'The Q1 Bellwether Report, compiled between 2 and 27 March, shows a net balance of -6.1% of companies have revised their total marketing budgets lower. The figure is arrived at by subtracting the number revising their budgets downward from those revising them upward.
Exactly 25% of panel members recorded a budget cut, compared to 18.9% signalling growth. This contrasts with the last quarter of 2019, when the balance was +4%. The fall, the report says, is the steepest in a single quarter since the end of 2009.
Market research was the worst-performing category during the first quarter, with a net balance of -21%; events, with a net balance of -15.9% was next, followed by public relations (-14.3%).
The key brand-building category, main media, the report says, saw its strongest drop since 2009 – a net balance of -9.9%.
But the report points to optimism for the future, specifically expectations for a sharp rise in total marketing budgets for the 2020/21 financial year, as a number of Bellwether panel members see a rapid economic recovery.'
