Bankland is never short on action and rumours of National Bank’s shaky future look set to be fuelled by the latest Nielsen AIS figures on advertising spend by New Zealand banks. The ANZ NZ-owned brand spent the second lowest amount on advertising in the first half of this year compared to the other five banks, its $3.5 million paling in comparison to ANZ NZ’s ANZ brand, which clocked up the largest bill of all the banks at $15.3 million. It’s not all doom and gloom for National
Bank, however, because modest as its spend was, it more than doubled last
year’s amount of $1.3 million over the same period.
The second
biggest spender between 1 January and 30 June this year was ASB with $7.1
million, followed by Westpac’s $5.8, Kiwibank’s $4.1. Colenso BBDO might have
been appointed BNZ’s new creative agency this year, but it might be left with
less to play with if BNZ continues its downward spend. With a modest $2.6, it
was the lowest spender of all the banks for the first half of this year, more
than half the amount it spent over the same period last year, $6.6 million.
While ANZ’s
$15.3 million is almost exactly on par with what it spent over the same period
last year, ASB’s $7.1 is a significant drop from last year’s $12.7 million.
Joining National Bank in the only upward spending trajectory is Kiwibank, its
$4.1 million up from last year’s $3.6 million.
Ad spend
across all banks tallied at $38.7 million from January to June, down on last
year’s $46.4 million for the same period.
When it
comes to advertising mediums, outdoor was the only one to have stayed more or
less on par with last year’s spend and all other mediums experienced declines.
But outdoor is still by no means the most popular. Television continues to
reign supreme with $20.3 million ($24 million last year), followed by radio
with $5.6 ($7.6 million last year), newspapers with $5.3 ($6.2 million last
year), outdoor with $3.8 ($3.7 million last year), and online with $2.4 ($3.3
million last year). And it doesn’t look like magazines and cinemas are the
preferred advertising choices of the banks, with magazines pulling in just
$833,239 ($964,799 million last year) and cinema $142,500 ($216,250 million
last year).
It’s no
secret the banking industry is under enormous strain around the world and while
New Zealand might bare the brunt a little better, Kiwi agencies will have to
make do with lower spend this year as New Zealand banks become more fickle with
their ad dollars. That said, spend has generally increased year-on-year. In
2008 total advertising spend was $78.5 million, in 2009 it slumped slightly to
$73.1 million, before jumping in 2012 to $95.1 million and $105.6 million last
year.
