MUMBAI, March 20: After having lost its number one position to ITC in 1995-96, Hindustan Lever Ltd is back to the top slot of "big spenders" in advertising in 1996-97, according to an annual survey conducted by A&M of the country's 250 biggest spenders.HLL upped its ad spend by almost 153 per cent to Rs 273.38 crore, displacing ITC which is said to have slashed its spend on advertising by 4.7 per cent in 1996-97. The merger of Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd (BBLIL) with HLL is largely responsible for shoring up the total expenditure of the merged entity. In the previous year's rankings, BBLIL was ranked as a separate entity for the year 1995-96.
ITC, which came to the number two slot with an ad-spend of Rs 172.60 crore, is the only company among the top ten ad spenders to have cut its advertising. The biggest down in adspend came from Philips -- down by more than 19 per cent -- its ranking dropped from number five to number 13.
Among other consumer goods companies, Videocon has secured its position atthe third slot, as has been the case in the past three surveys. Even the company's ad spend at Rs 108 crore has more or less remained the same in 1996-97 as it was in the previous year.
Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd, ranked as the big spender number four by spending Rs 103.75 crore, has appreciated in its ranking by one position. This is mainly because BBLIL ceases to exist after its merger with HLL. Besides, Colgate-Palmolive hiked its ad-spend during 1995-96 by 52 per cent over the previous year. Shaw Wallace is another company which has shown remarkable performance by upgrading from its 14th position in the previous year to number six (Rs 58.60 crore) in 1996-97. Shaw Wallace hiked its ad-spend by 84 per cent during the year. Bajaj Auto is yet another company which upped its expenditure on advertising by 45 per cent to Rs 53.54 crore. This is despite a slowdown in the two-wheeler industry. Nestle at number seven (Rs 56 crore) and Dabur at number nine (Rs 52 crore) have increased their ad-spendsmoderately.
In terms of marketing spend, the leader is the same as in 1995 -- Ashok Leyland. However, the company has upped its marketing spend only marginally by 6.9 per cent.
As against this, Bapjaj Auto (number four) and Tisco (number two) have increased their spends by 104 per cent and 60 per cent. This enabled Bajaj Auto to upgrade its position to the number four slot from number 25 in 1995-96. Videocon (Rs 62 crore) and Whirlpool (Rs 89 crore) are the other big hikers among the top 10 marketing spenders.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
