Marketing budgets in Asia-Pacific stagnate: Warc

Asia-Pacific saw declines in the indices for marketing budgets (down 5.5 points to 50), trading conditions (down 3.3 points to 56.6) and staffing levels (down 1.9 points to 57.3). The 'headline' GMI for Asia-Pacific, combining these three components, fell 3.6 points to 54.6.

In the GMI report, which is based on input from a global panel of 1,225 marketers, a number above 50 indicates 'generally improving', while anything below 50 equals 'generally declining'.

Globally, only the Americas saw improvement in marketing budgets, with a strong index value of 55.5. The global number for marketing budgets stands at 51.5, indicating modest growth. The global headline GMI stands at 54.3, down from 55.9 in June.

"Personally I believe most of Asia is still holding up well," a media-agency source not associated with the GMI report told Campaign Asia-Pacific. "However as we all can see in the daily news, there is slight slowing of GDP numbers out of China. Clearly, adspend will come down a bit versus the 15 to 25 per cent growth everyone seems to be accustomed to."

Asia's economic conditions are robust, and the second half of 2013 should still be good, the source added.