Global marketing budgets continue to improve, per Warc’s latest Global Marketing Index (GMI). This month, the budget component of the index recorded a value of 52, up 0.5 points from last month and marking the 9th consecutive month above the threshold value of 50. (A score above 50 indicates a generally improving environment, while a score below 50 indicates a generally declining environment.) Interestingly, budget sentiment has been generally positive or improving in the Americas and Europe during the past couple of months while declining in the Asia-Pacific, which, perhaps coincidentally, is not in its Summer season.
Specifically, the data reveals that marketers in the Americas are still the most optimistic, with a reading of 55.2 (down slightly from 55.8 in July). Europe’s budget sentiment stood at 52.8, a big increase from 49.7 in July and its highest reading since the Index’s inception in October 2011. Marketing budgets in the Asia-Pacific region, meanwhile, registered the third consecutive month of declines, down 0.4 points to 47.8 this month.
Other Findings:
- The global index for staffing levels remained positive at 56.5, although that marked a decline of 1.7 points from August’s 58.2. Staffing conditions were most positive in the Americas (flat at 57.8), while they saw marked declines in Europe (-3.1 points to 56.2) and the Asia-Pacific (-3 to 55.2).
- The index for trading conditions is still highest in the Americas, despite dipping by 0.8 points to a level of 60.4, indicating rapid growth. Asia-Pacific trading conditions registered a 2.8-point decrease to 52.2, its lowest level on record, while Europe posted a slight rise of 0.4 points to 55.6. Globally, the index dropped by 1.5 points to a reading of 55.6
- The headline global marketing index (GMI), comprised of the budget, staffing, and trading conditions components, stood at 54.7, down from 55.6. The Americas boasted the highest reading (down 0.5 points to 57.8), followed by Europe (up 0.1 points to 54.9) and Asia-Pacific (down 2.1 points to 51.7).
About the Data: Warc’s 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.
Data collection period: 2-13 September 2013. 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.
