Warc’s latest headline Global Marketing Index (GMI) shows mixed conditions for marketers in November. The GMI, provides a monthly indicator of the state of the global marketing industry, by tracking current conditions among marketers. A GMI reading of 50 indicates no change, and a reading of over 60 indicates rapid growth.
The recorded reading of 50.1 this month is the lowest headline reading since the Index began in October 2011. By global region, the Americas continues to be the most positive (53.2), followed by Asia Pacific (51.2). Europe remains in negative territory (48.2).
According to the report, there were mixed signals from the three individual components that contribute towards the headline GMI metric. The index for global trading conditions shows growth on 53.4, largely in line with October’s reading (54.7). Within this, Asia Pacific registered significant growth (55.2), the Americas recorded 53.0 and Europe maintained the same reading as last month on 52.5.
Marketing budgets dropped to their lowest index value since November 2011. The index now stands at 46.0 globally, representing a sharp drop from October’s 48.8. Marketers in the Americas failed to record improving budgets for the first time in 13 months, registering a neutral value of 50.0. Their counterparts in Asia Pacific cut budgets sharply in November (46.8), and Europe witnessed the steepest regional decline on 42.6.
And the global index of staffing levels – the third component of headline GMI – indicates that conditions are generally improving worldwide (51.1), but at a slower rate than previous months. For the first time, European marketers registered a drop in the number of employees compared with last month (49.4). Conditions remain positive in both the Americas (56.6) and Asia Pacific (51.4).
Suzy Young, data editor at Warc, said: “Following President Obama’s re-election, attention has once again focused on the global economic situation. It is a tricky time for marketers worldwide and many have chosen to adopt a ’wait and see’ approach when it comes to budget setting in the short term.”
