Weak advertising month of April
Following a strong month for advertising in March, April bucked the trend: With advertising spending of 407.2 million Swiss francs (gross), April saw a 7.2 percent decline. Nearly all industries reported a decline compared with the same month last year.
Just four of the 23 sectors increased their advertising pressure (retail +47.6%, pharma & health +22%, telecommunications +2.0%, cleaning +50.0%). These are the findings of the Advertising Market Trend Report 2015/04 by Media Focus.
Weak advertising month - possible causes
The decline in advertising pressure in April is visible across all media. Several factors may be the reason for this result. For example, Easter fell at the beginning of April this year and not at the end, as was the case last year. This resulted in a shift in advertising for Easter sweets (-37% year-on-year). The month of April also saw significantly fewer advertisers than the same month last year: this year's advertisers invested almost the same amount as last year. Individual campaigns with high budgets are also significant: The advertiser Political interest groups, for example, is conspicuous with a significant decline of minus 70 percent.
Issues such as the Gripen and the minimum wage were exploited in advertising campaigns last year. It is also conceivable that April will serve as a ramp-up for greater advertising pressure in May. We are curious.
April was pretty salty
Orange is now called Salt. And to make sure everyone knows this, Orange has been beating the advertising drum vigorously. The Salt image campaign with the highest advertising pressure took first place in the telecoms sector. Far behind, with less than half the advertising pressure, Swisscom Natel Infinity Plus came second in the product ranking. Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is in third place. Salt advertised across almost all media: in newspapers (26%), magazines (3%), TV (28%), radio (4%), cinema (4%), Internet (8%), poster advertising (26%) and in digital advertising spaces (1%). Looking at the ranking of advertisers, Salt (with six products) is in second place (+133% year-on-year). Swisscom remains in first place (+122% year-on-year), but with significantly more products (19). Overall, the telecommunications sector achieved a small increase of 2.0% this month. This is partly thanks to the advertising activity of Swisscom and Salt.
Top 5 products in the Pharma & Health sector
With gross advertising pressure of 15.5 million Swiss francs, the pharma & health sector recorded a 22.2% increase in advertising compared to the same month last year. Two products for sports injuries in particular were heavily advertised. As Suva announced in its press release on April 14, almost twice as many joggers have accidents today than 15 years ago. In line with this, the products Perskindol Classic Gel and Voltaren Dolo Forte Emulgel are at the top of the product rankings. Third place was taken by the new painkiller Aspirin S, which advertises an even faster onset of action. Scholl Velvet Smooth Express Pedi, the product for callus-free feet, came in fourth place. In fifth place is the website NU3.ch, which offers numerous nutritional products for the body-conscious.
