A huge increase in supermarket advertising saw retailers outspend fmcg brands for the first time last year.
Research conducted by Ebiquity for The Grocer revealed retailers increased spend on TV, press, cinema, radio and outdoor advertising by 17% to £1.73bn in 2010. Over the same period spend by fmcg brands rose by 7.9% to £1.69bn.
Tesco spent £102m on advertising, a 9% increase, and it was the smallest increase of the big four in percentage terms.
The biggest surge in advertising was recorded by Marks & Spencer, increasing spend by 59% to £62m with the vast majority on additional fashion-focused pieces. Waitrose also invested heavily in media, with its budget up 84% to £22m to promote its Delia Smith/Heston Blumenthal tie-up, as well as a Tesco-baiting price match pledge.
"These figures represent a huge shift in power from brand owners to grocery retailers," said Richard Buchanan, director at branding agency The Clearing.
Commentators say the growing wealth of intelligence supermarkets have amassed on their customers from sales and loyalty data means retailers now have the upper hand.
"Brands are still driving growth in grocery. Even so they've lost power and are one step away from customers as retailers now understand their customers better."
The figures also show the importance of supermarkets to tabloid and mid-market newspapers, with their share of advertising up from 10% in 2007 to 20% in 2010.
Press advertising, which accounted for 52.4% of supermarkets' ad spend, is increasingly used to carry ads with a strong promotional message.
"The very aggressive buying strategies of the supermarkets are not going to swing back at any point soon," said Claire Wood, an associate planner at the Leith Agency.
Supermarket ads funded by brand owners have also increased. "For the big four this makes up a significant chunk of their press ad budgets," said Danny Donovan, MD of media and ad agency MediaCom.
And Paul Gaskell, senior consultant at branding consultancy the Value Engineers, said suppliers are increasingly concerned that promotions and the ads used to market them are damaging their brands.
"Suppliers have a twofold challenge. Promotions can yield enormous spikes in volume. But they have to get a balance because they can't be in a position where they run promotions all the time."
Read The Grocer's first-ever report into advertising's biggest spenders here.
Research conducted by Ebiquity for The Grocer revealed retailers increased spend on TV, press, cinema, radio and outdoor advertising by 17% to £1.73bn in 2010. Over the same period spend by fmcg brands rose by 7.9% to £1.69bn.
Tesco spent £102m on advertising, a 9% increase, and it was the smallest increase of the big four in percentage terms.
The biggest surge in advertising was recorded by Marks & Spencer, increasing spend by 59% to £62m with the vast majority on additional fashion-focused pieces. Waitrose also invested heavily in media, with its budget up 84% to £22m to promote its Delia Smith/Heston Blumenthal tie-up, as well as a Tesco-baiting price match pledge.
"These figures represent a huge shift in power from brand owners to grocery retailers," said Richard Buchanan, director at branding agency The Clearing.
Commentators say the growing wealth of intelligence supermarkets have amassed on their customers from sales and loyalty data means retailers now have the upper hand.
"Brands are still driving growth in grocery. Even so they've lost power and are one step away from customers as retailers now understand their customers better."
The figures also show the importance of supermarkets to tabloid and mid-market newspapers, with their share of advertising up from 10% in 2007 to 20% in 2010.
Press advertising, which accounted for 52.4% of supermarkets' ad spend, is increasingly used to carry ads with a strong promotional message.
"The very aggressive buying strategies of the supermarkets are not going to swing back at any point soon," said Claire Wood, an associate planner at the Leith Agency.
Supermarket ads funded by brand owners have also increased. "For the big four this makes up a significant chunk of their press ad budgets," said Danny Donovan, MD of media and ad agency MediaCom.
And Paul Gaskell, senior consultant at branding consultancy the Value Engineers, said suppliers are increasingly concerned that promotions and the ads used to market them are damaging their brands.
"Suppliers have a twofold challenge. Promotions can yield enormous spikes in volume. But they have to get a balance because they can't be in a position where they run promotions all the time."
Read The Grocer's first-ever report into advertising's biggest spenders here.
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