The top 100 fmcg brands went big on advertising in 2013, increasing spend by a whopping 61.7% year-on-year compared with an industry average of just 1.7%, and reversing a three-year decline in the process.

The top 50 brands bumped up ad spend by an average of 38%, while the rest boosted budgets by 85%.

Overall, 25 brands increased ad budgets by more than 50%, including Special K, which soared from number 19 in 2012 to number two with a spend of £14.5m - a 50% increase. Coca-Cola’s ad spend was a more conservative 0.4% up on 2012, but it remained the biggest spending brand at £18.8m.

Not everyone was splashing out, however. Across the top 100, 24 brands cut spending, led by Febreze, which slashed its budget by 39% - though Febreze featured in an ad for sister product Ambi-Pur, which spent 2,363% more than it did in 2012.

The two biggest brand owners, P&G and Unilever, also saw a slight decline, of 2% and 5% respectively.

At category level, confectionery had the biggest spend at £143m, up 7.9%. alcohol moved up from number four to number two after booze brands spent £139m - 8.3% more year-on-year.

The increase comes a week after the government’s chief medical officer for England, Professor Dame Sally Davies, attacked the amount of alcohol advertising on televised football matches over concerns they could appeal to children.

Davies also accused supermarkets of using “deplorable” marketing methods to entice customers to buy “ever-greater quantities of alcohol”.

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