Click to enlarge

Blackfriars Communications released its Marketing Category Indices for 12 types of marketing spending, showing that both offline and online advertising spend increased from budgeted amounts in the third quarter.

The bulk marketing spending in the third quarter went to offline advertising, which accounted for 41 percent of marketing budgets rather than the projected 31 percent. Meanwhile, online advertising spend accounted for 8 percent rather than the projected 6 percent. Those gains came mostly at the expense of direct mail and telemarketing, as well as events, according to Blackfriars.

"While firms budgeted large amounts for marketing in 2006, they just didn't spend those budgets," said Carl Howe, a principal of Blackfriars. "With executive attitudes toward marketing faltering, businesses fell back on tried and true media types that they could defend."

The various forms of online marketing, including advertising, email and websites, accounted for 18 percent of actual marketing spend in the third quarter rather than the budgeted 14 percent.

Also, according to the Blackfriars survey of senior executives, U.S. companies expected to spend 50 percent more on marketing in the fourth quarter than they spent in an average quarter in 2005. Those projections pushed the fourth quarter Blackfriars Marketing Index up to 150; however, the Blackfriars 3Q06 index of actual spending fell to 74, the lowest value in two and a half years (see graph here).

Blackfriars published its findings in a 20-page research report titled "Marketing 2006: A Make Or Break Fourth Quarter," offering detailed analysis of data collected from its Q4 survey regarding actual Q3 spending, Q4 budgets, and initial projections for 2007 budgets.