• Global Marketing Index rises for second month in a row

• Trading conditions improve significantly in the Americas

• Marketing budgets continue to fall in Europe

Warc’s latest Global Marketing Index (GMI) has registered an increase in all regions for September 2012.

Headline GMI, a metric combining panellists’ responses on current trends in marketing budgets, trading conditions and staffing levels, extended its gains this month, reaching 52.9 (+0.5 points from August). All three of the regions measured for the report signalled a positive result: the Americas rose to 59.6 in September– its highest headline GMI result since April. Meanwhile, Asia Pacific recorded 53.8 points, while Europe reached 50.2. This represents the region’s first net positive headline GMI value – defined as an index reading of above 50.0 – since May.

The global index of trading conditions, one component of headline GMI, also remained in positive territory, reaching 54.7 for September (+0.3 points from August).

All regions registered improved readings, with the Americas up an impressive 2.8 points to 63.0 in September. This was the best result for the region on this metric since April’s 63.6. Elsewhere, Asia-Pacific rose to 54.8 (+0.8 points), while European marketers recorded a reading of 51.3 (+0.7 points).

Regional variations could be seen in this month’s results for marketing budgets, another component of headline GMI. The Americas signalled an expansion of budgets this month, registering a value of 53.5, unchanged from August.

Meanwhile, Asia Pacific recorded 49.1 (up +3.1 points), while the European index rose to 44.8 (+3.9).

Combines data for trading conditions, marketing budgets and staffing. Above 50.0 = generally improving Below 50.0 = generally declining

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Above 50.0 = generally improving Below 50.0 = generally declining

Above 50.0 = generally improving Below 50.0 = generally declining

Global Marketing Index improves in September

In association with

Global Marketing Index, March 2012 Monthly report for contributors

Global Marketing Index, September 2012 Monthly report for contributors

52.4

53.8 53.4

50.0

51.3

56.2

53.0

48.1

52.4

57.7

52.6

48.9

52.9

59.6

53.8

50.2

45.0

50.0

55.0

60.0

65.0

Global The Americas Asia Pacific Europe

Headline GMI results by region

Jun-12 Jul-12 Aug-12 Sep-12

40.0

45.0

50.0

55.0

60.0

Global The Americas Asia Pacific Europe

Marketing budgets by region

May-12 Jun-12 Jul-12 Aug-12 Sep-12

54.1

55.9 54.9

51.5 51.9

55.9 54.5

47.9

54.4

60.2

54.0

50.6

54.7

63.0

54.8

51.3

45.0

50.0

55.0

60.0

65.0

70.0

Global The Americas Asia Pacific Europe

Trading conditions by region

Jun-12 Jul-12 Aug-12 Sep-12

In terms of the proportion of marketing budgets allocated to individual media channels, trends for September remained broadly consistent with those of previous months: continued declines in traditional media budgets were counterbalanced by positive results for digital and mobile.

The global reading for TV improved slightly for September, rising from 46.2 the month before to 47.2. The last time TV returned a value above 50.0 was April’s 51.6. Press continued to struggle relative to the other media channels, recording a reading of 35.3 this month. This latest result represents an improvement on the low of 33.0 recorded in June, but press remains deep in negative territory.

By contrast, online ad media continued to show very high rates of monthly growth, signalling rapidly increased budget allocations. Digital ads excluding mobile recorded an index reading of 74.0 globally in September, while the mobile channel returned 67.2 this month.

Across all regions and media channels, budgets recorded a global reading of 48.0 in September (+1.9 points from last month). This means that marketers’ planned expenditures have been in net negative territory since June.

Continuing global economic uncertainty has led to marketers adopting a generally conservative outlook over recent months. It remains to be seen if the recent announcements of bond-buying schemes from central banks in Europe and the US, which have resulted in sharp gains on global stock markets, will lead to an improvement in the broader economy and increased marketing budgets in the months ahead.

Staffing levels, the final contributor to headline GMI, recorded mixed results in September, albeit remaining in positive territory across all regions. Globally, the metric registered a net decline for the month, falling from 56.6 to 56.1. Region by region, the Americas continued at a very high level, up 2.8 points to 62.2, while Asia Pacific (–0.2 points to 57.5) and Europe (–0.7 to 54.4) both registered small declines.

Warc is recruiting for the Global Marketing Index panel. Please refer colleagues and contacts to:

http://www.warc.com/gmi

Above 50.0 = generally improving Below 50.0 = generally declining

Above 50.0 = generally improving Below 50.0 = generally declining

Above 50.0 = generally improving Below 50.0 = generally declining

Global Marketing Index, March 2012 Monthly report for contributors

Global Marketing Index, September 2012 Monthly report for contributors

© Warc In association with

55.7 55.5

58.1

54.4 54.6

60.5

53.7 54.0

56.6

59.4

57.7

55.1 56.1

62.2

57.5

54.4

50.0

55.0

60.0

65.0

Global The Americas Asia Pacific Europe

Staffing levels by region

Jun-12 Jul-12 Aug-12 Sep-12

45.3

43.9

45.2

47.3

49.3

51.5

53.7

50.3

47.3 47.5

46.1

48.0

42.0

44.0

46.0

48.0

50.0

52.0

54.0

Global marketing budgets

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

80.0

90.0

TV Press Digital (ex. mobile)

Radio OOH Mobile

Global marketing budgets by medium

May-12 Jun-12 Jul-12 Aug-12 Sep-12

About Warc Warc is the global provider of ideas and evidence to marketing people. It has produced trusted and independent data on advertising expenditure and media costs for more than 25 years, and has partnerships with leading advertising organisations in more than 80 countries. Warc’s premium online service, www.warc.com, is the largest single source of intelligence for the marketing, advertising and media communities worldwide. With subscribers in over 100 countries, warc.com is a unique resource relied upon by major creative and media agency networks, market research companies, media owners, multinational advertisers and business schools, to help tackle any marketing challenge. In addition to the online service, Warc publishes five magazines, provides industry data and runs events.

To find out more about Warc, take a free trial at www.warc.com/trial About World Economics

World Economics is an organisation dedicated to producing analysis, insight and data relating to questions of importance in understanding the world economy. The primary research objective is to encourage and assist the development of better and faster measures of economic activity. In cases where we believe we can contribute directly, as opposed to through highlighting the work of others, World Economics produces our own measures of economic activity. The work of World Economics is mainly of interest to investors, organisations and individuals in the financial sector and to significant corporations with global operations, as well as governments and academic economists.

Find out more at www.worldeconomics.com

About the Index The Global Marketing Index provides a unique monthly indicator of the state of the global marketing industry, by tracking current conditions among marketers. Our global panel (1,225 members) consists of experienced executives working for brand owners, media owners, creative and media agencies and other organisations serving the marketing industry. The panel has been carefully selected to reflect trends in the three main global regions: Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. Methodology Data collection period: 3–14 September 2012

The Global Marketing Index results are calculated by taking the percentage of respondents that report that the activity has risen (“Increasing") and adding it to one-half of the percentage that report the activity has not changed (“Unchanged"). Using half of the “Unchanged" percentage effectively measures the bias toward a positive (above 50 points) or negative (below 50 points) index. As an example of calculating a diffusion index, if the response is 40% “Increasing," 40% “Unchanged," and 20% “Reducing," the Diffusion Index would be 60 points (40% + [0.50 x 40%]). A value of 50 indicates "no change" from the previous month.

The more distant the index is from the amount that would indicate "no change" (50 points), the greater the rate of change indicated. Therefore, an index value of 58 indicates a faster rate of increase than an index value of 53, and an index value of 40 indicates a faster rate of decrease than an index value of 45. A value of 100 indicates all respondents are reporting increased activity while 0 indicates that all respondents report decreased activity.

For more information about the Global Marketing Index: Suzy Young, Warc Data Editor gmi@warc.com Please visit the Global Marketing Index for further information or to register for the panel www.warc.com/gmi

Global Marketing Index, March 2012 Monthly report for contributors

Global Marketing Index, September 2012 Monthly report for contributors

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