Supermarkets have already spent record sums on advertising this year, according to new data exclusive to The Grocer - and their spend is growing at almost double the rate of advertising as a whole.

In the first 10 months of 2010 spending on food and drink advertising by the UK's top 10 supermarket chains rocketed by over £50m, up from £254.9m to £303.4m in the same period last year, figures from Billetts Media Monitoring show.

The 19% rise in spend compared with an 11% rise posted by all advertisers so far in 2010, said Ian Barber, director of communications at the Advertising Association.

"The supermarkets' spend is certainly higher than we are seeing elsewhere, but there is an upward trend across all sectors, particularly in retail," said Barber.

The biggest increase was by Waitrose: with high-profile campaigns featuring its Heston Blumenthal and Delia Smith double act, as well as its recent Tesco comparison ads, spend rose 151% to £16.5m.

The highest total ad spend was once again by Asda, up 9% to £71.7m, with October up 33% as it promoted its new Chosen by You range. But Tesco closed the gap, as 10-month spend rose by 33% to £69.5m, while Sainsbury's spend rose 12% to £44.1m, and Morrisons boosted ad budgets by 2% to £41.6m.

The sharpest decrease in advertising was at Marks & Spencer, with food and drink spend down by 54% to £4.2m, although this period does not include the recent Champagne promotion.

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