Global marketing outlook remains positive in May: WARC

Marketing budgets rise for fifth consecutive month, but Europe slips back; staffing levels continue to rise rapidly in all regions

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | May 23, 2013

Marketers are showing continuing confidence in the state of the industry, according to latest results from Warc's monthly Global Marketing Index (GMI) released in London. The index of marketing budgets rose for the fifth consecutive month, and reached its highest value since the index began in October 2011 – 54.3, up from 52.9 in April.

In the Americas, the index for marketing budgets rose 3.2 points to 58.0, the highest regional figure for marketing budgets recorded so far. Asia Pacific's index also increased to 53.8. Europe, on the other hand, slipped back below 50 to 49.7.

The GMI is a unique indicator of the state of the global marketing industry. Every month it tracks conditions among marketers within their organisation and region. A GMI reading of 50 indicates no change, and above 60 indicates rapid growth.

Above 50.0 = generally improving; below 50.0 = generally declining

The headline GMI measure – which takes into account marketers' expectations for trading conditions, staffing levels and marketing budgets – registered a global value of 56.5 in May, identical to the reading from April.

Region by region, the headline GMI registered 58.6 for the Americas, 56.7 for Asia Pacific and 53.2 for Europe.

Above 50.0 = generally improving; below 50.0 = generally declining.

Combines data for trading conditions, marketing budgets and staffing

The index of global trading conditions, the second component of headline GMI, continues to perform strongly in May, registering a value of 59.1 globally – identical to April's result. Regional index values stand at 60.8 for the Americas, 59.9 for Asia Pacific and 56.1 for Europe.

The index of staffing levels remains positive, at 56.0 globally. Regional index values stand at 56.9 for the Americas, 53.7 for Europe and 56.4 for Asia Pacific.

Suzy Young, Data and Journals Director at Warc, said, "Global marketing budgets have been raised for a fifth consecutive month but, while budgets show growth in all global regions, European marketers are slightly less optimistic than they were in April. It will be interesting to see whether this trend continues next month."

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com