Inflation behind 20% growth in Philippine adex

Adspend in the Philippines jumped by almost 20 per cent in the first nine months of last year to 44.2 billion pesos (about USdollars 0.89 billion), according to ACNielsen adex figures. However, the rise is seen as being fuelled by inflationary pressures rather than real growth as the total number of actual spots and inserts dropped slightly in the January to September months, compared with the same period in 1999. Telecommunications remained the largest advertising category with a 3.28 billion peso spend. Haircare products ranked second at 2.9 billion pesos, on the back of a 44 per cent growth while food products other than biscuits and bakeshop items held third place at 2.13 billion pesos. Business machines and office equipment experienced the fastest growth rate - more than 130 per cent to 1.34 billion pesos, making it the ninth biggest ad category from 21 a year earlier. On the other end of the scale, proprietary drugs tumbled from fourth to eighth position, following a 14 per cent drop in adspend in this sector. "Competition among leading multinational manufacturers such as Unilever, Nestle and Procter & Gamble is still apparent," said Mr Bienvenido Niles, ACNielsen's managing director, Southeast Asia. For instance, Unilever grew its advertising expenditures by more than 50 per cent to 4.032 billion pesos, followed by Nestle with a 26 per cent increase to 1.94 billion pesos. However, P&G reduced its expenditure around 14 per cent to 1.93 billion pesos. Among specific brands, San Miguel Beer is now the most advertised product with an adspend of 0.466 billion pesos, just ahead of a new shampoo entry from Vaseline, and a Sunsilk shampoo. PLDT dropped from first to fourth following an almost 60 per cent drop in adex. "Some companies have been very aggressive in their advertising campaigns," Mr Niles said. "Nescafe Classic grew its ad expenditure 11 times to come in at No.6, while Philippine Charity Sweepstakes, from a minimal 0.18 billion pesos, increased its expenditures 10 times, bringing it up to seventh." Across media, TV remained the most aggressive medium, capturing 67 per cent of the market, or 29.51 billion pesos.

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