A survey of 100 CMOs from the largest retailers stated that holiday marketing budgets for this year were either down or flat, but retail marketers are getting a break from all the stress this season thanks to a decrease in the price of ad space.
Upon first glance, flat budgets sound like another effect of the recession. Not true, say survey analysts. With ad prices down, experts are concluding that marketers can get more ad space for the same budget that they used last year, according to MediaPost.
While most companies kept their budgets the same, some marketers were confident enough to raise their budgets. Of retailers that predict a rise in revenue by the second quarter, 62 percent raised their advertising budgets. At the same time, 50 percent of companies that did not predict a rise until the third quarter or after cut their budgets.
Most of the spending went to social media and print; 51 percent of the companies surveyed said they planned to use social media this holiday season, up from 4 percent in 2007-- a massive jump for such a short time span. A larger chunk -- 64 percent -- of companies said most of their spending would go to print.