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Survey on Advertiser Attitudes and Behavior — Leading Companies’ Advertising Activities and Attitudes (2010)NARI conducts a yearly survey on leading Japanese companies’ advertising activities and attitudes. This survey is the 34th, and in addition to a preliminary report which appeared in the morning edition of The Nikkei on February 24, the report went on sale on February 25.
The global economic crisis from 2008 to 2009 affected corporate performance, and in this survey, many companies also held back on advertising activities. For this reason, the survey asked various questions in an attempt to get an idea of what major advertisers were thinking around that time.
The survey was conducted among a total of 464 companies—333 out of the 500 companies listed in Advertising Expenditure of Leading Corporations (2009 Edition), published in September 2009, as the top spenders in terms of parent-only basis total advertising expenditure and another 131 companies meeting the equivalent criterion. The survey, using both distribution-and-collection and mail-in methods, was conducted from November to December 2009. Valid responses were received from 262 companies, a valid answer rate of 56.5%, higher than for the previous survey, which received answers from 242 companies and had a valid response rate of 53.3%.
The 2010 edition has three major features. The first is that the survey began with a passage saying “Many companies experienced poor performance in the wake of the global economic crisis from FY2008 to FY2009. This led many enterprises to think closely about the way that their advertising should be.” This was followed by the question “Did your company’s advertising department conduct a major review in FY2008–FY2009?” In answer, 69.5% of respondent companies said “yes,” evidence that major changes have taken place in advertising in the past one or two years.
In terms of the types of reviews that were conducted, 61.0% of respondents, the largest share, said that they “reevaluated the media in which we place our advertising,” followed by “made changes in how the advertising budget is decided” (36.3%) and “reevaluated how ad effectiveness is measured” (21.4%).
The survey analyzed how major companies made changes in advertising media selected, advertising budget determination and ad effectiveness measurement by industry, by advertising expenditure amount and others.
Respondent companies’ expected advertising expenditure for FY2009 was 11.3% lower than actual expenditure in FY2008. In FY2009, many companies were forced to cut advertising expenditure radically, the effect of which was starkly reflected in their wholesale reevaluation of advertising media chosen.
Comparing actual expenditure in FY2009 with the previous year, advertising expenditure was expected to grow in only two industries: food and beverages (up 1.0%) and pharmaceuticals and medical products (up 0.5%), with across the board declines for the remaining 16 industries. In particular, outlays were expected to drop in the double-digit range in transport and logistics (down 33.0%), automobiles and automotive products (down 32.8%), real estate (down 28.7%), precision machinery, office equipment and stationery (down 22.2%), finance (down 21.5%) and others.
Regarding the forecast for advertising expenditure for FY2010, many companies said they expected that outlays would be down an average of 6.3% compared to expected actual figures for FY2009.
The second major feature of the survey this year is the detailed table of contents attached to the cross-tabulation tables that form the core of the data book. Readers will be able to form an overall picture of the questionnaire simply by looking at this two page-long table of contents.
The third feature is an innovation whereby the survey attempted to tabulate the percentage of the respective media used by all respondent companies. Although the focus of attention is on Internet advertising, among respondent companies only 81.4% used the Internet. The highest ratios were for newspapers and terrestrial TV at 87.8% each, followed by magazines at 87.3%.
The report is A4 size, 140 pages. Regular price 10,000 yen (tax not included).
ISBN 978-4-904890-00-4 C3033