Day: September 24, 2014

New research shows that charities are still not exploiting advances in technology and continue to spend the bulk of their advertising budget on direct mail.

‘Ad Infinitum’, compiled by research consultancy nfpSynergy, also reveals that one pound in every £34 spent on advertising comes from charities and spending on TV continues to rise.

The briefing, published today, shows that charities spent £394m on advertising in 2013, nearly two thirds of which (61%) went on direct mail.

Despite internet advertising being worth 46% of the total UK advertising market, charities continue to resist it. Internet ads represented just 2% of charities’ advertising spend last year, a figure that has barely risen from the 1% recorded in 2006.

TV spending is one of the few areas consistently rising in charity advertising. It now occupies 20% of the budget (£77.1m), up from 7.8% (£23.2m) in 2006. It has traditionally occupied around 28% of overall spending in the UK market.

Other spending such as radio (3%), press (9%) and outdoor (2%) has barely changed for charities and door drops are still way behind direct mail, on just 2%. Charities also avoid the silver screen, with cinema always representing their lowest spend on advertising.

nfpSynergy’s Driver of Ideas, Joe Saxton, said: “Charities represent around 3% of the advertising market, which is a sobering reminder for those who want to use awareness advertising. What is also interesting is that, although charities are increasing their spending on TV, they continue to resist internet advertising when it continues to boom in other sectors. Is this because charities are way behind in terms of technology? Or is internet advertising an extravagant use of money for few benefits and are charities just more frugal?”