 214,645 185,127 21,629,969

45 54 Asda Stores 0 404,759 997,993 18,806,505

46 44 Associated Newspapers 0 1,372,794 419,257 22,171,889

47 46 Tesco 0 1,642,068 1,530,016 15,486,755

48 47 Woolworths 0 467,331 19,278 17,308,182

49 96 BMW 3,904,617 49,563 1,689,405 10,685,061

50 64 JD Williams & Company 0 0 0 3,826,234

51 26 One 2 One 2,274,878 3,053,184 1,608,202 12,458,307

52 38 Camelot Group 0 3,590,969 19,250 15,298,679

53 75 Halifax 0 85,395 10,904 14,147,709

54 60 Bass Brewers 2,078,114 153,447 788,194 18,024,860

55 90 Beiersdorf UK 493,693 471,811 119,418 15,559,796

56 36 ITV Digital 175,016 483,844 1,241,246 12,098,061

57 68 UIP United Int'l Pictures 0 1,271,333 3,495,021 12,163,911

58 45 Scottish Courage 492,798 832,450 174,565 17,583,354

59 72 Kimberly Clark 0 12,858 220,359 17,526,363

60 65 Audi 356,632 17,185 2,470,795 10,547,165

61 31 NatWest 0 1,676,900 1,115,283 13,709,383

62 62 NTL 542,199 600,796 3,307,929 8,780,889

63 32 Tiny Computers 0 66,387 4054 2,284,102

64 81 Specsavers Optical Group 3,107 1,298,026 32,423 14,345,174

65 83 Norwich Union 414,852 133,486 4,058,898 7,819,333

66 58 Nokia Mobile Phones 0 122,497 1,976,434 9,558,447

67 52 Birds Eye Walls 0 112,894 2,403,578 14,575,734

68 82 Argos 0 296,584 4217 14,999,897

69 48 Sainsbury's Homebase 0 307,418 11,451 13,761,089

70 73 Marks & Spencer 0 1,560,148 845,156 3,769,433

71 74 Cereal Partners 113,656 26,380 496,193 16,132,636

72 57 Cadbury Trebor Bassett 554,867 329,140 1,481,283 14,594,433

73 84 Lloyds TSB Group 0 809,693 1,653,946 10,977,271

74 51 Interbrew 1,843,335 340,924 10,712 14,411,587

75 78 Campbells Grocery

Products 167,803 1,179,602 1,133,426 12,427,683

76 53 Kraft Foods 0 1030 1,207,348 13,825,023

77 63 Guinness Brewing 0 52,343 750,420 16,109,261

78 56 Comet Group 0 109,258 65,525 12,396,083

79 67 Claims Direct 0 1,205,454 0 15,688,499

80 41 Time Computers 0 0 0 326,308

81 99 Mercedes Benz 757,214 1,275,849 659,230 9,235,359

82 71 MFI Furniture Group 0 194,468 61,060 8,285,734

83 88 Land Rover 1,267,359 196,446 1,679,140 7,715,384

84 91 Nationwide Building Society 0 103,149 2,205,020 7,975,957

85 77 Wrigley Company 0 0 1,913,648 14,160,273

86 80 Alliance & Leicester 0 278,805 1,003,735 6,954,521

87 94 Hewlett- Packard 0 69,496 99,605 5,694,866

88 98 Walkers Snack Foods 2,870,877 288,430 862,218 11,523,090

89 93 Weetabix 607,698 77,860 858,829 13,571,472

90 79 Virgin Records 0 1,387,561 1,047,937 11,961,196

91 92 Universal Music 0 1,239,078 300,651 12,711,327

92 85 Courts Furnishers 0 845,149 7557 7,139,426

93 59 Volvo Car 0 281,382 1,222,064 6,034,603

94 66 Dixons Stores Group 0 505,219 1,250,454 0

95 100 Channel 4 6,412,015 645,640 2,658,999 4119

96 76 Anheuser Busch 561,263 1,423,002 21,500 12,097,441

97 89 Iceland Frozen Foods 0 1,276,136 0 11,005,678

98 86 Virgin Mobile Telecoms 1,549,651 493,079 1,135,342 5,512,972

99 97 Colgate- Palmolive 836,911 14,746 2,165,582 10,023,713

100 95 Seat 0 69,421 53,171 11,913,906

Total 84,256,153 136,241,439 146,856,441 1,807,813,181

Source: ACNielsen MMS