Ever since the economic recession, marketing budgets for advertising have been shrinking. But a new report from Nielsen says that this decline has consistently slowed down over the last year.
In what is sure to be good news for anyone working in sales jobs, Nielsen reports that in September 2009 total advertising expenditure was down 10% year-on-year, whereas in May 2009 the figure was 16% year-on-year.
Retail sales jobs in branded products were the most affected by the recession. Whilst supermarkets and other retailers of basic goods engaged in price and advertising wars to promote their budget ranges and increase sales, brand advertisers tended to reduce their advertising.
Nielsen reports that in the first twelve months of the recession (July 2008 to June 2009) all but two manufacturers chose to reduce media budgets by between 6% and 66%. Audi and Seat were the only two manufacturers who maintained their advertising spend.
Conversely, ASDA increased its average ad spend by 40% during the same period.
One of the most significant increases in advertising spends however was the Government's Central Office of Information (COI). The COI increased its advertising spend by 33%, using marketing to promote public services and information rather to increase sales. It ran awareness campaigns on the HPV vaccine for young girls, the spread of swine flu, and the dangers of smoking and drinking.
The slowdown of decline in the marketing industry may eventually offer a boost to the graduate jobs market. Marketing and advertising once provided graduate recruitment schemes that attracted students from a range of academic disciplines, offering them the opportunity to put their studies to work in sales jobs as well as acquire valuable sales training.

Labels: graduate jobs, graduate recruitment schemes, sales jobs