Partner Article

Government marketing spend soars

Whilst most marketers struggle with an ever-diminishing budget it has been revealed that the UK government boosted its advertising and marketing spend to £540million (a rise of 43%) this year. The Central Office of Information (COI) have attributed the rise in spend to a number of factors, including national campaigns such as Change4Life to tackle obesity and road safety campaigns.

Whilst nearly half of the marketing spend was allocated to traditional forms of advertising including TV, radio and press, the Government also increased their spending on digital marketing by 84% as the government is become increasingly reliant on the internet for marketing campaigns.

Another example of digital use is Twitter. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills believes that “in the event of a major incident, where the department needs to provide up-to-the minute advice, Twitter would be used as a primary channel alongside our corporate website”.

Mark Lund, Chief Executive of the COI, said: “The need for the government to communicate with the public is greater than ever as society faces challenges such as obesity, climate change and the recession. Government Campaigns can help save lives and save money. Changing behaviour is difficult, but the benefits to the taxpayer and society can repay the investment many times over.”

Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the TaxPayer’s Alliance said: “The Government’s spending on advertising had gone far beyond public information and is well in to the territory of propaganda… these swanky marketing budgets should be the first to be slashed.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .