Direct mail the only medium to see a fall in AA figures

by Jennifer Whitehead,, Brand Republic 15-Sep-04, 07:00

LONDON - Direct mail was the only medium to show a fall in the latest Advertising Association adspend figures, down by 2.5% in real terms during the second quarter of the year to £539m.

The medium appeared to suffer as marketers diverted budgets back to traditional media such as television and national newspapers. It is a rare fall for direct mail, which has proved to be resilient even when other media were suffering from the downturn.

Across the board, UK adspend rose by 4.2% after adjusting for inflation to £3.7bn. National newspaper advertising was up by 6.5% on constant prices to £499m while television rose by 5.8% to £1.03bn, making it the biggest single medium in the survey.

Outdoor advertising continued to perform strongly, rising by 12.6% when adjusted for inflation.

Colin Macleod, research director at the World Advertising Research Centre, said that the decline was not of major concern, and was happening as advertisers spent more on brand-building media.

"I don't think that it's a huge long-term decline, it could be a one-off blip, and we may well see a reverse in the coming months," he said.

The figures were compiled by the World Advertising Research Centre. It only counts direct mail in its figures, and not other aspects of direct marketing such as digital and DRTV.

If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the Forum here.