Companies to splurge on ads from July | Economic Times

Large companies are likely to revive their marketing and advertising spend from July to build up momentum for the crucial festive season, buoyed by the drop in infection rates and the opening of shops and malls.Consumer electronics, telecom, FMCG, auto and ecommerce sectors will drive this advertising revival by hiking their spends by up to 20% compared with the same period in the pre-Covid year of 2019, said industry executives. India’s largest appliance maker LG India is increasing its marketing spend for the next two quarters. “Since pent up sales have started on a positive note, we will reinforce our marketing investment to drive demand,” said vice-president (corporate planning) Deepak Bansal.Global advertising agency Dentsu India chairman Ashish Bhasin said there had been no national lockdown in the second wave and as the economy opens up things will only become better. He said if there is a good monsoon, business would do well as rural demand will pick up.“Monsoon will lead into the festive quarter. The IPL or a part of it will also be played in the festive season, so here onwards things should get better,” said Bhasin, who expects a gradual pick up in advertising.FMCG companies – the highest contributor to advertising revenues in India – are planning to double down on advertising in the next two quarters. Britannia, ITC, Emami and Parle Products had restored their spending to pre-Covid levels in or a little more in the January-March quarter.83561319 This has come down in the April-June period, but it is higher than the corresponding quarter of the previous year.In a recent conference call, Emami Ltd director Mohan Goenka said the company will invest in distribution and advertising, having achieved higher sales numbers in the last few quarters due to higher spend. Parle Products senior category head Mayank Shah said many small and mid-sized companies, which have struggled in the pandemic, will go all out to spend on marketing and advertising since it's the question of their survival now.“July-September will be a better quarter for advertising as every brand will try to gain back business,” he said, adding the company too is going to increase its spend.Edelweiss in a recent report said while advertising volumes clocked an all-time high in January-February of this year since 2017 with 21% growth year-on-year, the dampener due to the second wave will be short-lived with recovery in ad spends across staples and discretionary segments.According to just released global media agency GroupM's mid-year forecast, the Indian advertising industry is expected to see more than 20% growth in calendar year 2021 along with other countries like the UK, Brazil and China.Faster than expected expansion of the app ecosystem, rapid small business formation activities and growing role of cross-border marketplaces are expected to drive this growth, GroupM said.Marketing by ecommerce, edtech, wallets, financial services and food delivery companies has also been on a high since the pandemic and industry executives said companies like Amazon, Flipkart, BigBasket, Grofers and Byju’s are going to continue their thrust as consumption shifts more towards online due to the second wave.In calendar year 2020, the ad volumes of the e-commerce sector rose 24% on television over 2019, according to TAM's adex data.