FMCG brands splash big bucks on advertising in first quarter of FY2025

New Delhi: Major FMCG giants, the backbone of Indian Adex, cranked up their ad spending in FY2024, boasting double-digit growth.

HUL emerged as the top spender as it allocated Rs 1,681 crore on ads in Q1 FY2025. 

Dabur saw the biggest boost, with its ad spend soaring 15.44% year-over-year and 28.4% quarter-over-quarter.

Even on a quarterly basis, the adex of India’s major FMCG players rose in double digits. 

The results of Godrej Consumer Products and P&G Health are awaited, which will further substantiate the FMCG adex strength in India. For the record, GCPL's spending on advertising was Rs 1,011 crore, up by 47% from a year before.

According to experts, the general elections, IPL and World Cup fueled FMCG ad spends in the first quarter. Also, a major chunk of FMCG brands’ digital adex went to e-commerce. 

Historically, approximately one-third of the annual spends in the Indian advertising industry has been attributed to the FMCG category. As per GroupM, Madison and dentsu Indian adex predictions for 2024, FMCG will continue to be the growth driver for Indian ad spends.

FMCG brands’ adex growth in Q1 FY2025 on a YoY basis

FCMG brands’ adex comparison on a QoQ basis

Last fiscal year’s adex of FMCG brands

Here’s what the FMCG leaders have to say about their latest results:

Rohit Jawa, CEO and Managing Director, HUL, commented, “HUL’s first quarter performance reflects our decisive actions in transforming our portfolio in high growth spaces, aided by the gradual recovery of rural markets. Our commitment to unlocking access to aspiration, market making, and premiumisation supported by our distinctive capabilities is a key driver of our competitive edge.”

He added, “We continue to focus on driving competitive volume growth, generating fuel to invest behind our brands and making our business future fit. We remain confident of the medium to long-term potential of the Indian FMCG sector. With our strong brands, execution prowess, and distribution might, HUL is well positioned to leverage this growth opportunity as we continue transforming our business to outperform.”

Prabha Narasimhan, Managing Director and CEO of Colgate-Palmolive (India) said, “We are happy to report another quarter of strong and consistent performance led by robust topline growth across the portfolio and continued strengthening of competitive performance. Our toothpaste portfolio witnessed double-digit growth driven by high-single-digit volume growth.”

She added, “Our continued investments in perceivable superiority in product, brand building and innovation are yielding significant results while strengthening our brand metrics to highest-ever levels. In this quarter, our Toothbrush portfolio has also seen a concrete positive shift in competitive growth trajectory with strong double-digit growth in topline.” 

Harsha V Agarwal, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Emami, said,  “I am very happy to announce strong and profitable growth this quarter, highlighted by robust domestic volume growth of 8.7%, a befitting start to the new financial year as we celebrate our 50th Anniversary. Our summer portfolio performed exceptionally well, led by the stellar performances of our power brands, Navratna and Dermicool. Modern trade, eCommerce, and institutional channels continued to post strong growth in the Domestic business and our International Business also witnessed impressive growth of 11% in constant currency, driven by the MENA and SAARC regions.  As we move forward, we remain committed to delivering sustainable and profitable volume-led growth.”

Dabur India Chief Executive Officer Mohit Malhotra, said, “The investments we have been making allowed us to drive demand during the quarter with key verticals like Health Supplements, Digestives, Shampoos, Toothpaste, Home Care and Beverages. The India Business saw our key brands and products report market share gains across 95% of the portfolio.”

He added, “Through disciplined execution of our go-to-market strategy, we continued to capitalise on our brand strength and deepen engagement with our consumers.”